notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Who was the general deputy after the fourth special deputy, and how was he chosen? Please name up to five people.
Were these sixty deputies (or more than sixty) truly qualified for the role of deputy? How can their qualifications be assessed when access to the Infallible Imam is not possible?
And must they all necessarily be as free from error as the Infallible Imam?
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ
To designate a particular person as the general deputy after the period of the special deputies is to deny the very idea of general deputyship. People differ in their level of intellect, and each person regards whoever accords with his own thinking as the most learned. Identifying the most distinguished general deputies requires comprehensive research, since there may be little-known individuals who merit such standing but are not widely known.
Appointing a particular individual as the general deputy after the period of the special deputies would, in a sense, amount to denying general deputyship. For confining it to one particular person would deprive it of its general character. Since people differ in their intellectual capacity, general deputyship cannot be restricted to any one individual. Everyone is likely to regard the person they themselves consider most reasonable as the most learned—unless another’s superior learning is widely acknowledged on account of their renown, scholarly standing, and many virtues. Identifying the most distinguished general deputies after the special deputies, however, requires comprehensive research. Some people may well have possessed such standing while remaining obscure, or may have lacked the favour of society or its rulers.