Shi`a Pajoohi

Shi`a Pajoohi

The Representation of Non-Prophets’ Knowledge of the Hidden in the View of Sunni Clergy and Scholars of Hadiths

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Nasrin Miyanaji
Assistant professor, Department of Islamic Kalam, Bent al-Huda Higher Education Complex, Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran
Abstract
Non-prophets’ knowledge of the hidden (‘ilm al-ghayb) is a theological issue with which Muslim scholars have for long been concerned, offering different accounts thereof. Throughout history, some Sunni scholars have attacked the Shi‘a because they ascribe knowledge of the hidden to non-prophets, including their Imams, taking the view to amount to polytheism and exaggeration. A reference to the work of prominent Sunni scholars and first-hand Sunni sources of hadiths, including Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, leads to a different conclusion, however. In this paper, I cite scholars and hadiths from the two Ṣaḥīḥs in order to show that (1) the belief in non-prophets’ knowledge of the hidden is not exclusive to the Shi‘a and (2) the theological foundation of the Shiite belief in the Imam’s knowledge of the hidden has, in addition to intra-religious evidence, been supported by prominent Sunni scholars as well, and (3) it will turn out that accusations of exaggeration and polytheism against the Shi‘a come from religious biases against them.
Keywords
knowledge of the hidden (‘ilm al-ghayb)
Muslim
Sunnis
sources of hadiths
The Noble Qur’an.
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