Likewise...

Likewise, the three principles—the necessity of the presence of an Imam, necessity of certainty of his infallibility, and that truth is exclusive to this Ummah—which we mentioned, must be established for this argument to stand. We will elaborate on each one of these premises in a brief manner, since their detail exists in our book on Imamate to an extent that can hardly be expanded further, whereas the purpose of this book is exclusive to the topic of occultation and no more.

Allah is the One Who we seek success from for this with purpose. The proof for the necessity of leadership is that it is a lutf and a principle that rationality testifies to its necessary validity. It is like knowing that God exists, a principle every mukallaf must be availed to.

Don’t you see that it is evident that when an fallible group of people are without an awe-inspiring and venerable leader, who would stop the enemy, reprimand the criminal, seize the hand of the counterfeiter, and defend the weakling against the strong, mischief occurs, deceptions spread, debauchery increases and propriety becomes a rarity?

And when they have a leader with these qualities the situation becomes the opposite, with integrity expanding and encompassing, mischief becoming uncommon and rare? This is so very obvious and any man of common sense would agree to it—rendering anyone who disputes it unworthy of conversation. We have fully responded to any imaginable query with this regard in Talkhīs al-Shāfi and Sharh al-Jumal, and will not lengthen the inquiry by mentioning them here.

I found one of the recent-day writers criticizing the work of al-Seyed al-Murtadhā in the question of occultation, wishfully assuming that he has discovered a line of reasoning and adorning his falsity as righteousness for someone who lacks talent and intellectuality. I would like to discuss his arguments. وثبت أيضا أن من شرط الامام أن يكون مقطوعاً على عصمته وعلمنا أيضا أن الحق لا يخرج عن الأمة.

فإذا ثبت ذلك وجدنا الأمة بين أقوال بين قائل: يقول لا إمام فما ثبت من وجوب الإمامة في كل حال يفسد قوله، وقائل يقول بامامة من ليس بمقطوع على عصمته فقوله يبطل بما دللنا عليه من وجوب القطع على عصمة الامام.