Spiritual guidance of Imam and the problem of pontificate in the Thought of Allameh Tabatabai and in Tafsir al-Mizan

Spiritual Guardianship is one of the highest levels of Guardianship in the issue of the Imamat which is realized by Devine permission through spiritual dominance of Imam over people. Spiritual Guardianship is a kind of spiritual authority and dominancethat is obtained by divine permission for Imamthrough passing of the path of thraldom and reaching the proximity of Allah. In view of Allameh Tabatabai، Guardianship is different other than Prophecy، Caliphate، recommended successor (executer/Vasi) or Imamate which it means religious authority and political leadership. In addition to the appearance of life، human being possesses an inward and spiritual life and he needs special guidance and specific instructions from Imams to reach to the highest status. Allameh Tabatabai believes that Imamate status is superior to Prophecy andsome particular prophets and special people can obtain the competency of being Imam after passing of different phases and hard tests of competence. Imam guides people with inward guidance by divine permission and he leads well-prepared human beings to real and divine ideal and divine destination by possession of his guardianship. Allameh is called this guidance ascommand guidance. Thisresearch is a descriptive and library study that it seeks to explore the different aspects of inward guidance and Imam’s spiritual Guardianship Allameh Tabatabai particularly in his book، Tafsir al-Mizan by analyzing of the text.