Abstract

One of the important issues discussed in religious texts under the rubric of man’s divine vicegerency is the necessity of being a vicegerent in the world. Following religious texts, mystical ontology has dealt with the necessity of a vicegerent, i.e. the perfect man. In addition to Islamic mysticism, the issue has been differently discussed in different Islamic sciences such as theology and philosophy, each of which addresses the issue from its specific intellectual angle and with regard to its specific foundations. Having reviewed the hadiths narrated by Holy Prophet’s household, the present paper elaborates on the necessity of vicegerency from the view of Islamic mysticism and clarifies the degree of conformity of mystics’ explanation with infallible Imams’ school.