Imāmic and Scholastic Knowledge: An Interview with Sayyid Sulayman Hassan

In accordance with the Imāmī Shīʿī interpretation of Islam, the Prophet Muḥammad (ṣ) was succeeded by divinely appointed successors from among his progeny, the Imāms of the Ahl al-Bayt. These Imāms guided the Muslim community by infallibly preserving and disseminating the teachings of Islam. During the 9th century C.E., however, the Twelfth Shīʿī Imām (a) went into a state of absence. Azhar Sheraze sat down with Sayyid Sulayman Hassan to discuss some of the intellectual ramifications of this absence, and the requirements and limits of scholarship in relation to Imāmic knowledge.