Let the misinformed advocates of 'Tauheed' and the Warners...

Let the misinformed advocates of 'Tauheed' and the Warners against 'Shirk' rest assured that the Shias , in particular when they pray for any divine boon or mercy in the name of the Holy Imams, they never imagine for a while that the actual giver or the bestower of the boon or the giver of the help prayed for, is any one other than the Almighty Lord of the Universe, and the prayer in the name of the holy ones is only to invoke the mercy of the Lord through the medium of these holy souls who have been declared as God's chosen ones and the nearest and dearest ones to Him.

The misleading question which the critics raise, in that way should not one seek the help he needs directly from God ? This question has in itself the answer that when such great devotees of God (i.e., the critics) get ill, why do they go to the doctor ? Who is the actual Curer, God or the doctor ? Why not they depend upon God for the cure and avoid the means of the doctor, when the doctor is not the actual curer ?

No, they do it because they have to seek a means or a medium and they do it for they cannot avoid it. This is quite in accordance with the divine guidance from the Lord:- "Seek ye the means to reach Him (God).5:35 None can reach God without the proper means to the end.

God Himself has enjoined the Holy Prophet to seek his 'Ajr' or recompense in the love and devotion to his Ahlul-Bait (See 42:23) and the 'Ajr' in the love and devotion to the Holy Ahlul-Bait has been made the way to the Lord (See 25:57). I ask not any 'Ajr'(recompense) for it (i.e., apostleship) save ye take the way to the Lord (25:57). And what the 'Ajr' (recompense) is, has been mentioned in 42:23.

The reverence and the regard for things dedicated to the sacred memory of the holy ones, is clearly warned by the verse 2:158 in which the Muslims have been ordained to run between the hillocks 'Safa' and 'Marwa' while performing the 'Haj'.

And the following verse of the Holy Qur'an clearly declares the regard for any signs of God (i.e., anything by means of which man re- members Cod's Glory, His Authority or His Existence) as the piety of the heart of the individual:- "And whosoever respects the signs of God, it surely is of the piety of the heart." 22:32 Shias go to the 'Imambadas', the 'Mahfils', the 'Mimbers' and recite there 'Fateha' (i.e., Ist Sura of the Holy Qur'an), and the masterly edited prayers of the great divines viz., Ameerul-Momineen Ali ibnul Husain and the other Imams.