When the youth question the Bohra Mullas about the inconsistencies...

When the youth question the Bohra Mullas about the inconsistencies, they are told to follow just like their fathers.

There are ayahs in the Quran that condemn following the religion of your forefathers blindly, for example; “When they are told ‘Follow what Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘We will rather follow what we have found our fathers following,’ “what even if their fathers neither applied reason nor were guided?!” [^1] This Ayah tells us not to follow blindly what our fathers and forefathers followed. Also tells us, that our fathers and forefathers could have been following the wrong path.

I was told, ‘What is the big deal, if one follows 12 Imams or 21 Imams?’ They further added by saying ‘we follow Imamate too, like we are supposed to. So, what is the big deal?’ Well, it is a big deal. Allah (swt) orders us to follow His Prophet (sawa) and the ones vested with authority**. If we follow the ones** not vested with authority by Allah (swt), then we will go astray. For example: I buy very sophisticated equipment.

It comes with an instruction booklet that asks me to call an authorized agent for a demonstration. If I just follow the instruction booklet and not call the authorized agent, then I am not following the instructions of the manufacturer. The manufacturer knows its product and knows that just following the instruction booklet is not enough. Along with the instruction booklet, an authorized agent is necessary. Mind you, it must be an authorized agent, not any leader.

In the same way, Allah (swt) knows us. Along with the book, He sent the Messenger (sawa) and the Imams (as). We must follow them all. We must follow the ones He gave the authority to. It is very important to follow the chain. Yes! It is a big deal. Please take this issue very seriously and do some research. This world as we know is temporary. We are being tested. The real life is the hereafter. I know that work keeps us busy. We need to have a balance. We need to take out time for Allah (swt).

We need to seek closeness to Allah (swt). In order to seek closeness to Him, we need to believe in all the Messengers and follow our Prophet (sawa) and all the Imams (as). As we know, Risalat ^2 and Imamat are both important, because they both are part of the principles of religion.