Interactions of the Imams with False Claimants to Islamic Leadership

One of the biggest challenges that the Imams faced was the rise of false claimants to the Islamic leadership, who took advantage of the emotions of the people and the right political circumstances in order to pursue their own selfish goals. The Imams had certain ways to deal with these individuals who sometimes claimed to be Imams, or Prophets, or a direct connection with God and revelation. We can state some of the most popular of these claimants, and the methods that they used. They used to lie about things that the Prophets and Imams before them stated, by altering traditions and other times coming up with traditions that never existed before. They used to betray the trust that the infallibles placed in them. This article analyzes the methods with which the Imams dealt with these people. The Imams used two distinct corrective and punitive. The punitive measures included inviting them to come back to the right path, public announcement of the lie, informing the people about the ill character of the claimant, and announcing the claimant to be disbeliever. The corrective measures included teaching them the fundamentals of Islam, as well as the importance of the Prophet and the Imams. They also advised the individual to work on his spirituality, and providing examples to do so. The article ends with certain suggestions on how to make these lessons applicable on our own lives.