By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
      "When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a Caliph (vicegerent) on the (Planet) Earth…” (Holy Qur’an 2:30)
       "O David! Indeed We have made you a Caliph (vicegerent) on the Earth; so judge between people with justice…” (Holy Qur’an 38:26)
       The above-mentioned Words of God Almighty are ample proof that caliphate or leadership of mankind is a Divine Trust, and it is the Creator Alone Who appoints the Caliph, as His representative to manage in the proper way the affairs of mankind.
       In other words, it means anyone styling himself a caliph is nothing but an imposter, and no individual or a group have the right to elect, select, designate or nominate any person as caliph.
      As the folios of Islamic history bear testimony the Last and Greatest Messenger of God and the Best of creation, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) did not appoint his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as Vicegerent (Caliph) until he received the formal commandment of God at Ghadeer-Khom near Juhfa while returning from his Farewell Hajj pilgrimage, as is evident by revelation of ayah 67 of Surah Ma’edah, and his immortal proclamation to the massive gathering of 120,000 pilgrims:
      "Man kunto Mowla fa hadha Aliyun Mowla (For whomsoever I am Master this Ali is his Master).”
      We are not concerned here with the sad turn of events after the passing away of the Prophet when the caliphate or political leadership of the Islamic state (not the divinely-designated authority over all mankind) of Imam Ali (AS) was usurped by a clique of undeserving persons against the letter and spirit of the Holy Qur’an and the instruction of the Prophet.
       It is outside the scope of this brief newspaper column to refer to the huge throngs that gathered at the doorstop of Imam Ali (AS) in 35 AH, begging him to take up the reins of the "orphaned caliphate”, which he reluctantly did after making it clear that he will only act according to the Holy Qur’an and the Precepts of the Prophet without observing any of the innovations that had crept in over the past twenty-five years – thereby proving for all time that his legitimacy to rule does not depend on the will of the masses, but is the result of Divine-Designation, no matter if some harebrained persons understand or not.
      The intention is not dig up the tyrants, the debauchees, the apostates, the atheists, and the cannibals who masqueraded as caliphs still do so by indulging in the most macabre massacres of Muslim men, women, and children.        
      The advent of the eve of the tragic 25th of Shawwal brings tears to our eyes and warrants us to focus on the exemplary life of the person who rejected the offer of caliphate of a vast realm extending from the borders of China and India in the east to Spain in the West.
       He was neither unfit nor ineligible. He was in fact the most deserving person of his age in terms of not just knowledge and piety but a flawless pedigree reaching the Seal of Messengers.
       The reason Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) burned in the flame of a nearby lamp, without bothering to open the letter containing the offer of caliphate sent by the victorious general Abu Salama after routing the ungodly Omayyads and ending their usurpation of the caliphate, was the fact that he wanted Muslims of all time to understand that as specified by God in the Holy Qur’an, mortals cannot make or unmake a truly Islamic Caliph.
      To be more precise, Imam Sadeq’s (AS) Divinely-Designated authority as the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) was beyond the grasp of any usurper, and neither did it depend on the whims of a general, harbouring any ulterior motives in vesting temporal rule to the Imam of the age.
      He knew that his illustrious ancestor, Imam Ali (AS), had set the lasting precedent of the true caliphate by establishing the only instance of the rule of social justice, and now it was Divine Will that only the 12th and Last Infallible Heir of the Prophet will rise as Qa’em al-Mahdi in the end times to establish the global government of justice, after God had given opportunity to every nation or ideological group to exercise political authority – albeit in its crudest and cruelest forms – so that on the Day of Resurrection no one could say that they would have a formed a fair and just government if given the chance.
      Glory to Imam Sadeq (AS), who continues to inspire the true believers with the immortal legacy of jurisprudence that he bequeathed to prosperity by reviving in his times the genuine practice and behaviour (Sunnah wa Seerah) of the Prophet which was a household affair for him, in contrast to the guesswork of the pseudo jurisprudents of his times, who unfortunately misled masses of Muslims.
       Neither Mansour Dawaniqi, the Abbasid tyrant who martyred Imam Sadeq (AS) on the assumption of ending the line of the genuine caliphate of Islam, nor the heretical Wahhabis who demolished the holy mausoleum housing the blessed graves of the Prophet’s 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Infallible Heirs, in the vain hope of obliterating the legacy of the Ahl al-Bayt, have succeeded in their sinister aims.