قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَعْقُوبَ الْكُلَيْنِيُّ مُصَنِّفُ هَذَا الْكِتَابِ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ الْعَبَّاسِ بْنِ عُمَرَ الْفُقَيْمِيِّ عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع‏ أَنَّهُ قَالَ لِلزِّنْدِيقِ الَّذِي سَأَلَهُ مِنْ أَيْنَ أَثْبَتَّ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ وَ الرُّسُلَ قَالَ إِنَّا لَمَّا أَثْبَتْنَا أَنَّ لَنَا خَالِقاً صَانِعاً مُتَعَالِياً عَنَّا وَ عَنْ جَمِيعِ مَا خَلَقَ وَ كَانَ ذَلِكَ الصَّانِعُ حَكِيماً مُتَعَالِياً لَمْ يَجُزْ أَنْ يُشَاهِدَهُ خَلْقُهُ وَ لَا يُلَامِسُوهُ فَيُبَاشِرَهُمْ وَ يُبَاشِرُوهُ وَ يُحَاجَّهُمْ وَ يُحَاجُّوهُ ثَبَتَ أَنَّ لَهُ سُفَرَاءَ فِي خَلْقِهِ يُعَبِّرُونَ عَنْهُ إِلَى خَلْقِهِ وَ عِبَادِهِ وَ يَدُلُّونَهُمْ عَلَى مَصَالِحِهِمْ وَ مَنَافِعِهِمْ وَ مَا بِهِ بَقَاؤُهُمْ وَ فِي تَرْكِهِ فَنَاؤُهُمْ- فَثَبَتَ الْآمِرُونَ وَ النَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْحَكِيمِ الْعَلِيمِ فِي خَلْقِهِ وَ الْمُعَبِّرُونَ عَنْهُ جَلَّ وَ عَزَّ وَ هُمُ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ ع وَ صَفْوَتُهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ حُكَمَاءَ مُؤَدَّبِينَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ مَبْعُوثِينَ بِهَا غَيْرَ مُشَارِكِينَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى مُشَارَكَتِهِمْ لَهُمْ فِي الْخَلْقِ وَ التَّرْكِيبِ فِي شَيْ‏ءٍ مِنْ أَحْوَالِهِمْ مُؤَيَّدِينَ مِنْ عِنْدِ الْحَكِيمِ الْعَلِيمِ بِالْحِكْمَةِ ثُمَّ ثَبَتَ ذَلِكَ فِي كُلِّ دَهْرٍ وَ زَمَانٍ مِمَّا أَتَتْ بِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَ الْأَنْبِيَاءُ مِنَ الدَّلَائِلِ وَ الْبَرَاهِينِ لِكَيْلَا تَخْلُوَ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ مِنْ حُجَّةٍ يَكُونُ مَعَهُ عِلْمٌ يَدُلُّ عَلَى صِدْقِ مَقَالَتِهِ وَ جَوَازِ عَدَالَتِهِ

The compiler of this book, Muḥammad b. Ya‘qūb al-Kulaynī – the author of this book and may Allah have mercy upon him – has said that ‘Alī b. Ibrāhīm narrated to us from his father from al-‘Abbas b. ‘Umar al-Fuqaymī from Hishām b. al-Ḥakam from Abū ‘Abdillah (a) the following:

A heretic (zindīq) asked him (a), ‘How do you prove the existence of prophets and messengers?’ The Imam (a) replied, ‘After we have established with sufficient evidence that we have a Creator, a Maker, who is Exalted above us and the rest of what He has created, and that this Maker is All-Wise and Exalted to such an extent that His creation cannot see Him, nor touch or associate with Him, and He cannot directly communicate with them nor them with Him, then this establishes that He must have delegates amongst his creation. They speak of Him to His creation and servants and guide them towards what benefits them, and towards that which is in their best interest, and towards that in which there is their survival, and towards the abandonment of that in which there is their destruction.

Hence, this establishes the presence of people amongst His creation, who command and prohibit on behalf of the All-Wise All-Knowing. They speak on behalf of Him and they are the Prophets (a), the chosen ones from amongst His creation, the wise ones who discipline¹ through wisdom. They are sent forth with the message of wisdom, while they are different from them in their conditions and morals from them, despite being like them in form and composition, and they receive assistance through Wisdom from the All-Wise, All-Knowing. This is proven for all circumstances and all times due to what the Messengers and Prophets bring forth from the evidence and arguments, so that the earth of Allah does not remain void of a divine authority, who possesses knowledge which signifies the truth of his statements and the nobility of his justice.’²

This tradition has been cut into different segments, most likely by Shaykh Kulaynī himself, and different parts of it appear in a couple of other chapters of al-Kāfī. The proof presented in this tradition is what eventually become a widespread classical theological argument for the necessity of prophets and messengers, or in more general terms, a divine authority, to be present at all times and circumstances.

(After we have established with sufficient evidence) is referring to the arguments proving the existence of One God, who is the Lord and Creator, and were mentioned at the beginning of this tradition which has been cut out from this chapter.

