Response:

It’s amongst the necessities of Shia sect that Prophets [PBUTH] and Shia imams had foreknowledge and it can be proved with definitive reasons from Quran, traditions and reason; including their awareness about the time of their martyrdom and assassins and…

Responding to your question this point must be paid attention that Prophets [PBUTH] and Shia imams [A.S] had to behave like ordinary people in their social life and weren’t obligated to practice the foreknowledge that god had given them, for instance prophet Muhammad [PBUH] wouldn’t use foreknowledge judging amongst people, but he would ask people to bring witness and evidence and then he would issue his verdict based on that, as late “Kulayni” quotes this authentic narrative in “Al-Kafi” book:

“عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ وَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ عَنِ الْفَضْلِ بْنِ شَاذَانَ جَمِيعاً عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ سَعْدِ وَ هِشَامِ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (عليه السلام) قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ (صلي الله عليه وآله وسلم) إِنَّمَا أَقْضِي بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَ الْأَيْمَانِ وَ بَعْضُكُمْ أَلْحَنُ بِحُجَّتِهِ مِنْ بَعْضٍ فَأَيُّمَا رَجُلٍ قَطَعْتُ لَهُ مِنْ مَالِ أَخِيهِ شَيْئاً فَإِنَّمَا قَطَعْتُ لَهُ بِهِ قِطْعَةً مِنَ النَّارِ”

I judge amongst you relying on witness and swear, some of you are smarter than another one in proving your claim; so if I get someone’s wealth and give it to you {while you know that it’s not yours}, that wealth is like piece fire.

It means that I’m not in charge of judging amongst you based on foreknowledge given to me by god, but I judge relying on witness and swearing and anyone who has reason for his claim, I’ll issue verdict in favor of him; whether he’s saying the truth or not; but if someone was smarter and could bring evidence and witness for his claim and usurps another person’s wealth, that is like piece of fire.

Thus, Shia imams [A.S] are obligated to live like other people and if Imam [A.S] is going to enforce “Hudud”, blood money and … using his divine knowledge, social system will be disrupted.

On the other hand, Shia imams [A.S] are pattern for all people in all principles of life and people have duty to follow them and take pattern from their life style. If they supposed to have unusual life and behave based on foreknowledge, they can’t be pattern for people.

now this question might come to our mind that why Shia imams [A.S] went to the place of their martyrdom while they knew that they’ll get martyred? Isn’t suicide?

We’ve already answered this question, refer to following link:

Why did imam “Husain” [A.S] arise despite of he knew that he’ll get martyred?

Question 2:

Why did god create mankind?

Response:

Almighty god has answered this question in different verses of holy Quran, such as:

“وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ”

I have not created mankind and jinn except to worship me

Surah al-Dhariyat – verse 56

The letter “ل” in “ليعبدون" is called reason “ل”; it means the only reason of creating mankind and jinn is that they worship god willingly not by force to reach perfection and eternal happiness.

Thus, worshiping god, obeying his orders and reaching to the highest level of perfection is the reason of creating mankind and jinn and god has provided people with all necessary tools that they need reaching this important target, from one side he’s given them mind called inner prophet that people can use whenever they want, and from another side throughout history, god’s sent more than one hundred thousand Prophets with divine book to help people reaching this target and they have done their duty as best as possible. If people can’t get to their main goal, it’ll be their own fault.

Late Sheikh “Saduq” writes in “Ilal Al-Shara 'i” book, vol. 1, p 13 and 14:

“عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ قَالَ خَلَقَهُمْ لِيَأْمُرَهُمْ بِالْعِبَادَة”

It’s been quoted from “Abi Basir”: I asked imam about this verse:

“وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ”

Imam [A.S] said: it means that almighty god created mankind and jinn to order them worshiping.

And he quotes in another narrative:

“عن جميل بن دراج، قال: قلت لأبي عبد الله (عليه السلام): جعلت فداك، ما معني قول الله عز و جل: وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ؟ فقال: «خلقهم للعبادة”

“Jamil bin Darraj” has been quoted: I said to imam “Sadiq” [AS]: May my soul be sacrificed to you; what’s the meaning of this verse:

“وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ”

Imam [A.S] said: almighty god created mankind and jinn only for worshiping.

And he also writes:

“عَنْ جَمِيلِ بْنِ دَرَّاجٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (عليه السلام) قَالَ سَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ قَالَ خَلَقَهُمْ لِلْعِبَادَةِ قُلْتُ خَاصَّةً أَمْ عَامَّةً قَالَ لَا بَلْ عَامَّة”

It’s been quoted from “Jamil bin Darraj”: I asked imam “Sadiq” [A.S] about the meaning of this verse: “وَ ما خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَ الْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ”, imam said: it means that god’s created mankind and jinn to worship. I said: certain group of people or all of them? He said: god’s created all people to worship him.

Question 3:

After hearing the name of god and Shia imams, why do we sometimes feel that we don’t believe in them and they don’t exist at all? What would we do to stop this feeling?

Response:

Certainly, one of the main reasons of lack of believing in Shia imams [A.S] and all divine signs is numerous sins that people commit. Disobeying divine orders and committing bad deeds remove people’s belief gradually; because when devil wants to deviate people from the main road and divine straight way, he doesn’t do that at once; but he displays sins small and unimportant to people and begins from minor sins and draws people committing cardinal sins, and these sins make people’s heart so dark that they don’t accept any truth and this is the time that believing in divine signs is removed and if they don’t come to themselves and don’t stop committing sin, they’ll face eternal loss and divine punishment, almighty god says in Quran:

“ثُمَّ كَانَ عَاقِبَةَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاءُوا السُّوأَي أَنْ كَذَّبُوا بِآَيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ”

Evil was the end of the harm doers, because they belied the verses of Allah and mocked at them.

Surah Al-Room  {The Romans} - verse 10

Another factor of lack of belief in Shia imams [A.S] is lack of knowledge toward their position and dignity.

Certainly, if we don’t know someone and also don’t try to know him, we can’t believe in him. To get rid of this tough problem, I suggest you to read one page of Shia hadith books daily - especially “Al-Kafi” book which is Shia best book in this field - to increase your knowledge toward Shia imams [A.S], imam “Reza” [A.S] says:

“فَإِنَّ النَّاسَ لَوْ عَلِمُوا مَحَاسِنَ كَلَامِنَا لَاتَّبَعُونَا”

If people know our good words {without removing something from or adding something to them}, they’ll follow us {and act based on them}.

Good luck.