Lesson video

Hello, and welcome back students to our learning on Islam and beliefs.

Once again, my name is Mr. Latif and I'm really looking forward to having you in what is going to be a fascinating lesson on Imamate.

So today's learning, we were looking at the following.

We will be looking at understanding the significance and importance of the belief of Imamate in the Shi'a tradition, and also considering and exploring some scriptural evidence from both the Qur'an, both from the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, which according to Shi'as shows the belief of Imamate.

So very, very interesting lesson today.

And it kind of follows on from the lesson we just had on the Sunni and the Shi'a splits.

So just a reminder of what you need as always, I'm sure you probably know those five things by heart, but if you don't just a reminder, you will need your exercise book or some lined paper, a black or blue pen, a different coloured pen for any mistakes.

Remember, hopefully there are no mistakes that we make.

And number four, a curious brain, and number five an attentive, pure attentive ears.

So let's get into our learning for today.

And just a reminder of these five things that you need to have.

If you don't have them, this is a great opportunity for you to pause the video, to get those.

And I'll see you in a moment.

So Imamate is a very important part of the Shi'a tradition and Imamates can be found in the five roots of Usul ad-Din in Shi'a Islam.

Now, these five roots are very, very important to understanding what the Shi'a Muslims believe.

So we have some which are quite similar to that of the six articles of faith.

We have the oneness of Allah, justice and fairness of Allah, known as Adalat.

Prophethood, Imamate and the resurrection, But these five things are very important and very fundamental to understanding the beliefs and traditions found within the Shi'a school of thoughts.

So for the resurrection, for example, this is a key and fundamental belief that all Muslims hold, that one day, everyone will have a body resurrection, and on that resurrection there'll be a day of judgement.

So this is an event that hasn't occurred yet, but it's an event that'll occur at the end times.

Then we have prophethood as well.

So in terms of who are the prophets, what consists of a prophet, looking at prophecies and the characteristics of these individuals.

Justness and fairness of Allah, known as Adalat.

And it's an idea that you can find these qualities that I mentioned by Allah of himself in the Qur'an.

That God is just and that God is fair.

And humanity should be fair, and just to each other, just like God is to us And the oneness of Allah, and this is something we will go over in much more detail when we look at the six articles of faith, we've kind of touched upon this already in our learning of the life of Abraham and life of Prophet Muhammad.

These were individuals and prophets are calling people towards Tawhid, the oneness of Allah.

But as you can see, there's one I've missed out.

What is Imamate? So let's look at what Imamate is, for the Shi'a tradition.

So, we have the oneness of Allah, known as Tawhid, just mentioned.

The just and fairness of Allah, known as Adalat.

Prophethood, known as Nubuwwah, authority of the Imams, is known as Imamates, and a belief in a day of resurrection, known Al-Ma'ad.

Now, Imamates is a very important part of the Shi'a tradition.

And we kind of touched upon this a bit last week, with the Sunni and the Shi'a split.

Well, today we're going to be looking in much more detail.

What is Imamate? Why is it so important for the Shi'a tradition? I want to say it really tells us about God providing an authority form of humankind, after the death of the prophet Muhammad.

So what I'd like you to do now is the following.

So I've just kind of touched upon those five key terms. Tawhid, Adalat, Nubuwwah, Imamate, Al-Ma'ad.

What I'd like you to do is let's test your brain to start off with.

Yeah, let's see how good your curious brains were.

You've got three minutes for this task.

And what I'd like you to do is to write down the five key terms Usul ad-Din and then to match them up.

And this side, here we go, with these key terms here.

So these key terms and its definitions, what are the correct terms to match up with? So at this part of the video is a great time for you to pause and have a go at the first task, see you in a moment.

Okay.

So let's look at our feedback for these five terms. Tawhid, you should know this by heart now over myself, Mr. Latif, 'cause we've been going over this so many times.

Tawhid is the belief in the oneness of Allah.

Adalat, can you remember what it was? You should have had the following: Adalat is the belief in the fairness and just of Allah.

Nubuwwah.

What did you have for that? Can you remember key term? Maybe you can repeat it's the belief in prophethood.

Imamate, which is a key part of our learning today.

So hopefully you got this one definitely right.

Imamate is the belief and the authority of the Imams. And then we're left with Al Ma'ad, which is the belief in the day of resurrection.

So the day of resurrection is very important and very interesting parts of eschatological, yeah, which means the end of times.

So it's really interesting when we look at this and hopefully we'll be looking at this within the six articles of faith in this unit as well.

So what is Imamate and why is it so significant for Shi'a Muslims today? So those attentive ears are going to be really important here, because in a moment you're going to have a task.

We need to summarise it.

Remember what Imamate is.

So Imamates in the Shi'a tradition is the belief in the authority of the Imams after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

So, it is these Imams, that are believed to be leaders chosen by Allah, to have authority after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Now these Imams are not necessarily new prophets, 'cause remember all Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad is the seed of prophets.

There'll be no more prophecies and there will be no more prophets after him.

Rather, the Imam's an authority for the Muslim community.

