The Zaydi Position on the Imamate of the Less-Excellent in the Presence of the More-Excellent
Question:
What is the basis of the doctrine that allows the leadership (imamate) of one who is less excellent while someone more excellent exists — a doctrine that our noble school adopts — so that we may gain deeper understanding and know the reasoning behind it?
Answer:
The issue of the imamate of the less-excellent in the presence of the more-excellent has been discussed by scholars of various religious sects and creeds, and it has been attributed to the Ṣāliḥiyya branch of the Zaydiyya. However, this attribution is incorrect according to the Zaydi methodology upheld by the Imams of the Prophet’s Household. By this claim they intend to suggest that the Zaydis affirm the imamate of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar despite the presence of the more excellent, the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him). Yet what is established from the statements of the Imams of the Household is the rejection of this notion — namely, the imamate of the less-excellent when the more-excellent exists.
Imam al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Mu’ayyadī (peace be upon him) said, in his discussion about Abū Bakr and the Commander of the Faithful:
“Even if there had been no explicit designation for his imamate — peace be upon him — then the imamate of the less-excellent in the presence of the more-excellent would still be invalid, as is established by its proofs. There is no doubt that he was the most excellent of the Companions.”
[al-Iṣbāḥ ʿalā al-Miṣbāḥ]
In the same context, the scholar Ibn Ḥābis (may God have mercy on him) said:
“The fifth proof for his imamate — peace be upon him — is what is established that he was the most excellent of people after the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, while the rest of the Companions were less excellent; and the imamate of the less-excellent is not valid.”
[al-Iṣbāḥ ʿalā al-Miṣbāḥ]
Imam ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn al-Ḥasan (peace be upon him) said:
“What the Zaydis and some of the Muʿtazila, such as ʿAbbād, hold is that the imamate of the less-excellent is invalid. This was mentioned by Judge ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan al-Dawārī, who said: Among those who explicitly stated this were al-Hādī ilā al-Ḥaqq and al-Nāṣir — peace be upon them both — and that the less-excellent becomes sinful if he precedes the more-excellent by calling to the imamate.”
[al-ʿInāya al-Tāmma]
This was also the view of the scholar Ibn Madāʿis and Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh al-Qāsim ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAyyānī. Imam al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm al-Rassī (peace be upon him) said:
“If there are two imams, one of them must be more excellent than the other; thus the imamate of the less-excellent is nullified by the superiority of the other over him, and it becomes obligatory to give precedence to the more-excellent in religion and knowledge and to obey him.”
[Collected Works and Epistles of Imam al-Qāsim al-Rassī]
Imam al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī (peace be upon him), speaking about the imamate of the Commander of the Faithful, said:
“They did not submit to him in obedience as God commanded them, and it is impossible for the less-excellent to be an imam over the more-excellent, because God has given precedence to the more-excellent by virtue of his excellence.”
[Jāmiʿ ʿUlūm Āl Muḥammad]
This was also the view of Imam al-Nāṭiq bi-l-Ḥaqq Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Hārūnī (peace be upon him).
Yes — as you can see, this is the position of the Imams of the Prophet’s Household regarding the more-excellent and the less-excellent. I once asked our living teacher, the shining scholar and authority, Sayyid ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥusayn Shāyim al-Mu’ayyadī (peace be upon him), about the theoretical basis of allowing the imamate of the less-excellent when the more-excellent exists among the People of the Household, and whether the imam must be the most knowledgeable person of his time. He replied:
“It is obligatory for the less-excellent to yield the imamate to the more-excellent; this is the opinion of most of the Imams of the People of the Household. As for my own view: if ‘excellence’ refers to reward and its abundance, then only God knows it; and if it refers to the abundance of acts of worship and obedience that bring one nearer to God, it does not appear to me that these alone warrant imamate or precedence. Rather, I see that if an imam gathers the required conditions — foremost among them knowledge (ijtihād), piety, and political leadership that organizes the affairs of the community — and if he precedes others by openly calling to leadership and rises to jihad, then by this he becomes the most excellent of his time. God, exalted be He, has favored the striving fighters in many verses; thus he surpasses one who is abundant in worship but did not undertake jihad. This is my view, and God grants success to what is correct. As for your question whether the imam must be the most knowledgeable of his time: the degrees of knowledge have no fixed limit; rather, the required condition is ijtihād. Whoever attains the capacity for absolute ijtihād, that is sufficient.”
I also asked him:
“Is a just ruler from outside the descendants of Fāṭima considered a legitimate imam — such as ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — to whom the hadith applies: ‘Whoever dies without knowing his imam dies a death of ignorance’?”
He replied:
“Whoever is like ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz in his justice, asceticism, revival of the purified law, and implementation of its legal forms and approved limits is considered among the just rulers (sulṭān al-ʿadl), not among the imams who issue the call to leadership. One of the conditions of the imamate in Zaydi doctrine is lineage — that he be from the descendants of the two grandsons (al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn). A figure like ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is praised and remembered for establishing justice, restoring rights, aiding the oppressed, and restraining the oppressors, yet he is not an imam whose obedience is religiously obligatory like the guiding imams. However, since he enjoins right and forbids wrong, supporting him in that is obligatory, for he is like a public moral overseer (muḥtasib). And if an imam who fulfills the Zaydi conditions appears, such a ruler must step aside and hand authority to him — this is what the texts of the Imams require.”
Thus the answer to this issue — the imamate of the less-excellent in the presence of the more-excellent — is complete. It is among the matters in which many researchers err when they attribute it to the Zaydis.
May God grant you success.
Answered by: al-Ustādh al-Kāẓim al-Zaydī — may God grant him success.
O God, send blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad.
Translation of Ustadh Kadhim Al Zaydi (May Allah reward him)