IMAM

Arabic Imam (leader, pattern), the head of the Muslim community; the title is used in the Qur'an several times to refer to leaders and to Abraham. The origin and basis of the office of imam was conceived differently by various sections of the Muslim community, this difference providing part of the political and religious basis for the split into Sunnite and Shi'ite Islam. Among Sunnites, imam was synonymous with caliph (khalifah), designating the successor of Muhammad, who assumed his administrative and political, but not religious, functions. He was appointed by men and, although liable to error, was to be obeyed even though he personally sinned, provided he maintained the ordinances of Islam. Political disagreement over succession to his office after the death (661) of 'Ali, the fourth caliph and Muhammad's son-in-law, propelled the Shi'ite imam along a separate course of development, as partisans of 'Ali attempted to preserve leadership of the entire Muslim community among the descendants of 'Ali. In Shi'ite Islam, the imam became a figure of absolute spiritual authority and fundamental importance. 'Ali and the successive imams, who are believed by Shi'ism to be the sole possessors of secret insights into the Qur'an given them by Muhammad, under Neoplatonic influences of the 9th10th centuries AD became viewed as men illumined by the Primeval Light, God, and as divinely appointed and preserved from sin. They alone, and not the general consensus of the community (ijma') essential to Sunnite Islam, determined matters of doctrinal importance and interpreted revelation. With the historical disappearance (ghaybah) of the last imamthere has been no consistency in the number legitimized: among the major sects, Sab'iyah Isma'ilis acknowledge 7 imams and Ithna 'Ashari (Twelvers) 12there arose a belief in the hidden imam, who is identified with the mahdi . Imam has also been used as an honorary title, applied to such figures as the caliph 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and the theologians Abu Hanifah, ash-Shafi'i, Malik ibn Anas, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Ghazali, and Muhammad 'Abduh. The title imam also is sometimes given to the specially trained Muslims who lead prayers in the mosques.