See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1566-1568.
IMAMS.
THE IMAMATE.
"When an assembly of Moslems meet together for prayer, an Imam
is chosen, who leads the prayer, and the congregation regulate
their motions by his, prostrating themselves when he does so,
and rising when he rises. In like manner, the khalif is set up
on high as the Imam, or leader of the Faithful, in all the
business of life. He must be a scrupulous observer of the law
himself, and diligent in enforcing it upon others. The
election of an Imam is imperative. … The qualities requisite
in an Imam are four: knowledge, integrity, mental and physical
soundness. … Among strict Moslems, it is a doctrine that
Islam has been administered by only four veritable Imams—the
'rightly-guided khalifs': Abou Bekr, Omar, Othman, and Ali.
But the Muhammadan world, in general, was not so exacting.
They recognized the Commander of the Faithful in the prince
who ruled with the title of khalif in Damascus or Baghdad, in
Cordova or Kairo. The one condition absolutely essential was
that the sovereign thus reigning should be a
member of the tribe of Kuraish [or Koreish]."
_R. D. Osborn,
Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad,
part 3, chapter 1._
See, also, ISLAM.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY,
Promulgation of the Dogma of the.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1854.
IMMÆ, Battle of (A. D. 217).
See ROME: A. D. 192-284.
IMMORTALS, The.
A select corps of cavalry in the army of the Persians, under
the Sassanian kings, bore this name. It numbered 10,000.
----------IMPEACHMENT: Start--------
IMPEACHMENT:
Acquisition of the right by the English House of Commons.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1413-1422.
{1697}
IMPEACHMENT:
Revival of the right.
In the English Parliament of 1620-21 (reign of James I.), "on
the motion of the Ex-Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke, a
committee of inquiry into grievances had been early appointed.
The first abuse to which their attention was directed was that
of monopolies, and this led to the revival of the ancient
right of parliamentary impeachment—the solemn accusation of
an individual by the Commons at the bar of the Lords—which
had lain dormant since the impeachment of the Duke of Suffolk
in 1449. Under the Tudors impeachments had fallen into disuse,
partly through the subservience of the Commons, and partly
through the preference of those sovereigns for bills of
attainder, or of pains and penalties. Moreover, the power
wielded by the Crown through the Star Chamber enabled it to
inflict punishment for many state offences without resorting
to the assistance of Parliament. With the revival of the
spirit of liberty in the reign of James I., the practice of
impeachment revived also, and was energetically used by the
Commons in the interest alike of public justice and of popular
power."
_T. P. Taswell-Langmead,
English Constitutional History,
chapter 13._
----------IMPEACHMENT: End--------
IMPEACHMENTS:
Warren Hastings.
See INDIA: A. D. 1785-1795.
President Johnson.