ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Special Deputies The Protectors of Wilayat Criticizing the scholars has always been a pastime among the masses. Whenever there is a discussion related to them, everybody has something to say against them. Each one has a few ‘interesting’ anecdotes to narrate. In fact, some people feel that it is their inherent right to criticize them and consider this as a scholarly act.

Perhaps they ignore the fact that in this world (with the exception of the infallible Prophets (a.s.) and the Imams (a.s.)) there are several groups of people - good as well as bad. There are traders, workers, laborers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, etc, and each of these has categories of good and bad individuals. In a market we find the original as well as the imitation.

The solution to this problem is not criticism but to define a yardstick so as to differentiate the original from the imposter. At this point in time, we may not be able to purge all the evils from society. Therefore, in order to safeguard ourselves from deception, it is necessary that we act with foresight and devise a benchmark to distinguish good from evil. With a reliable yardstick, we can easily sidestep the perils.

When we glance at Islamic history, we find scholars emanating radiance, who held nothing back in their endeavors to serve the infallible Imams (a.s.). If it weren’t for the illustrious defenders of the mastership ( ولايت ), most people would have deviated from the true religion.

Imam Ali Naqi (a.s.) says regarding such scholars: ‘If in the occultation of our Qa’im (a.t.f.s.), such scholars would not have been there who would invite the people towards their Imam and guided them towards him; if they would have not protected Allah’s Religion with the help of irrefutable divine proofs and rescued the weak followers of Allah’s religion from Satanic plots, released them from the traps of the mischief mongers and those antagonistic to the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) ( ناصبى ), then surely all the people would have become apostates ( مرتدّ ) i.e.

they would have deviated from the religion. But these are the people who protect the weak Shias just as a captain protects his ship.