‘Allāmah Majlisī in his commentary states that the Imam (a) highlights an argument for why humans need messengers, which can be interpreted and presented in a number of ways. He goes on to expand on two of these presentations – one his own, and a second which has been put forth by the philosophers.

The summary of Majlisī’s own explanation is that once we acknowledge the existence of a Wise Maker and that He does not do anything in vain, the fact that if we as His creation were not responsible for gaining His awareness and knowledge, nor servitude to Him through which we can attain success in the hereafter, our creation would have been in vain. Taking these two premises into consideration, he argues, any reasonable person will realize that we could not have been created for the mundane tasks we perform in our worldly life, which are often accompanied with difficulties, challenges and pains. However, what that greater purpose of creation happens to be and how to go about achieving it can only be learned if God reveals it to us.

Revelation is hence necessary because – as the narration also attests – God is far too exalted to be able to engage in direct communication with creation, and creation cannot perceive Him through their senses. This revelation can only be revealed upon another human, and not to any other creation, because there needs to be some similarity between the one bringing the revelation and the one to whom the revelation is being delivered to, in order for the latter to grasp and understand it. Hence, Allah (swt) chooses certain individuals from amongst the humans upon whom He sends His revelation, due to their spiritual ranks and sanctity, but also due to the fact that they are humans.

If Allah (swt) were to send revelation to a creation other than human, it would not have been possible for humans to determine whether such revelation is truly from God or not, as it is equally possible for it to have been the work of the devils. Unlike, if they were to hear someone from amongst themselves who brings and performs miraculous acts that they themselves cannot perform.

Unlike Majlisī’s aforementioned explanation of the tradition which is rooted in his application of the principle of grace (al-luṭf),³ the philosophers’ interpretation, in essence, takes a sociological approach to the discussion of the necessity of divine authorities. This is very clearly reflected in their works. For example, Ibn Sīnā in his al-Ishārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt writes:

Since a human being is not such that on his own he achieves independence in his personal affairs except by sharing with another being of his type through the exchange and commutative contract that are made between them – each of them setting his companion free from some occupation which, if the companion himself were to undertake, many things would accumulate for that individual (if this were possible to manage, it would be among the difficult things) – that is why it is necessary to have among people transactions and justice preserved by a law imposed by a legislator. This legislator is distinguished by meriting obedience due to his special possession of signs that indicate that they are from the Lord.⁴

Ibn Sīnā also offers a similar argument in his al-Shifā’. An expanded articulation of this argument under this same tradition of Imam Ṣādiq (a) can also be read in the commentary of al-Kāfī written by Mullā Ṣadrā. ‘Allāmah Majlisī goes on to summarize this argument as follows:

The argument relies on a number of premises. Firstly, we acknowledge that we have a Creator, a Maker, who has power of all things. Secondly, this Creator does not possess a physical body, hence cannot be sensed by humans through any of their senses. Thirdly, this Creator is also All-Wise and Knows of all that results in goodness and that which is in the best interest of His creation, in the very system that He has created.

Fourthly, humans are in need of someone to manage their affairs in their lives, and for someone to teach them the ways of living in the world. Unlike some animals who can live on their own, humans cannot live their lives in solitude, rather they live amongst other humans and must interact with one another. In other words, humans cannot live without one another, and living with one another cannot take place without interaction and transactions. These transactions and interactions require practices and just laws, and for that, there must be a just lawgiver. Given humans possess different affinities, desires and tastes, each of them sees their opinion as valid and the others – especially if it interferes with theirs – as oppressive. Humans cannot be left on their own with their differences and without someone to give them a path that all can follow. In addition, this lawgiver must be a human who possesses some miraculous abilities which are not possessed by the rest of them, so that they can affirm that there is something different about the individual.

These premises lead us to conclude that it is necessary for there to be a Prophet and that this Prophet should be human. They should possess certain qualities that are not possessed by other humans, and these are generally the miracles. It is necessary for this Prophet to establish the practices and laws for mankind through the permission of Allah and upon His commands and revelation. However, the first thing the Prophet must do is inform creation about their Maker and All-Powerful Creator, who is One with no partners, that the Prophet is merely His servant, and that He is All-Knowing, deserving the sole right to be worshiped and obeyed.

There are further dimensions to the aforementioned argument in the words of the philosophers, especially more contemporary ones, however, they would require a separate discussion of their own.

Sayyid Ali

Sayyid Ali studied in the seminary of Qom from 2012 to 2021, while also concurrently obtaining a M.A in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London in 2018. In the seminary he engaged in the study of legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophy, eventually attending the advanced kharij of Usul and Fiqh in 2018. He is currently completing his Masters of Education at the University of Toronto and is the head of a private faith-based school in Toronto, as well as an instructor at the Mizan Institute and Mufid Seminary.

1. Can also be read as “the wise ones who – themselves – have been disciplined through wisdom.”
2. Uṣūl al-Kāfī, v. 1, pg. 168.
3. For more explicit statements by ‘Allāmah Majlisī relying on the principle of grace to establish the necessity of divine authorities, see his discussion in his work Ḥaqq al-Yaqīn, v. 1, pg. 18.
4. English translation taken from Ibn Sīnā and Mysticism – Remarks and Admonitions: Part Four, by Shams Inati, pg. 82.