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'''Chahardah Maʿsum''', the fourteen inerrant or immaculate personages venerated by Twelver Shiʿites include the Prophet [[Muhammad]], his daughter [[Fatima]], and the twelve [[imam]]s. Under the theological concept of [['isma]], all are considered to be infallible. ʿIsma is commonly defined as a kindness (lutf) bestowed by God which does not cause incapacity to commit acts of disobedience. | '''Chahardah Maʿsum''', the fourteen inerrant or immaculate personages venerated by Twelver Shiʿites include the Prophet [[Muhammad]], his daughter [[Fatima]], and the twelve [[imam]]s. Under the theological concept of [[Isma|'isma]], all are considered to be infallible. ʿIsma is commonly defined as a kindness (lutf) bestowed by God which does not cause incapacity to commit acts of disobedience. | ||
==‘Isma== | ==‘Isma== | ||
The ascription of inerrancy ([[ʿisma]]) to the imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 2nd/18th century, and it was soon extended to the prophets. Ebn Babuya (d. 381/992), Shaykh Mofid (d. 413/1022), and Sharif Mortaza (d. 436/1049) successively defined the inerrancy of the Prophet Muhammad and the imams in increasingly stringent form, until the doctrine came to exclude the commission on their part of any sin or inadvertence, either before or after their assumption of office. As for Fatima, her inerrancy derives from her being a link between prophethood and [[imamate]], the two institutions characterized by inerrancy (she is sometimes termed the confluence of two lights [majmaʿ al-nurayn]), as well as by her association with the imams and their attributes in numerous traditions. The chief Quranic proofs of the inerrancy of the Chahardah Maʿsum are taken to be 33:33 (the verse of purification—ayat al-tathir and 2:124 (“My covenant does not embrace the wrongdoers”). | The ascription of inerrancy ([[Isma|ʿisma]]) to the imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 2nd/18th century, and it was soon extended to the prophets. Ebn Babuya (d. 381/992), Shaykh Mofid (d. 413/1022), and Sharif Mortaza (d. 436/1049) successively defined the inerrancy of the Prophet Muhammad and the imams in increasingly stringent form, until the doctrine came to exclude the commission on their part of any sin or inadvertence, either before or after their assumption of office. As for Fatima, her inerrancy derives from her being a link between prophethood and [[imamate]], the two institutions characterized by inerrancy (she is sometimes termed the confluence of two lights [majmaʿ al-nurayn]), as well as by her association with the imams and their attributes in numerous traditions. The chief Quranic proofs of the inerrancy of the Chahardah Maʿsum are taken to be 33:33 (the verse of purification—ayat al-tathir and 2:124 (“My covenant does not embrace the wrongdoers”). | ||
==The Number of Fourteen== | ==The Number of Fourteen== | ||
It might be thought that the numbering of the inerrant ones as fourteen was retrospective and subsequent to the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, and it is certainly true that some time elapsed between the death of the eleventh Imam, [[Hasan al-ʿAskari]], in 260/873 and the emergence of a consensus that the Imamite line had been completed with the occultation of his infant son, the Twelfth Imam.<ref>Sachedina, pp. 42ff</ref> However, materials already existed in Shiʿite tradition that spoke of Twelve Imam only, so that the crystallization of belief in a line of twelve was not excessively problematic.<ref>Kohlberg, pp. 529-33</ref> | It might be thought that the numbering of the inerrant ones as fourteen was retrospective and subsequent to the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, and it is certainly true that some time elapsed between the death of the eleventh Imam, [[Hasan al-ʿAskari]], in 260/873 and the emergence of a consensus that the Imamite line had been completed with the occultation of his infant son, the Twelfth Imam.<ref>Sachedina, pp. 42ff</ref> However, materials already existed in Shiʿite tradition that spoke of Twelve Imam only, so that the crystallization of belief in a line of twelve was not excessively problematic.<ref>Kohlberg, pp. 529-33</ref> | ||
The inerrancy of the Prophet, [[ʿAli]], [[Hasan]], and [[Hussain]], together with nine unnamed descendants of Hussain, is attested in a tradition attributed to the Prophet.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XXV, p. 201</ref> In another tradition, which has the Prophet addressing Salman, the nine are named explicitly, and mention of Fatima is, also included.<ref>ibid., pp. 6-7</ref> The same tradition states that the Prophet, Fatima, and the Twelve Imams were created out of light, “before the creation of creation.” Related to this luminous origin of the Chahardah Maʿsum is the interpretation of the Light Verse (24:35) and, indeed, of almost every Quranic reference to light, as alluding to them.<ref>ibid., XXIII, pp. 304-48, XXVI, pp. 242-43; Shirazi, pp. 209-11</ref> According to [[Jaʿfar al-Sadiq]], the creation of the Chahardah Maʿsum from light preceded that of all other beings by fourteen thousand years.