182 No god but God
mad’s earthly authority, there must also exist an “ever-present” or
“pre-existent” Imam who, as the eternal guardian of the Revelation,
functions as “the Proof of God on Earth.” Thus, the first Imam was
neither Muhammad nor Ali but Adam. And while the functions of
Imam and Prophet have occasionally existed in a single individual, the
difference between the two positions is primarily one of conscious-
ness. A prophet, claim the Shi‘ah, is someone who has, by the divine
will, become conscious of God’s eternal message, which forever envel-
ops creation like a numinous ether we cannot escape, while the Imam
is someone who explicates that message for those who possess neither
the prophetic consciousness necessary to recognize it nor the power
of reason to understand it. Put another way, the prophet transmits the
Message of God, while the Imam translates it for human beings.
According to the Shi‘ah, this relationship between Prophet and
Imam can be observed throughout the history of prophecy. Abraham
may have been given the covenant by God, but it was Isaac and Ismail
who, as his Imams, fulfilled it; Moses may have revealed the divine
law, but it was Aaron who carried it into the Promised Land; Jesus
may have preached salvation, but it was Peter who built the Church.
In the same way, Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, may have
revealed God’s message to the Arabs, but it was left to Ali, his legiti-
mate successor, to execute it. Thus the Shi‘ite profession of faith:
“There is no god but God, Muhammad is God’s Messenger, and
Ali is God’s Executor (wali ).”
As the executor of God’s will, the Imam is, like the Prophet, infal-
lible and sinless, for “sin would destroy the validity of the call.” Con-
sequently, the Shi‘ah developed the view that the Imams were created
not from dust, as other humans were, but from eternal light. Further-
more, the Imams are said to preserve a secret esoteric knowledge
handed down from Imam to Imam in a mystical transfer of conscious-
ness. This esoteric knowledge includes the keeping of secret books,
such as The Book of Fatima, which recounts Gabriel’s revelations to
Fatima after Muhammad’s death. The Imams also know the secret
name of God and are the only ones who possess the spiritual guidance
necessary to reveal the inner truth of the Muslim faith.
It is this spiritual guidance that gives the Imams sole authority to
interpret the Quran. The Shi‘ah believe the Quran contains within its