So these Imams are significant because they are all authorities that come from Ahl Al Bayt.

So Ahl Al Bayt is a term, which means the 'People of the House'.

Now this refers to the blood relatives of the Prophet Muhammad and more specifically that's of his male heritage.

And the Prophet Muhammad, although he had children in his life, none of his sons continued to live after he passed away.

So when the Prophet Muhammad died, unfortunately all of his sons, his, I suppose, first in line had passed away during his lifetime.

So as the Prophet Muhammad did not have any sons that lived after his death, for the Shi'as, the closest blood relative is that of Ali, and Ali is his cousin and son-in-law.

And we remember, Ali is one of the first people in the Shi'a tradition, from a young, young child who accepts the prophet's prophecy, who accepts the revelation, who accepts that the Prophet Muhammad is a chosen prophet, which is really, really important for the Shi'a Muslims today.

Now, let's see what you can remember.

So now what I'd like you to do is the following.

And I've got some, where are we going? This way.

I'm always getting it wrong, isn't it? Just down here.

What I'd like you to do is to pause the video and to answer the following question.

And I've got some key terms just there.

Hopefully you can see that.

So I've got Imamate, belief, authority, Ahl Al Bayt, closest, successors and authority.

So the question I would like for you to write down is the following.

What is Imamate and why is it so significant for Shi'a Muslims today? So at this point of the video, I would like to give you five minutes for this task, five minutes to reflect on what Imamate is, and why is it so important for Shi'a Muslims today? If you're stuck, there you go, right time this time.

Try to use those key terms just there, and I'll see you in five minutes.

Okay.

Welcome back.

And the answer that you should have had is the following.

So Imamate is the belief in the authority of the Imams, as a chosen divine successors after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Now these Imams, there are 12, and they all come from Ahl Al Bayt, which means the People of the Household.

They are the closest, 'cause they are the blood relatives of the Prophet Muhammad.

And they are seen as a chosen successors and authority to lead the Muslim community after the death of the prophet.

But who are these 12 Imams? So what Imams are part of the Imamate tradition? So here we have the 12 Imams, which are very significant and important for the Shi'a school of thought.

Now, remember, the majority of Shi'a are known as 'The Twelvers'.

So within the Shi'a tradition, you have many different denominations of the Shi'a tradition.

So a good way to know this is, for example, if we look at any religion.

So if I give you example like Christianity, yeah, we don't have one denomination of Christians.

We have Orthodox Christians, you have Eastern Orthodox Christians or Roman Catholic, we have Ethiopian Orthodox, we have Pentecostal Methodist, Baptist, and so on.

Likewise, within the Shi'a tradition, and also in the Sunni tradition, there are many different denominations.

So the majority of Shi'a are known as 'The Twelvers'.

However, there are also other groups of Shi'a Muslims, such as the Isma'ilis who believe in the Imams, but they believe in more Imams, as Imams had several children.

For this reason, some Shi'a groups believe that another son was the next rightful Imam.

So these individuals, now, if we look at the top, I'm always getting the wrong way.

There we go.

Yeah.

Just here, number one.

So, Imam Ali.

Yeah.

We already know Imam Ali is the cousin and the son in law of the Prophet Muhammad.

Now, number two, and number three, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain they are very, very important Imams cause they are the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and a very unfortunate event occurs at the Karbala into which they are brutally murdered.

Now these Imams. You have Imam Ali, Hassan, Hussain, Zainul Abideen, Baqir, Sadiq, Kazim, Reza, Taqi, Naqi, Askari and Imam Mahdi.

Now, Imam Mahdi is a very interesting character within Islamic thinking.

And hopefully we'll have an opportunity today to understand why he is so important.

But what I'd like you to do is the following, it's time to test your memory! So I'm going to give you five minutes to try to remember all 12 of these Imams in order.

So a good way to do this is I'd like you to write them down, then to cover and see if you can remember by heart and to see the ones that you can't remember, focus on them.

So you've got five minutes to try to remember these Imams in the order that they are, because then in a moment, I'm going to test your knowledge and see what Imams can you remember? So at this point in the video, could I please ask for you to pause the video and start revising and learning the names of these Imams and then come back together for a test in just five minutes.

Okay.

Are you ready? Here you go.

What Imams are missing? You have three minutes to work out what Imams are missing.

And at this point it probably makes sense if you pause the video as well.

So I'll see you in a moment with the correct answers.

So here are the answers that you should have had.

Number two was Imam Hassan, number six was Imam Sadiq, number seven was Imam Kazim, number 11 was Imam Askari.

Now, it's really important that you know some of these Imams, cause in your exit quiz, I'm going to try to test you again.

So really well done on this task to all of you.

But what evidence is there for Imamate? So we know who the Imams are.

We know the 12 names of these Imams, and these Imams, they have titles as well.

So we look at Ali.

Yeah, Ali is known as the commander of the faith.

He's also known as the Wali, yeah, and this term for the Shi'a tradition, Wali, means that of a friend.

