Surveying the Issue of Imāmate Throughout the Letters of Imāms

The collection of letters written by (Shiite twelve) Imāms is a precious heritage in which a large variety of issues such as theological, juristical and ethical ones are discussed, making them appropriate sources for subjective researches. In this thesis we survey the issue of Imāmate throughout these letters. Having done that, a series of issues appears to be in a special order; in the letters of Imām Ali, Imām Hasan, Imām Hussain (peace be upon them) the rightness of Ahl-ul-Bait^, s priority for the positions of Imāmate and Calliphate is emphasized; in the letters of Imām Sajjad, Imām Bāgher and Imām Sādegh (p.b.u.t) it is advised to acknowledge and obey Imām, while those of Imām Kāzem up to Imām Askari (p.b.u.t) deal with describing the character of Imām. Beside these, of course, some other issues like the knowledge and position of Imām have also been mentioned. In the first chapter, from a historical point of view we divide the letters to three eras and discuss political, cultural and social grounds of Imāmate. During the first era due to departure of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) the letters mostly are related to conflicts over Calliphate. In the second era the Shiite society entering a new atmosphere confronted some challenges over the concept of Imāmate. While in the third era, from the time of Imām Kāzem onwards, most of these challenges concern with the designation of Imām and leadership crisis, as a result. So the letters of Imāms in this era are mostly on introducing the successor Imām. In the second Chapter we typologize the addressees of the letters dividing them into two groups of Shiite and non-Shiite, the former itself being capable of viewing from different points.