You have supported your religion in every age with an Imam...

You have supported your religion in every age with an Imam whom You established as a standard for Your servants and a beacon in Your lands, after You linked his covenant with Yours and made him the means of Your pleasure, made obligatory his obedience and cautioned against his disobedience, commanded to execute his commands and shun what he forbids and that none should precede him nor stay back from him.

Thus he is the guard of those seeking refuge and the recourse of the believers, handle of those who grasp (guidance) and the glory of the inhabitants of the universe.”[^8] Anyone who looks carefully at this portion of the supplication will both come to recognize the Shi‘a viewpoint regarding the principle of Imamah and will also understand that this station and these affairs were established for the Imam from the beginning and no one has added anything to them. As for the…