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XX, pp. 15-16</ref> Other traditions speak of the Chahardah Maʿsum being fashioned from “celestial clay,” “white clay,” “clay beneath the Throne,” and “the clay of the Throne”.<ref>ibid., XX, pp. 15-16, XXV, pp. 8-12</ref> | The inerrancy of the Prophet, [[ʿAli ibn Abi Talib|ʿAli]], [[Hasan]], and [[Hussain ibn Ali|Hussain]], together with nine unnamed descendants of Hussain, is attested in a tradition attributed to the Prophet.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XXV, p. 201</ref> In another tradition, which has the Prophet addressing Salman, the nine are named explicitly, and mention of Fatima is, also included.<ref>ibid., pp. 6-7</ref> The same tradition states that the Prophet, Fatima, and the Twelve Imams were created out of light, “before the creation of creation.” Related to this luminous origin of the Chahardah Maʿsum is the interpretation of the Light Verse (24:35) and, indeed, of almost every Quranic reference to light, as alluding to them.<ref>ibid., XXIII, pp. 304-48, XXVI, pp. 242-43; Shirazi, pp. 209-11</ref> According to [[Jaʿfar al-Sadiq]], the creation of the Chahardah Maʿsum from light preceded that of all other beings by fourteen thousand years.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XX, pp. 15-16</ref> Other traditions speak of the Chahardah Maʿsum being fashioned from “celestial clay,” “white clay,” “clay beneath the Throne,” and “the clay of the Throne”.<ref>ibid., XX, pp. 15-16, XXV, pp. 8-12</ref> | ||
The succession of the Chahardah Maʿsum on earth is held to mirror the order in which they responded, in pre-eternity, to the divine question, “Am I not your Lord?” <ref>Koran 7:172</ref>, and the line of descent connecting them is taken to be a visible sign of their joint origin as a single luminous substance.<ref>Corbin, 1971-72, I, p. 68</ref> Even the sperm from which they grew was of ultimately heavenly origin.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XX, p. 38</ref> | The succession of the Chahardah Maʿsum on earth is held to mirror the order in which they responded, in pre-eternity, to the divine question, “Am I not your Lord?” <ref>Koran 7:172</ref>, and the line of descent connecting them is taken to be a visible sign of their joint origin as a single luminous substance.<ref>Corbin, 1971-72, I, p. 68</ref> Even the sperm from which they grew was of ultimately heavenly origin.<ref>Majlesi, 1384, XX, p. 38</ref> | ||
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==Bibliography== | ==Bibliography== | ||
* J. K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, London, 1937. | |||
* H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4 vols., Paris, 1971-72. | *J. K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, London, 1937. | ||
* Idem, Corps spirituel et Terre céleste, new ed., Paris, 1979 (s.v. index “Quatorze Immaculés”). | *H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4 vols., Paris, 1971-72. | ||
* E. Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-ʿAshariyya,” BSOAS 39, 1976, pp. 521-34. | *Idem, Corps spirituel et Terre céleste, new ed., Paris, 1979 (s.v. index “Quatorze Immaculés”). | ||
* W. Madelung and E. Tyan, “ʿIṣma,” in EI2. Muhammad-Baqir Majlesi, ʿAyn al-ḥayāt, Tehran, 1347 Š./1968, pp. 101-02. | *E. Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-ʿAshariyya,” BSOAS 39, 1976, pp. 521-34. | ||
* Idem, Jalāʾ al-ʿoyūn dar zendagī wa maṣāʾeb-e Chahardah Maʿsum, Tehran, n.d. | *W. Madelung and E. Tyan, “ʿIṣma,” in EI2. Muhammad-Baqir Majlesi, ʿAyn al-ḥayāt, Tehran, 1347 Š./1968, pp. 101-02. | ||
* Idem, Beḥār al-anwār, 102 vols., Tehran, 1384/1964. | *Idem, Jalāʾ al-ʿoyūn dar zendagī wa maṣāʾeb-e Chahardah Maʿsum, Tehran, n.d. | ||
* M. Mossa, Extremist Shiʿites. The Ghulat Sects, Syracuse, N.Y., 1988, p. 108. | *Idem, Beḥār al-anwār, 102 vols., Tehran, 1384/1964. | ||
* Shaikh ʿAbbās Qomī, Mafātīḥ al-jenān, Tehran, 1340 Š./1961. | *M. Mossa, Extremist Shiʿites. The Ghulat Sects, Syracuse, N.Y., 1988, p. 108. | ||
* Idem, Safīnāt al-beḥār, Tehran, 1355 Š./1963; II, pp. 201-02. | *Shaikh ʿAbbās Qomī, Mafātīḥ al-jenān, Tehran, 1340 Š./1961. | ||
* S. H. Nasr, Sadr al-Din Shirazi and His Transcendent Theosophy, Tehran, 1978. | *Idem, Safīnāt al-beḥār, Tehran, 1355 Š./1963; II, pp. 201-02. | ||
* A. A. Sachedina, Islamic Messianism. The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi’ism, Albany, N.Y., 1981. | *S. H. Nasr, Sadr al-Din Shirazi and His Transcendent Theosophy, Tehran, 1978. | ||
* Ṣ. Šīrāzī, Ahl al-Bayt fi’l-Qorʾan, Beirut, 1400/1979. | *A. A. Sachedina, Islamic Messianism. The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi’ism, Albany, N.Y., 1981. | ||
*Ṣ. Šīrāzī, Ahl al-Bayt fi’l-Qorʾan, Beirut, 1400/1979. | |||
==Source== | ==Source== | ||
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cahardah-masum Encyclopaedia Iranica - entry of cahardah masum] | |||
*[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cahardah-masum Encyclopaedia Iranica - entry of cahardah masum] | |||
[[Category:Twelver Shi’ism]] | [[Category:Twelver Shi’ism]] | ||