The Rational and Narrational Bases of Imam's Knowledge of the Unseen (Qaib)

Some questions about Imam's knowledge of the unseen have been posed nowadays such as: Imam's knowledge of the unseen is a new-born discussion posed through a long process and a historical course some centuries after the life of Imams; otherwise this knowledge has not been posed from the beginning ages of Islam.This article will investigate the rational and narrational bases of Imam's knowledge of the unseen and will reach to the conclusion that the theory of Imam's knowledge of the unseen is rooted in Quran's verses and narrations. The knowledge of the unseen has been posed in the time of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Imams and they have affirmed this knowledge. Therefore there is no doubt about Imam's knowledge of the unseen among Shiite scholars, although they occasionally disagree about the range of this knowledge. Some believe the range of this knowledge is jurisprudence and beliefs and some believe the range is greater than this. This point will be completely clarified in this article.