The effects and blessings of man’s caliphate according to the Quran from the viewpoint of Shia and Sunni Exegeses1

The purpose of this study is to define the meaning of man as the vicegerent of God and to find out what its effects and blessings are from the viewpoints of Shia and Sunni exegetes. The most comprehensive Quranic verse touching on this issue is verse 30 in chapter 2. Before mentioning man’s creation in this chapter, God refers to man’s spiritual status, i.e. his position as the vicegerent of God. This indicates the importance of this issue in man’s fate. Man’s status distinguishes him from other creatures, determines his position in the universe, and makes other creatures submissive to him. According to the apparent meaning of some other verses, this position is not limited to certain few people, namely Adam and the infallibles among his progeny. Of course, this high status does not belong to those who have fallen from the position of humanity. Therefore, fallible humans, depending on their capacity and provided that the necessary conditions are met and there are no obstacles, are vicegerents of God proportionate to their positions. The highest level of caliphate, however, belongs to perfect humans, the best example of whom are the infallibles. The outcomes of this study shows that being the manifestation of God, being revered by angels, becoming a role model for angels, living a spiritual life, being calm, having light to find the right path in the dark, salvation, getting the way out of darkness, felicity, entering Paradise and attaining eternal bliss are the effects of man’s caliphate from the viewpoint of Shia exegetes. Considering that Sunni scholars and commentators confine the effects and blessings of caliphate only to the ruler of the faithful community, therefore, from their point of view, the most important effect of caliphate in the society is securing social justice by implementing Islamic laws, providing social security for the ease and calm of the faithful community, guarding the Islamic borders and preaching and propagating Islam. The data in this research have been gathered by library research from printed sources, computers and scientific software and then organized following an analytical-descriptive method.