As the Holy Prophet (S) said...

As the Holy Prophet (S) said, “He who will die without recognizing the Imam of his time dies in a state of ignorance { jahiliyyah }.”[^10] As such, we can see that when Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) attained martyrdom, Zurarah who was an old man sent his son, ‘Ubayd, to inquire about the successor of Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ). But before ‘Ubayd was able to return to Kufah, Zurarah, who was about to die, took hold of a copy of the Qur’an and said: “O God!

Be my witness that I testify to the Imamate { imamah } of the one who has been designated in this Qur’an.”[^11] Of course, with the passage of time, the meaning and concept of Shi‘ah assumes an explicit form and its scope is determined.

Thus, the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) have regarded those who are identified with the false sects and faiths as outside Shi‘ah circles, as Shaykh at-Tusi narrates from Hamran ibn A‘in: I asked Imam al-Baqir ( ‘a ): “Am I really among your Shi‘ah?” The Imam ( ‘a ) replied: “Yes, you are among our Shi‘ah in this world and in the hereafter, and the names of the Shi‘ah and their fathers are written for us. Why, are there those who turn their back to us?” I replied: “May I be your ransom!

Is it possible for somebody to be your Shi‘ah and to have knowledge of your being in truth, and then to turn his back from you?” The Imam ( ‘a ) said: “Yes, O Hamran! You will not perceive them.” Hamzah az-Zayyat, who is one of the narrators of this hadith , thus says: Concerning this hadith we made a discussion and we were not able to understand the purport of the Imam ( ‘a ). As such, I wrote a letter to Imam ar-Rida ( ‘a ) and I asked him ( ‘a ) (about this).

The Imam ( ‘a ) said: “Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) was referring to the Waqifiyyah (a deviant sect).”[^12] It is for this reason that in the parlance of the Shi‘ah rijal writers, the title Shi‘ah is only applied to the Shi‘ah believing in the twelve Imams ( ‘a ) and in the language of the jurists { fuqaha }, they are sometimes described as “our companions” { ashabuna } or “our Imami companions” { ashabuna al-imamiyyah }.

And those who had inclined toward the deviant sects and drifted away from the course of Shi‘ism have described with such labels as Fathi, Waqifi, Nawusi, etc.