ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Shi'ah are the real Ahlul-Sunnah Shi`a Sources of Legislation Anyone who traces the fiqh of Imamite Shi`as will find the latter referring in all juristic injunctions__with the exception of those relevant to our modern time[^1]__to the Prophet through the avenue of the Twelve Imams from his Ahlul Bayt, peace be upon them. They have two, and only two, such sources, namely: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah.

By the first I mean the Holy Qur'an, and by the Sunnah I mean the Sunnah of the Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him for having brought it to his nation and the world. This is what the Shi`as have always been saying, and they are the statements of all the Imams from Ahlul Bayt who never claimed, not even once, that they acted according to their own personal views.

Take, for example, the first Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib: When they selected him to be the caliph, they preconditioned his government to be based on the “Sunnah” of both Shaykhs, namely Abu Bakr and Umar, yet he insisted on saying, “I do not rule except in accordance with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger.[^2] In our forthcoming researches, we will explain how he, peace be upon him, always followed the Sunnah of the Prophet to the letter, not going beyond it at all, trying by all means and might to bring people back to it, so much so that this caused the anger of some caliphs and the aversion of the populace from him due to his strictness in following Allah's Commandments and his upholding the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Imam al-Baqir, too, used to always say, “Had we followed our own views in your regard, we would have become misled just as those before us have, but we tell you about our Lord's clear argument which He had explained to His Prophet who, in turn, explained it to us.” On another occasion, he said to one of his companions, “O Jabir!

Had we been following our own view and desire in dealing with you, we would have perished; rather, we tell you according to ahadith from the Messenger of Allah which we treasure just as these folks treasure their gold and silver.” Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq has said, “By Allah! We do not say what we say according to our own desires, nor do we pass our own judgment.