Resources for Imams’ Knowledge from the Perspective of Qom Rhetoric Scholars : a Case Study of Barghi, Kulayni and Sadooq

The fact that Imams are in possession of special, infinite knowledge bequeathed from Almighty Allah is agreed upon among all Imami scholars. However, scholars have showed differing views on two pivotal issues namely the sphere of Imams knowelege and the source of Imams knowledge. Hadiths have singled out varied sources for Imams knowledge. Scholars in Qom religious school have quoted some hadiths and outlined the sources for Imams knowledge. The current  study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach and seeks to find answer to the following question: what was the stance taken by Qom religious school scholars toward the two pivotal questions mentioned earlier. In so doing, the current paper investigated the viewpoints expressed by three prominent scholars representing three main ideological streamlines in om. The results show that all the main ideological thoughlines attributed special infinite knowledge for Imams. However, they expressed differing views with regard to the sources of Imams Knowledge according to the religious orientation they had. The two sources of Imams’ knowledge were “inspiration” and “heredity” as outlined by the above-mentioned scholars in the religious school.