However at the end of the tradition...

However at the end of the tradition, the Imam has said that if a person does not follow a great number of their commandments, then and only then is he classified as not being from amongst their Shi’a. Is there some discrepancy between the beginning and end of this tradition?

In our opinion, the meaning of “not following some of our commandments” is the same as “not following all of our commandments” and is similar to the phrase used in the Qur’an which states: وَ يَشْـتَرُونَ بِهِ ثَــمَناً قَلِيلاً “And then they sell it (the communications of Allah) for a miserable and low price…” This sort of phrase has been repeated in the Qur’an in many times.

However, does this verse mean that if a person was to take a large amount of money as a bribe for the act of alteration and distortion of the verses of the Tawrat, then this would be permissible - thus relegating the meaning of this verse to be that it is no permissible to take a small amount of money?

The answer is that obviously, a “large amount” is equal to a “small amount” and that even if a person was to give the entire transient world in exchange for the distortion of the verses of Allah (SwT), that would still be a little amount! Therefore, sometimes we see that 'a little' is actually 'a lot'. With this said, in the tradition under discussion and as it has been mentioned by the infalliable A`immah (as), even one ounce or an atom's weight of opposition to their teachings is too much!

If the meaning of this tradition was anything other than this, then we could definitely say that there is a disparity between the beginning and end of the tradition. Therefore the correct meaning of the tradition is that if a person goes against the dictates of the A`immah (as) in even a small amount, it is the same as going against many of their commandments and thus, such a person would cease to be a Shi’a.

The tradition goes on to speak about a very frightful and moving event that was previously mentioned in two other traditions. In those other discussions we mentioned that once, a person was plagued with difficulties and was in need of help and thus, introduced himself (to the Imam) as a Shi’a of the Ahlu'l Bayt. Another person asked the Imam if that person was truly a Shi’a and follower of the Ahlu'l Bayt to which the Imam replied that he was not a Shi’a!

Some time later, the person was relieved from his difficulties and asked the Imam why he said that he was not a Shi’a?

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