ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Kashaf-ul-haqaiq CHAPTER 9: CLAIMS There has never been a period in history where somebody or other has not declared himself to be God; and there has never been a shortage of people who not only believed in him but have actually done the propagation of this belief. And then there were those that worshipped him as such. Some people declared themselves as prophets and people followed them and created a religion out of this.

Some people declared themselves as Imams and people created their own sects out of this. And some people made claim on Wilayah (Mastership) and people started begging for their desires to be fulfilled by him. If you were to survey all these people who made these claims you will notice the common denominator which is worldly profit.

But, it is a fact that making a claim and following the claimant and creating a new group out of it cannot be proven by proofs or logic or by virtue of principles to be based on truth. What I mean to say is that you cannot say that just because someone makes a claim and huge multitudes of people have gathered around him, therefore it is the truth. The majority is never the proof of truth, but the proof of truth is truth itself, and the claim is dependent upon proofs.

Belief in a person’s claim does not prove it to be correct. Therefore, every claim needs proof and every proof is subject to a measure of evaluation. For example if someone were to make a claim in poetry, then it will be evaluated in the background of the rules of poems. If someone were to make a scientific claim then it will be evaluated according to the rules of science.

And in the same way if a person were to make a claim about religion then it should also be evaluated according to the principles of religion. Accepting somebody’s claim based on rumours is stupidity and does not befit the honour of a human being. Allah (s.w.t.) has compared these kinds of people to four-footed animals.

WHAT IS NECESSARY TO MAKE A CLAIM It has not been left up to the people to determine the status of a claimant, otherwise every other person would make some sort of a claim, and there is not a shortage of stupid people who would fall for these false claims. There may also come a time when there would only be claimants in this world and no followers. And so, we first have to decide as to who has the right to make a claim.