He said...

He said: Do not precede them lest you perish, do not lag behind them lest you perish and do not teach them, because they are more knowledgeable than you . If it is so, we do not find today any group except one that does according to the will of the Messenger of Allah (S) and keeps to the line of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) since the time of Imam Ali (a.s.) until today.

This group was called “ Shi’atu (followers of) Ali ” at the time of Imam Ali (a.s.), and later on, everyone who followed Imam Ali (a.s.) and the infallible Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), were called Shia (or Shiite). If we look at the history and leaf through what historians have recorded, we find that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) were wronged, kept away from the stage of the public life and were fought by the rulers and governments that ruled over Muslims during the first three centuries of Islam.

In fact, those rulers were successful in separating the nation from its real leadership, and keeping it away from the true path. However, they could not succeed in taking out the love and reverence for the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) from the hearts of Muslims. In spite of the abusing and cursing announced from above the minbars and the forcing of Muslims by all kinds of force, those rulers failed to extract the love of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) from the hearts of the faithful.

Due to this, we justify the contradiction we find today in most of Muslims that they love the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and acknowledge their superiority in virtues and knowledge, nevertheless they imitate other than them and refer to the rulings and legislations of imams who neither saw nor lived at the time of the Messenger of Allah (S), but they were born after the Great Sedition that distorted the religion, did away with the righteous leaving the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and their followers discarded and isolated.

The infallible Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) remained unknown by most of Muslims whom if you ask about “the Ahlul Bayt”, they shall say that they are the wives of the Prophet (S). It is naturally clear that when the Prophet (S) ordered his nation to refer to his progeny, he did not mean his wives, but the twelve imams about whom he said: The caliphs after me are twelve ones; all of them are from Quraysh.