- Shia often argue that Leadership is chosen only by Allah alone...No other entity has supermacy to chose the leader for any Ummah...it is Allah who holds the supermacy and they quote this Ayat :
"And [O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a Khalifa ( successive authority ) 2:30, Quran."
So this matter is with Allah alone.
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Walaikumsalam.
1. The verse isn't a clear evidence of divine appointment by Allah, rather it could even be understood as a statement about Allah's knowledge about predestination or Qadr.
There are many instances in Quran and Hadeeth where you appears to be a divine appointment but it is not talking bout divine appintment but rather Qadr of Allah.
See the below examples:
We read in Quran:
Said the eminent ones
who DISBELIEVED among his people, "Indeed, we see you in foolishness, and indeed, we think you are of the liars."(7:66) [Hud] said, "O my people, there is not foolishness in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds." (7:67). I convey to you the messages of my Lord, and I am to you a trustworthy adviser.(7:68). Then do you wonder that there has come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember when
HE MADE YOU KHULAFA after the people of Noah and increased you in stature extensively. So remember the favors of Allah that you might succeed.(7:69).
We find that the disbelievers were made khulafa by Allah. Hence this is not any divine appointment nor were the khulafa infallible.
Similar can be found when we read the verse where Allah said , He made or appointed Imams who invite to hell fire.
And
We appointed them leaders(IMAMS) who invite unto the (Hell) Fire and on the Day of Judgment they shall not be helped.(Quran 28:41)
Or read this verse:
(It is We Who portion out between them their livelihood in this world, and
We raised some of them above others in ranks, so that some may employ others in their work.) (43:32).
Now, suppose if you are working in a company and your position was raised as a manager, and you start taking work and employing people under you. Does it mean that your position was raised by a divine appointment by Allah or it was Qadr of Allah?
There are several other examples, even from ahadeeth(traditions) present in both Sunni and Shia books to support this argument.
2. As for the Shia claim that every leader must be divinely appointed by Allah, then Shias are themselves the ones who refuted their absurd argument. They have appointed their own supreme leader who holds the same position as an infallible Imam, and they did this through the man made concept of Wilayat al Faqih, wherein the supreme leader is again chosen by consultaion(shura).
See what their esteemed Shia Scholar Khomeini mentioned in his book.
Ayatullah Khomeini writes in his book:
“When we say that after the Occultation,
the just faqih has the same authority that the Most Noble Messenger and the Imams (‘a) had, do not imagine that the status of the faqih is identical to that of the Imams and the Prophet(‘a). For here we are not speaking of status,
but rather of function. By “authority” we mean government, the administration of the country, and the implementation of the sacred laws of the shari‘ah. These constitute a serious, difficult duty but do not earn anyone extraordinary status or raise him above the level of common humanity. In other words, authority here has the meaning of government, administration, and execution of law; contrary to what many people believe, it is not a privilege, but a grave responsibility. The governance of the faqih is a rational and extrinsic matter; it exists only as a type of appointment, like the appointment of a guardian for a minor. With respect to duty and position, there is indeed no difference between the guardian of a nation and the guardian of a minor. It is as if the Imam were to appoint someone to the guardianship of a minor, to the governorship of a province, or to some other post. In cases like these,
it is not reasonable that there would be a difference between the Prophet and the Imams (‘a), on the one hand, and the just faqih, on the other.” (Islamic Goverment, page 45 by Ayatullah Khomeini,).
- secondly they Argue that it doesn't matter people supported Ali RA or opposed him as He is already been chosen...the word "Mawla" comes under both meanings at the same time i.e loved one and Leader as Prophet PBUH was also the most beloved one and He was a leader too.
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The point is not only Sahaba(companions of Prophet), even Ali(ra) didn't understand the term Mawla as Leader. Infact several days after the incident of Ghadeer, a couple of days before Prophet(Saws) passed away, Ali(ra) had no idea that who will be the successor of Prophet(saws).
Ali bin Abu Talib came out of the house of Allah’s Messenger (SAWS) during his fatal illness. The people asked, “O Abu Hasan (i.e. `Ali)! How is the health of Allah’s Messenger (SAWS) this morning?” `Ali replied, “He has recovered with the Grace of Allah.” `Abbas bin `Abdul Muttalib held him by the hand and said to him, “In three days you, by Allah, will be ruled (by somebody else ), And by Allah, I feel that Allah’s Apostle will die from this ailment of his, for I know how the faces of the offspring of `Abdul Muttalib look at the time of their death. So let us go to Allah’s Messenger (SAWS) and ask him who will take over the Caliphate. If it is given to us we will know as to it, and if it is given to somebody else, we will inform him so that he may tell the new ruler to take care of us.” `
Ali said, “By Allah, if we asked Allah’s Apostle for it (i.e. the Caliphate) and he denied it us, the people will never give it to us after that. And by Allah, I will not ask Allah’s Messenger (SAWS) for it.”[ Sahih al-Bukhari# 4447].
