Proofs in Favor of Multiplicity of the Infallible Imams’ Knowledge: A Hadith-Based View

There are several hadiths signifying the instant acquiring of the knowledge of the past and the present affairs by any of the Infallible Imams, hence accepted as an axiom. Incompatibility of multiplicity of the Infallible Imams’ knowledge with the contents of such hadiths on the one hand, and that such hadiths used to be thought to be not too many in number on the other hand have led to their justification. The present paper attempts to prove that such hadiths are not few in number, hence a plenty of such hadiths that prove their multiplicity have been discovered concerning the Infallible Imam’s knowledge such that the basis and nature of his knowledge are regarded as his escalating knowledge. Other types of the Infallible Imam’s knowledge prove his imamate. When apparently incompatible, they must be interpreted in the context and light of the multiplicity of his knowledge. Apparent incompatibilities of such hadiths can be solved by means of restricting their semantic and temporal scopes as well as regarding them as a different type of hadith(s), hence proofs in favor of multiplicity of the Infallible Imam’s knowledge count as their additional proofs.