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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-Muraja'at Letter 110 Rabi’ al-Thani 29, 1330 I Shi’ah Faith is Sequentially Derived from the Imams of , All those endowed with wisdom and discretion know by necessity that the derivation of the roots and branches of the Shi’ah imamite faith is from their forefathers and ancestors ending with the purified progeny.

Their views, therefore, are conducive to those of the Imams of the purified progeny in the roots and branches of the faith, as well as all deductions arrived at from studying the Book and the Sunnah, or in any matter related to them or to all branches of theological science. They do not rely in their understanding of the latter except upon such progeny, and they refer to none other than them.

They worship Allah, the Exalted, and seek nearness to Him, Praised be He, through the faith of the Imams of , without seeing any deviation therefrom, nor desiring any substitute. This has been the policy of their good ancestors since the time of the Commander of the Faithful, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, and the nine Imams from the progeny of al-Husayn (as) till our time.

Those who have learned the roots and branches of the faith from are quite a few reliable Shi’ahs, and the number of those who learned from the latter is much larger. The number of those known for piety, verification and correction is more than sequential. They have narrated all this to those who succeeded them through tawatur , and after them it was thus narrated to others, and so on.

This has been the case with each and every generation, till it reached us as clear as mid-day sun, without any cloud obstructing it.[^1] We now, in understanding the roots and branches, are followers of the Imams from the progeny of the Messenger (pbuh). We have quoted our forefathers who all quote them.

This has been the case in all generations till the time of the Naqis, ‘Askaris, Rizas, Jawads, Kazims, Sadiqs, ‘Abidins, Baqirs, both grandsons of the Prophet (pbuh), peace be upon all of them, and finally the Commander of the Faithful (as), not counting Shi’ah ancestors who kept company with the Imams of (as), learning the religious injunctions from them, quoting them while discussing Islamic knowledge. There is no room here to count all of them and read their roll call.

Suffices you what the pens of their renown scholars have written of interesting works a list of which does not fit in this narration.