Need to follow all the ‘Rightful Imams’ There is a famous...

Need to follow all the ‘Rightful Imams’ There is a famous Hadith of the Prophet (sawa) “Whoever dies without knowing his Imam dies a death of ignorance”.[^6] Imam al-Baqir (as) also said something similar, the gist of what he said; whoever dies without having an Imam dies a death of a nonbeliever and a hypocrite.[^7] Now, since we believe in the concept of Imamate, we need to follow the right chain of Imams, the ones that are divinely appointed by Allah (swt)… Otherwise, if we follow any leader /guide without doing any research, we will end up going astray.

One might say, “I believe in Imamate. To me, it does not matter if the imams were 12 or 21 or 49, as long as I am a good person and I pray five times a day, etc….” This is wrong! Why? This is because we need to believe and have faith in the right chain of all the prophets and the imams. This is a very serious condition!

For instance, if a person says, “We believe in prophethood, but we do not follow the prophets after Prophet Moses (as), it is the same thing, and it does not matter.” This person is not a believer then, as he refuses to accept the Prophets after Prophet Moses (as). Now, if a Muslim says, “I believe in all the prophets; I believe in Allah (swt), and that He is one, I believe in the last messenger, Holy (sawa), and I believe in Quran.

That is all I need, and I do not care about the other disputed issues.” Will this justification carry any weight on the Day of Judgment? Satan worshipped Allah (swt) for thousands of years, and disobeyed Allah (swt) only once by saying that he will not prostrate to Adam (as). Just because of one act of disobedience, he was thrown out of the kingdom of mercy.

So the ones who claim that prayers are enough, should know that Satan worshipped Allah (swt) so much that Allah moved him up, brought him and placed him above the ranks of Angels. Then after all of that worship, just because of one act of disobedience, he was thrown out of the kingdom of mercy. We should not forget that we are the slaves of Allah. We need to obey and worship Him the way HE wants us to, not the way we like. A slave should submit totally.

Allah (swt), in Surah Nisa Ayah 59, is clearly ordering us to obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority … Going back to our discussion, In order to be Momins (True faithful believers), we need to believe and follow the whole chain of the Imams. Like in the case of the Prophets, we also must believe and follow all the rightful Imams.