When humanity uncovered the secrets of genes, it came to understand how traits are passed from parents to their children and how genes preserve facial features, eye color, and certain inherited characteristics and predispositions. Science has also shown that environment, upbringing, and social surroundings work alongside genetics in shaping the individual. A person is neither imprisoned by their genes nor detached from them; rather, human identity emerges from the interplay of biology, experience, and free will.
Yet there are realities that chromosomes cannot carry and genes cannot encode, regardless of their complexity. Faith is not inherited, nor is it written into the genetic code. Religion belongs to God, while the earth belongs to all humanity.
From this perspective arises a profound question: if faith itself is not inherited, is Imamate merely a matter of lineage, or is it the continuation of a divine mission? The Qur’an distinguishes between those who assume positions of leadership among people and those whom God appoints as guiding Imams. While caliphate has been associated with the administration and governance of the community, Imamate is portrayed as a source of divine guidance and spiritual illumination. Hence the Qur’anic expression:
“And We made them leaders guiding by Our command.”
They were not simply rulers, but beacons leading people toward truth and righteousness.
Likewise, at Ghadir, the message was not about granting temporal authority or transmitting worldly status through inheritance. Rather, it concerned the continuation of a divinely guided path following the completion of the prophetic mission. In this understanding, the event is not merely a historical narrative or a discussion of bloodline and ancestry, but a testament to the enduring light of guidance.
Peace be upon the one who carried forward the light of the Message along the paths of the believers, so that truth would remain known through its people, and the people of truth would remain beacons guiding those who seek the right way.
Prof. Dr. Salwa Jaber Al-Awadi
Dean of the Institute
