بررسي دلايل عقلي عصمت امام(ع) از ديدگاه فريقين

An Assessment of the Rational Arguments for the Infallibility of Imam from the Shi‘i and Sunni Viewpoints

امامت پس از پيامبر(ص) همان تصدي وظايف مقام رسالت است و امام داراي تمام وظايفي است كه رسول و پيامبر(ص) بر عهده دارد؛ تنها تفاوت رسول و امام اين است كه پيامبر(ص) پايه‌گذار دين، مخاطب وحي الهي و داراي كتاب است ولي امام بدون اين ويژگي‌هاست، با اين حال امام نيز همانند پيامبر(ص) مبيّن اصول و فروع و پاسدار دين از تحريف است. از اين ديدگاه، امام بايد داراي دو شرط اساسي باشد: 1. داراي علم فراگير نسبت به اصول و فروع اسلام؛ 2.مصونيت از گناه و پيراستگي از خطا؛ زيرا بدون عصمت، نمي‌تواند اعتماد مردم را به گفتار و رفتار خود جلب كند و الگوي آنان باشد. براي اثبات عصمت امام، هم به دلايل نقلي استناد شده است و هم به دلايل عقلي. نگارنده در اين مقاله چند دليل عقلي بر وجوب عصمت امام آورده است كه عبارت‌اند از: 1. برهان امتناع تسلسل؛ 2. برهان حفظ شريعت؛ 3. پي‌آمدهاي معصوم نبودن امام.

The position of imamate (that emerged after the demise of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny)) is the same as the prophethood carrying out the same responsibilities. Imam is obliged to do whatever the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) is obliged to do. The only difference between the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) and Imam is that the former is the founder of a religion, receives revelation and is in possession of a divine book whereas the latter lacks these features. Nevertheless, like the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny), the duty of Imam (peace be upon him) is to explain the principled (os?l) and branches (for?‘) of Islam and protect them against any sort of distortion. From this perspective, Imam (peace be upon him) must have these two basic conditions: 1. He must have a vast knowledge of the principles and branches of Islam; 2. He must be immune to sins and errors. This is because if he is not infallible, people will not rely on his words and practices. To prove the infallibility of Imam, reference has been made both to revealed arguments as well as to rational arguments. Here the author has tried to prove the infallibility of Imam through some rational arguments including: 1. Argument from the impossibility of regress; 2. Argument from the protection of religion, 3.Argument from evil consequences of non-infallibility of Imam.