الفوائد الطوسية للحر العاملي، محمد بن حسن، صفحه ٣٧٦
Fawaid al Tusiya by Shaikh Hurr al Amili (ra), Page 376
فائدة (85) حديث علماء أمتي كأنبياء بني إسرائيل
لا يحضرني إن أحدا من محدثينا رواه في شيء من الكتب
المعتمدة نعم نقله بعض المتأخرين من علمائنا في غير كتب
الحديث و كأنه من روايات العامة أو موضوعاتهم ليجعلوه وسيلة إلي
الاستغناء بالعلماء عن الأئمة عليهم السّلام و لأنه يناسب طريقتهم
فقد افرطوا في تعظيم علمائهم مع علمهم بفسق أكثرهم، و اعتقادهم
فيهم لا تقصر عن اعتقاد الإمامية في أئمتهم بل ربما زاد عليه
کما يظهر لمن خالطهم أو تأمل كتبهم و کما دل عليه الحديث
ألذي رواه الطبرسي في الاحتجاج عن العسكري عليه السّلام في
التقليد و هو طويل و لأنهم يعتقدون إن العلماء يغنون عن الامام
کما أشار إليه القاضي عبد الجبار في المغني و هم يطلقون علي
علمائهم لفظ الأئمة و علي كثير منهم لفظ الامام کما في كتب
رجالهم و غيره من كتبهم و يحتمل كونه من روايات الصوفية أو
موضوعاتهم لإرادة إثبات ما يدعونه من الكشف و ما يترتب عليه
من المفاسد الّتي ليس هذا محل ذكرها
Section 85- The hadith "Scholars of my nation are like the prophets of bani israel."
I (i.e. Shaikh Hurr al Amili) do not recall if any of of our hadith scholars narrated it in any of the reliable books. Yes, some of our latter scholars quoted it in other than hadith books. And it is either from the traditions of the 'aama (non shias) or their fabrications, because they (the 'aama) declare the way to be through the scholars, dismissing the Imams (as). And because it fits their style, thus they have crossed the limits in honoring their scholars despite their knowledge of the fisq (sins/immoral actions) of most of them. And their faith in them does not fall short of the faith of the Imamis (i.e. the shias) in their Imams (as), rather sometimes exceeds upon it, as appears to one who interacts with them or deliberates upon their books. And what evidences upon it is the hadith which Shaikh Tabrisi (ra) narrated in (his book) al Ihtijaj from Imam al Askari (as) about taqleed, and it (the hadith) is long. And because they believe that the scholars relieve them of the Imam, as indicated towards it Qadi 'Abd al Jabbar in (the book) al Mughni, and they apply upon their scholars the terms "Imams" and on many of them the term "Imam" (1) like in their books of rijal as well as other books. And it is likely to be from the narrations of the sufis or their fabrications, by the intention to prove what they claim of kashf (2) and what results through it from the evils, this is not the occasion for mentioning them (the evils).
Translator's note: The above passage by Shaikh Hurr al Amil (ra) provides plenty of food for thought to those who go overboard in honoring the clergymen (marjas, mujtahids etc). May Allah (swt) save us shias from deviance.
(1) Translator's note: This indicates from where this practice of calling clergymen "Imam" originated from.
(2) Translator's note: "Kashf" refers to a belief of the sufis that sufi masters receive divine enlightenment/intuition after undertaking thorough meditation and other rituals.
the shirazis also refer to their leader as 'Imam', Qazwini in america, refers to himself as 'Imam', and sadly, those close to sistani and al khoei also refer to them as 'Imam', it is unfair to name and shame khomeini and khamenei only, but it is true that the supporters of those two do take it to ridiculous lengths- though i have never heard khamenei call himself 'imam', on the cover of the books of qazwini, it says 'Imam Qazwini', so in reality, he is the worst, i request you change the title to reflect this
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Salam,
ReplyDeleteWhat you say is true, other clerics are also referred to as Imams, but at the end of the day I prefer to keep short titles for my posts therefore I couldn't really name all the clerics in it.
The reason I named khamenei and khomeini is because as you mentioned, their followers do take it to ridiculous lengths and they are the ones who are most commonly referred to as Imams. And although I've heard shirazi clerics being called Imams, I didn't know it's the same for sistani, khoei and qazwini (I don't even know who this guy is, is he a new marja?).