Hakam?' "'No.' "'Are you one of his companions?' "'No.'...

Hakam?' "'No.' "'Are you one of his companions?' "'No.' "'Where do you come from?' "'I come from Kufah.' "Then he said 'Indeed you are Hisham ' stood up caused me to sit where lie had been sitting and remained silent until I got up to leave." The Imam smiled and said: "From whom did you learn this mode of argumentation?" Hisham replied: "From you." Then the Imam said: "I swear by God that this same argument is to be found in the pages revealed to Ibrahim and Musa." ( 1 ) Men may therefore gain access to the commands and prescriptions of God only when after the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him and his family the leadership of the Islamic ummah is in the hands of a person who is enabled by his proven erudition and spiritual qualities to expound those detailed injunctions which have not been explicitly included in revelation but are nonetheless a matter of practical necessity for human society.

In the absence of such leadership the ummah will tend to deviate from the principles of Islam and fail to reach the goal of happiness and the purposes for which it has been created.

After the Prophet the Immaculate Imams committed as they were to leadership and guidance did everything possible to disseminate the teachings of the Qur'an for years on end and in the midst of swiftly changing circumstances and to show the Muslims how to apply those teachings; they guided and instructed the people in word and in deed. As a result the ( 153 ) aggregate of…