Bismillah.
وَإِذِ ابْتَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا
When his Lord tested Abraham with certain words and he fulfilled them, He said, ‘I am making you the Imam of mankind.
(Sūrat al-Baqarah, No. 2, Āyat 124)
Prophet Ibrāhīm‘alayhis-salām is a remarkable example of unwavering faith, submission, and pure monotheism. His life was filled with immense trials, which Muslims are reminded of not only through his numerous mentions in the Noble Quran but also through the rituals of Hajj and the celebration of Eid al-Adhā.
Allah ‘azza wajall appointed Ibrāhīm (a) as an apostle while he was still a young man in Iraq. However, the verse from Sūrat al-Baqarah referenced above states that Allah later made him an Imam—an event that occurred much later in his life. By that time, he had already been exiled from Iraq, settled in Palestine, grown old, and been blessed with his first son, Ismā‘īl, and later endured the profound trial of being commanded to sacrifice his son.
This raises an important question: What does Imam mean in this verse? How is it possible that Ibrāhīm was already an apostle but had not yet attained the status of an Imam? To clarify, the word Imam in Arabic generally means “leader,” but in this Quranic context, it refers to a lofty spiritual rank. Elsewhere in the Quran, Imam is also used to describe a highway, emphasizing the idea that just as a highway guides travellers to their destination, a true leader guides people toward the right path: وَإِنَّهُمَا لَبِإِمَامٍ مُّبِينٍ – and indeed, the two of them [the communities of Prophet Lūt and Prophet Shu’ayb] are on an open highway(Q 15:79).
However, in the earlier verse of Sūrat al-Baqarah, as well as in the following verse from Sūrahs Al-Anbiyā and Al-Sajdah, the word Imam refers to the highest spiritual authority of an era—the leader of souls in the celestial realm (malakūt) who, guides other souls toward Allah.
وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا
We appointed amongst them Imams to guide by Our command (Q 21: 73 & 32:24)
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī elaborates on this point in one of his works on thematic exegesis, comparing various verses of the Noble Quran to demonstrate that some verses address the worldly responsibilities of a prophet—such as propagating religion, being obeyed, or managing a war effort—while others, like the two verses mentioned above, refer to a profound spiritual status and an existential rank that the Imam holds. To strengthen his argument, the Āyatullāh emphasizes the use of the word amr in the verses of al-Anbiyā and al-Sajdah. He clarifies that amr denotes God’s divine command, a transcendent reality that operates independently of natural, worldly processes for its fulfilment.
An important aspect of the spiritual position of an Imam is that only one person can hold it at any given time. For instance, during the lifetime of the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa-ālihi wasallam, he was the Imam, even though Amīr al-Mu’minīn Ali ibn Abi Talib and his sons the Hasanayn ‘alayhimus-salām were also present. Consider the following tradition: Once, Imam Alī al-Hādī ‘alayhis-salām was sitting with Abū Zakariyyā … reading from a tablet while his father was in Baghdad. Suddenly, he began to weep intensely. Abū Zakariyyā said to him, “O my master, what makes you weep?” … The Imam replied, “My father has passed away at this hour”. Abū Zakariyyā asked, “How do you know?” The Imam said, “Something entered my heart from the majesty of Allah, and I had never experienced it before.”
We ask Allah to grant us the ability to truly understand the revered position of an Imam and to convey this knowledge to others. We pray that Allah keeps us always connected to our Imam and guides us to faithfully obey him.
Resources: Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī, Sīreh-ye Payambarān dar Qur’ān (Tafsīr-e Mawdu’ī, vol. 6), Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Wakīlī, Bī Nihāyat (vol. 2).