Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you.

Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you.” [^3] In another verse, God has appointed Ali as an authority after Himself and His Messenger: “Only Allah is your guardian and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.” [^4] Here, the reference is to no one but Imam Ali (AS).

In the successively transmitted traditions of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, we read that the Holy Prophet (a.s.) has repeatedly announced the appointing of Imam Ali (AS) as his successor: “Surely my successor is Ali ibn Abi Talib and after him my grandson, Hassan and Hossain and following them, the nine Imams from the progeny of Imam Hossain (a.s.), who are the leaders of the believers.” “The most knowledgeable among you in judgment is Ali.” “You (Ali) are my vicegerent and heir.” “I am leaving among you two weighty things; the Book of Allah and my progeny, my household.” “You (Ali) are to me as was Aaron to Moses except that there is no prophet after me.” “The example of my household is like the example of Noah’s ark and Bab Hittah (gate of forgiveness) in the Children of Israel.” “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate.” “Surely, my vicegerents and successors and the proofs of Allah to people after me are twelve.

The first of them is Ali and the last of them is my son, Mahdi.” All these quotations can be found in the books, Yanabee’ al-Mawaddah by Sheikh Suleiman al-Balkhi, Ethbaat al-Hudaat and other books written by Shiite and Sunni scholars.

Therefore, if one wishes to have social piety, to seek unity and to enjoy purity, he must put aside his bias, open the eyes of his heart, listen with the ears of his heart, put aside Satanic temptations, fight against falsehood, seek assistance from God, not fear crowds of people, observe the truth and not see his own relatives and kin. He must be attracted by the truth and not be by falsehood.

I would like to draw the attention of dear readers to an interesting tradition mentioned by Tabarsi in his book, Dala’il al-Imamah, which conveys both the praiseworthy qualities of the Ahlul Bayt (AS) and the harms of the enmity against them. It is then that the harms of diversity of opinions and sects and the truth of Islam become clear.

Imarah ibn Zeid reports: “When Hisham ibn Abdul Melik ibn Marwan had gone to perform the Hajj, Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (AS) were there to perform the Hajj too.