”imamat” in al- farabi’s thought

rational explanation of the doctrine of imamat (spiritual leadership of the shi`ites) is one of the most important and efficient instruments that can prepare the ground for extension and propagation of this view in all over the world. so, in this article i want to study one of the first rational explanation of this view in islamic world which proposed by al- farabi. in the world of islam, farabi is one of the first philosophers who toke into consideration the necessity of existence of first ruler and his successor (imam) in his utopia (madina al-fazila), and proposed a rational argument for it. his view is here to some extent in accordance with shiites attitude. but for understanding whether his ideas is in complete agreement with shiites works or not, i study this view point in two stages: first of all, i will explain his view point and...