The Legitimacy of Imam's  Divine Appointment in the political Theology of Asharites

Political legitimacy is regarded one of the most important issues in political theology. There are several views about legitimacy in the political theology of Asharites, important of which is ‘’divine appointment’’. All Asharite theologians adhere to this view and give it precedence over the other the views about proving political legitimacy. Of course, according to Asharite political theology, the idea of ‘’divine appointment’’ does not correspond to the necessity of appointment Imam by God, rather it indicates that, in case there is such an appointment, the appointed person has political legitimacy. It is over this point that Asharites and Imamites have difference of opinion. Using a descriptive and analytical method, the present paper first explains the view of ‘’divine appointment’’ and proves the evidence supporting it, and then, investigates Asharites’ evidence for rejecting the necessity of ‘’divine appointment’’, and citing evidence from intellectual sciences and transmitted sciences (based on Sunni’s principles and sources) the paper demonstrates the necessity of divine appointment.