Beyond doubt...

Beyond doubt, the straight path of God is a single path and other schools of thought are misleading. There is a book entitled, Elzam al-Nawasb whose author was non-Muslim, and then, God had guided (to Islam). The late Allamah Hajj Aqa Bozorg Tehrani in his book al-Tharee’ah says: “The author of the book is unknown, though the book is attributed to Sayyed ibn Tawoos and others. It is a precious book.

The author writes: ‘I have studied many religions, but when I came to study Islam, I found it the most comprehensive religion. I realized that the followers of Islam were either Shiite or Sunni. Studying about their leaders, I found out that the hagiology of Shiite leaders is found in both the Shiite and Sunni books, but I did not find anything about Sunni leaders except in the Sunni books. Furthermore, eulogies found in the Sunni books were few and fake.

Besides this, their blameworthy qualities were abundant in the books of both Shiite and Sunnis. I realized that the Shiites were rightful.’” Then, he elaborates on Imam Ali (AS) and proves that he is the immediate successor of the Holy Prophet (SAW). He chooses the title “Elzam an-Nawasib” to prove the caliphate of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

At the end of the book, he resorts to the tradition of “The truth is with Ali wherever he is.” All theologians, in their theological books, have proved the right of the caliphate of Ameerul Mo’minin Ali (AS) with strong proofs. The best of them is the book, Kefayat al-Mowahhideen, by Noori Tabarsi. The author of this book has written a treatise entitled, “Debate between Father and Son”.

Some part of the book reads: “Even if there is no proof to show that Ali was the immediate successor to the Holy Prophet, such praiseworthy qualities of Imam Ali as knowledge, forbearance, courage, bravery, patience, steadfastness, piety, eloquence, generosity, devotion and statesmanship were sufficient to prove his vicegerency. Let alone the fact that God addressed the Holy Prophet when saying, “O Apostle!

Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message.” [^1] God has also said: “This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.” [^2] There are other verses in which the obedience to Ali (AS) is considered the same as the obedience to God and the Holy Prophet (SAW): “O you who believe!