“And We chose them and guided them.

“And thus does thy Lord choose thee.” [^15] … and many more verses, all of which indicate that selection is one of the acts of Allah in His wisdom, or rather is one of the Divine manners of conduct. There is a treatise by Zaid al-Shahid, the son of Imam Zain al-‘Abidin (peace be upon him), called al-Safwah in which he has studied the issue of the selection of the Ahl al-Bait. The issue of granting rank exists in the natural world as well, and its necessity is entirely understandable by reason.

Just as all species cannot belong to the human species, and all organs cannot be the eyes or head or brain, and all fruits and plants cannot be berries and squash, and the entire tree cannot be the branch, leaves, or roots, in the same way, all individuals cannot be perfect in their manners, qualities, and features. That is, all cannot be Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), ‘Ali (peace be upon him), Ibrahim al-Khalil (peace be upon him), or Musa al-Kalim (peace be upon him).

The issue of being an Imam or a follower ( ma’mum ) as well is such that it is either through Allah’s decree and natural causes or through direct specification and selection by Allah. In any case, all of these are signs that are laden with secrets and wisdom which only Allah Himself knows.

In these affairs none has the right to say, “Why was I not made into someone or something else?” or, for example, “How come all the angels were not made Jibra’il al-Amin (the Trustworthy) and all people were not made Muhammad al-Mustafa (the Chosen)?” or “Why weren’t all of the world’s mountains and rocks made of gold?” If such a thing were to happen, the perfection of the world would become subject to defect and the order and coordination existing among its various parts would cease to exist.