Appearance
Who Is the Vicegerent?
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
And when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a vicegerent (khalīfa).” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we glorify Your praise and sanctify You?” He said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” (2:30)
The question
When God says I will make upon the earth a vicegerent, who is the vicegerent: Adam alone, the perfect human beings, the believers, or every human being?
Views answered: al-Zamakhsharī, al-Ṭabrisī, al-Kāshif, al-Manār
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī sets out five possibilities and examines each. Vicegerency is not limited to the person of Adam: Adam stands for humanity, as the angels prostrated to him as the exemplar of the human species. The narrations about the perfect human beings do not make it theirs alone, and the reasoning for the believers does not deny it to others. Nor does it belong in actuality to every human being, believer and disbeliever alike, as al-Kāshif and al-Manār hold. He prefers a fifth view: the reality of vicegerency was appointed for the reality of the human being, in degrees, according to how far the Divine Names are realised in each person, from the perfect human being down to those in whom it remains only a potential.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
1. Adam himself Read →
al-Zamakhsharī and al-Ṭabrisī
The vicegerent is the real person of Adam.Jawādī Āmulī
Not acceptable: what is meant is Adam’s legal personality and the station of humanity. The angels prostrated to Adam as the exemplar of the human species, so the station is not his alone.2. The perfect human beings Read →
Some narrations
Narrations call Adam the first vicegerent of God and make the named ones more deserving than the angels.Jawādī Āmulī
These narrations do not make it exclusive; they do not deny vicegerency to believers of average or weak rank.3. The pious believers Read →
A reading
The vicegerent must resemble the one he represents, and only the God-fearing do.Jawādī Āmulī
This proves vicegerency in actuality for believers, but does not deny it, at least as a potential, to others.4. Every human being, in actuality Read →
al-Kāshif and al-Manār
All human beings, believers or not, have been honoured with vicegerency, even if they are ungrateful for it.Jawādī Āmulī
This supports extending it beyond Adam and the perfect, but cannot establish actual vicegerency for the disbelieving and the obstinate.5. The human being as such, in degrees Read →
Jawādī Āmulī’s own view
The reality of vicegerency is appointed for the reality of the human being.Jawādī Āmulī
Vicegerency is graded, as knowledge of the Divine Names is: highest in the perfect human beings, weaker in others, and only a potential in those who do not realise the Names.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.