The Conferment of Legislation upon Immaculate Imams According to Imamyah Scholars

The term 'conferment' is sometimes used in a sense counter to arbitration and sometimes it implies the assignment of at least some affairs to a noble man by God. The latter sense of the term is being classified in two general forms of generic and legislative. Conferment in legislative sense means that the Lord has assigned the institution of some judicial and public laws to Immaculate Imams without being preceded by any revelation or inspiration. This is called Welayat to legislation or legislative Welayat. This essay has examined this sense of conferment according to Imamyah point of view and concluded that Imamyah approach has given rise to three theories in this regard each one of which has its own proponents and can be categorized in two groups of theories respectively insist on the commonality of legislation and those that see the latter an specificity of Divine Essence. Both theories ground themselves in Quranic documentations; however, it seems that the theory of commonality represents the dominant view of scientific community of Imamyah. This theory is of two kinds in respect of its scope, i.e. minimal and maximal, the former one of which insists on legislative conferment as a specific gift of the Prophet while the latter regards it as a common gift of the Prophet and Imams and both defend their stances with verses of Quran and prophetic traditions.