Comparative Interpretation of Verse 55 of Noor Surah With Emphasis on Recognizing The Mustakhlifin (مستخلفین)

One of the necessary knowledge for the salvation of human being and society is Imamology. This issue is of great importance in Islam and one of the concerns of the Prophet of God for his nation was people could know the Imams after him. The subject of recognizing the real Mustakhlifin from the false Mustakhlifin, according to the interpretation of the holy verse, "«وعد الله الذین آمنوا منکم و عملوا الصالحات لیستخلفنهم فی الارض»" is accessible. In the present article, in order to determine the meaning of the " لیستخلفنهم " in the verse, the views of the commentators of the two sects are examined. From the opinions of the commentators, it can be deduced that the Almighty God, in order to distinguish the real Mustakhlifin from the false ones, identifies the Mustakhlifin with certain characteristics in order to make it easier to identify them. Each of the commentators has proposed a view for this divine " Mustakhlifin". One of the achievements of this article which the commentators have not dealt with is that the succession of all the Imams and their guardianship will be fully realized at the time of the Reappearance of imam Mahdi (p.b.u.h.). This result agrees with the appearance of the verse and the narrations of Raj’at (return) confirm it.