Examining the Extent of Imam’s Knowledge Based on the Argument of Wisdom

Understanding the extent of Imam’s knowledge plays an important role in understanding Imam and his high status. One of the ways that has been neglected by researchers and can be used to pay attention to the extent of Imam’s knowledge is the quality and quantity of this knowledge with the use of rational rules. According to the viewpoints of Muslim sages, the levels of human existence in the universe start from the level of material intellect and end at the level of acquired intellect, in which the soul, by connecting to the active intellect, becomes similar to it, or rather, becomes one with it. In the acquired intellect, the forms of all beings exist passively; whereas, in the active intellect, all forms of beings exist actively. The final perfection of a human being is to reach the status of acquired intellect and he has the ability to have knowledge that includes all the truths of the world and has an infinite and unlimited extent. On the other hand, Divine wisdom requires that no creation, including this creative capacity in human existence, should be useless or nullified, because a nullified creation is indecent and against Divine wisdom. The present research, after explaining these preliminaries, shows that at least some human beings have reached such a status and have such knowledge. Then, in the process of identifying the examples of acquired wisdom, the viewpoints of some Islamic philosophers are used and the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.), who enjoy the position of Wilāya, are introduced as the perfect example of such wisdom.