When did the term infallibility first appear in Zaydi thought?
The term infallibility, as a belief, is ancient. Its origin goes back to the statements of the Messenger of God—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family—to ʿAlī, al-Ḥasanayn, and the People of the House, and to those reports indicating the infallibility of certain individuals among them, or the infallibility of their consensus. Its basis is the Messenger of God—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family—and its basis is also the Book of God Most High, which establishes that infallibility concerning the People of the Cloak:
“Allah only intends to keep ˹the causes of˺ evil away from you and purify you completely, O members of the ˹Prophet’s˺ family!”
[al-Aḥzāb 33:33]
And his saying—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family:
“al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn are the two leaders of the youth of Paradise,”
and his saying—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family:
“ʿAlī is with the truth, and the truth is with ʿAlī,”
and his saying—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family and peace:
“O ʿAmmār, if the people follow one valley, and ʿAlī follows another valley, then follow the valley of ʿAlī,”
and his saying—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family—about Fāṭimah:
“She is the mistress of the women of the worlds”
and his saying—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family:
“Whoever has me as his master, then ʿAlī is his master.”
These reports, in these wordings or in their meaning, are proofs establishing individual infallibility; and there are also proofs establishing collective infallibility for those among the Prophet’s progeny after Imam al-Ḥusayn concerning whom no explicit designation has been established. Such are the ḥadīths of al-Thaqalayn (the Two Weighty Things), the Ark, the Stars, precedence, and others.
This is with regard to the evidences. As for the use of the actual term infallibility, in what I have examined I found that the two Imams, al-Bāqir and Zayd ibn ʿAlī, were the first to use it—or at least the earliest from whom its transmission has reached us—and they were contemporaries of the first and second centuries among the leading figures of the Prophet’s progeny.
And I shall quote their statements from our narrations and from the narrations of others:
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Kūfī narrated from Imam al-Bāqir (d. 118 AH) that he said:
“The infallible ones among us are five: the Messenger of God, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn—may blessings be upon them all.” ([1])
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir narrated from Imam Zayd ibn ʿAlī (d. 122 AH) that he said:
“The infallible ones among us are five: the Prophet, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn.” ([2])
Imam Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī (d. 247 AH) was asked about a man whose testimony alone is admissible. He said:
“No—except ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn.”
It was said to him: “How is that?”
He said: “Because they are infallible.” ([3])
This suffices for me, for in it there is enough to answer the question asked.
O God, bless Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad
Translation of Ustadh Kadhim Al Zaydi (May Allah reward him)
Footnotes
[1] Manāqib Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, 2/162.
[2] Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq, 19/464. It was also narrated from Imam Zayd ibn ʿAlī by al-Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Kūfī in Manāqib Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, 2/153.
[3] Jāmiʿ ʿUlūm Āl Muḥammad, manuscript.