The Semantics and Scope of Pre-eminent Imam Station of form the Viewpoint of Theologians

According to Shiah and most Sunnis, the pre-eminent station is one of the prerequisites for being Imam. This issue has been repeatedly challenged in discussions between Shia and Sunnis throughout history. Using a library method, this paper seeks to examine the meaning of the pre-eminence in theologians` thoughts. On the other hand, one of the main issues about pre-eminence is the scope of Imam`s pre-eminence which is an indication of the meaning of pre-eminence. In this paper the meaning of pre-eminence is analyzed from the viewpoint of theologians, which also indicates their view on the scope of pre-eminence. The findings show that Sunni theologians paid less attention to this issue and on the other hand Shia theologians present several meanings for pre-eminence.