Now, in Arabic, Wali can mean many different terms, but this is really important, that he's seen as a friend of Allah, according to the Shi'a tradition.

And then there's Hassan, Hassan and his nickname being the chosen one.

And then we have Imam Sadiq, number six, which means the honest.

So we have all these Imams and they have certain titles, and these titles are of respect.

What evidence do we have for Imamate? Now's a good time for you to pause the video, and to open up the resource sheet titled 'How might Shi'a Muslims use these verses to support the concept of Imamate?' For this task, I'd like for you to spend 15 minutes, and the resource sheet that you have has verses from the Qur'an.

What I'd like for you to do is to use your notes from today to help you answer, how can these verses support the concept of Imamate? Now, if you're stuck, remember Imamate is the belief in authority of the Imams as chosen successors who are from the bloodline of Prophet Muhammad.

And this is a really important thing that we haven't mentioned so far.

They are free from sin, so they're infallible.

And they cannot sin.

They have knowledge, and they're chosen by God.

So if you could do the following right now, this is a good time for you to pause the video and I'll see you back in 15 minutes, and we'll go over the answers together.

Right, it's time to look at our answers.

A really big well done, that's the first time that you've been looking at evidence of scripture and being able to evaluate it and to extract certain information from it, with the links to our learning today.

So now let's look at the answers.

Now you may need a different colour pen.

Cause there may be that you need to write some additional notes.

So let's look at how these two verses in the Qur'an indicate and suggest the concept of Imamate.

And for a moment, I'm going to disappear.

There we go.

Okay.

So we have the following two verses.

Verse two in the Qur'an.

"And [Mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place it upon one who causes corruption, therein and sheds bloods, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know." So how can this support Imamate? Well, this shows that Allah is stating that he will make a successive authority on earth, not a prophet, but a leader.

And this could show that Allah has commanded that he will leave humanity with a guide, according to the Shi'as school of thought.

So this is a very important part of evidence that a Shi'a tradition use to indicate the concept of Imamate, found within the Qur'an.

"Allah intends only to remove you from the impurity , O people of the [Prophet's] household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification." Now, this shows that Allah is purifying the Ahl al Bayt from impurity of sin.

So, for the Shi'a tradition, it is believed that these individuals are infallible and they cannot sin.

And also they're perfect role models for the whole of mankind.

So, some really important and very interesting evidence here.

This evidence here indicates for the Shi'a tradition, that Allah has appointed these Imams, that are infallible and with their words and deeds they would guide humanity as a model.

And they're appointed for all matters of faith.

So as well as the Qur'an, what's really important for the Shi'a tradition is that of the Hadiths as a source of knowledge, which explains and indicates the concept of Imamates.

So we have the Hadiths.

Now, the Hadiths are the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.

These sayings were recorded during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad.

We have to remind ourselves who he was to humanity, for the early Muslims of both the companions and of his family and for the people that had converted to Islam, and for Muslims today as well, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is seen as of the best of mankind.

So for that reason, everything that he said, was in one way or another, recorded and written.

So some key events that occur of what he said, recorded and written, to even the smallest things when he spoke about, for example, how smiling is a form of charity.

So we have this Hadith, and this is the Hadith of the Cloak.

So it's not only the Qur'an, but the evidence of the Hadith.

Now, in this Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad, he takes off his cloak and he wraps Fatima, Hasan, Hussain and Ali, and he says "O Allah! These are people of my house, so remove Rijs from them." Now this is seen as a really important, or really fundamental part of us understanding what Imamate is.

The fact he said "remove uncleanliness from them", indicates that these individuals, for the Shi'a school of thought, are infallible and they cannot make mistakes.

And also that their words and deeds are a form of being a role model for all of humankind.

So the Hadith of the cloak really indicates, for the Shi'a tradition as well, that the Prophet Muhammad, during his lifetime, appointed these individuals for all matters of faith, especially of those of the bloodline of the prophet, because they are seen as rightly appointed individuals as a source of authority for Islam.

So in summary, we have the following: Imamate, it's a fundamental belief that is found within the Shi'a tradition.

Imamate is the belief that Allah has chosen successors and authority to guide humankind which comes from the bloodline from Muhammad.

Ali should have been the first Caliph after death of the prophet, and he's also the first Imam.

The Imams are infallible, and they have knowledge, and they're chosen by God.

And evidence of Imamate for the Shi'a tradition is found in both in the Qur'an and both in the Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad.

So very, very interesting lesson today.

We can really grasp from this lesson.

What Imamate is and why is it so important for the Shi'a school of thought, and what the scriptural evidence is for it? So we can find the reasoning for this as well.

And that summarises our learning for today.

So just a reminder, as always, you can share your work with Oak National, with permission from your parent or carer on social media, but you must get permission from them.

And it also gives me an opportunity to see your work.

So just a reminder, you're not finished just yet.

There's one more thing left for you to do, which is your exit quiz.

So let's see how much knowledge you can you remember from your exit quiz? And on that basis, students, I will see you next week for our next lesson.

Take care, best wishes, and see you soon.