The the great grandson of Ali(RA) refuted the Shia misconception. He is al-Ḥasan bin al-Ḥasan bin al-Ḥasan bin ‘Alī :
We read:
قَالَ : فَقَالَ لَهُ الرَّافِضِيُّ : أَلَمْ يَقُلْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلّى الله عليه وسلم لِعَلِيٍّ : ” مَنْ كُنْتُ مَوْلاهُ فَعَلِيٌّ مَوْلاهُ ” ؟ فَقَالَ : أَمَا وَاللَّهِ أَنْ لَوْ يَعْنِي بِذَلِكَ الإِمْرَةَ وَالسُّلْطَانَ ، لأَفْصَحَ لَهُمْ بِذَلِكَ كَمَا أَفْصَحَ لَهُمْ بِالصَّلاةِ ، وَالزَّكَاةِ ، وَصِيَامِ رَمَضَانَ ، وَحَجِّ الْبَيْتِ ، وَلَقَالَ لَهُمْ : أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ هَذَا وَلِيُّكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِي ، فَإِنَّ أَنْصَحَ النَّاسِ كَانَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ , وَلَوْ كَانَ الأَمْرُ كَمَا تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ اخْتَارَا عَلِيًّا لِهَذَا الأَمْرِ وَالْقِيَامِ بَعْدَ النَّبِيِّ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ ، إِنْ كَانَ لأَعْظَمَ النَّاسِ فِي ذَلِكَ خِطْأَةً وَجُرْمًا ، إِذْ تَرَكَ مَا أَمَرَهُ بِهِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنْ يَقُومَ فِيهِ ، كَمَا أَمَرَهُ ، أَوْ يَعْذِرَ فِيهِ إِلَى النَّاسِ ” .
The Rafidhi (a person who rejects the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar) said to him (Al Hasan ibn Hasan), “Did not the Messenger of Allah say to Ali: ‘If i am Mawla of someone, Ali is his Mawla?’” He (Al Hasan) replied, “By Allah, if he meant by that Amirate and rulership, he would have been more explicit to you in expressing that, just as he was explicit to you about the Salah, Zakat and Hajj to the House. He would have said to you, ‘Oh people! This is your leader after me.’ The Messenger of Allah gave the best good counsel to the people (i.e. clear in meaning). “If it is like what you say, that Ali was chosen for this after the Prophet (pbuh), then he would be the most flawed from all the people, because he didn’t do as the Prophet (pbuh) commanded””(Source: Source: Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d. Vol. 7, Pg. # 314; Chain is Good).
Moreover, the Shia say Mawla means Master which implies the remaining Muslims are his Slaves, and Ali(ra) cannot be Master of Muslims and they his slaves in a Sharai manner.
Because, if people were owned by Ali then they cannot marry-off their sister and daughters since the slaves have no authority in marriages. Also this means charity is cancelled as charity is given from the rich to the poor and if we were all owned that means the poor from us would be rich through the wealth of their owner `Ali and rich of us would be poor because everything we possess belongs to our owner `Ali, thus what I mentioned is sufficient to refute this belief.
- When asked How your Imams used to chose the next Imam from among his sons as there isn't any reliable sunni let alone shia narration narrating their names or that if it was God who sent Jibrael AS to ur imams with name of next Imam being appointed..
They say it doesn't have anything to do with revelation or Jibrael AS, rather they chose them by "Ilhaam".
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All these make their POV stronger than sunnis,,I am a seeker of knowledge so i am looking for evidences of both and that which side is holding more weight in their claims..
The concept of Imamate actually flies in the face of finality of Prophethood. It's actually a hidden belief which rejects finality of Prophethood, even though Shias claim that they believe in finality of Prophethood, however just like the Christians didn't call their scholars and priests as Lord, but just because they gave a quality of God to their Scholars without believing they are God, Allah said in Quran, that:{They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah , and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary...(9:31)} So similarly Shias believing that their Imams have all qualities of Prophets, have made them Prophets, without claiming that they are Prophets.
Infact read these statements by their scholars.
Esteemed Shia Shiekh Al Mufeed states:
– أوائل المقالات – الشيخ المفيد ص 45:
8 – القول في الفرق بين الرسل والأنبياء عليهم السلام
واتفقت الإمامية على أن كل رسول فهو نبي وليس كل نبي فهو رسول، وقد كان من أنبياء الله عز وجل حفظة لشرائع الرسل وخلفائهم في المقام، وإنما منع الشرع من تسمية أئمتنا بالنبوة دون أن يكون العقل مانعا من ذلك لحصولهم على المعنى الذي حصل لمن ذكرناه من الأنبياء عليهم السلام.
8- The difference between the Prophets and the Messengers (as):
The Imami (Shia) have consensus that every messenger is a prophet but not every prophet is a messenger, from the prophets of Allah are those who preserve/protect the religious laws passed down by the messengers, they are their successors in this matter. The religious law has only prohibited us from claiming prophet-hood for our Imams although the intellect does not prohibit this, because they(Imams) have acquired the qualities that we have mentioned for the prophets peace be upon them. (Awail al–Maqaalat,page 45).
Esteemed Shia Allamah Baqir Majlisi states:
ولا نعرف جهة لعدم اتصافهم بالنبوة إلا رعاية جلالة خاتم الانبياء ، ولا يصل عقولنا إلى فرق بين بين النبوة والامامة ، وما دلت عليه الاخبار فقد عرفته ، والله تعالى يعلم حقائق أحوالهم صلوات الله عليهم أجمعين
To our knowledge there is no reason not to describe the Imams as Prophets except consideration to the status of the Final Prophet. Our intellect too, cannot perceive a distinction between Nabuwwah (prophethood) and Imamah. (Source: Bihar Al-Anwar, Volume 26, p.82)
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