Ma`rifat Kalami

This study analyzes the perspectives of Sayyid Murtaḍā and Karājakī, two prominent theologians of the Baghdad theological school, concerning the domain of the Imam's knowledge and infallibility ('iṣma). This issue is among the most fundamental topics of Imamate and a central point of contention among Islamic schools, and even within Imāmīyya itself. The research method is library-based and grounded in critical analysis, examining questions such as the limits of the Imam's knowledge and infallibility, points of agreement and disagreement between the views of these two theologians, and the extent of their influence from contemporary intellectual currents. The findings indicate that Sayyid Murtaḍā, with his reason-centered approach, employs the argumentative methods common in the theological milieu of Baghdad. He confines the Imam's knowledge to matters directly pertaining to the duties and functions of the Imamate, and in the discussion of infallibility, he takes the customary criterion of people's abhorrence of sin as the basis for defining its scope. In contrast, Karājakī operates within a more traditional Imāmī framework and attributes more comprehensive knowledge to the Imam, albeit within the bounds of divine expediency. He regards the Imam's infallibility as absolute and explicates it at the level of prophetic infallibility. These differences demonstrate that within the Imāmī school itself, diverse approaches to the Imam's knowledge and infallibility have emerged, and interaction with contemporary theological schools has played a significant role in shaping the theologians' thought.