They were guided by the 12 Infallible Imams a.

They were guided by the 12 Infallible Imams a.s ’s traditions along with direct supervision and teachings until the time of longer occultation of the 12 th Imam a.s which occurred in 329 AH [10] . After this time, the 12 Immami Shias gradually adopted two main schools of thought, the Usooli Shias and the Akhbari Shias, see Appendix I. Who is Usooli Shia?

The Usooli Shias are those who have devised principles and interpret Quran and Ahadtih through their own constructed toolos, i.e., ‘Ilmul Rijal [11] , Istambat [12] and acting on the judgement of previous non-masoom scholars. For a detailed account of Usooli beliefs, see ..\..\Usooli Akbari\Newman, Akhbaris, Prt 1, 1992.pdf Who is Akhbari Shia?

Those Shias who interpret Quran from the traditions of Masomeen -asws and do not use their own wisdom or any other man-made principles in the derivation of Islamic laws and solely rely on Masomeen -asws ’s traditions. They use Quran and traditions of Masomeen -asws to establish the authenticity of traditions- based on criteria given by the Masomeen -asws . See further details on Akbari school of thought, see ..\..\Usooli Akbari\Newman, Akhbaris, Prt 1, 1992.pdf Who is Momin?

It is narrated from Ibn-e-Auzniya that more than one narrator have referred to either Imam Mohammed Baqir -asws or Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws ‘ No one becomes Monin until and unless he recognises [13] Allah -azwj , His Rasool -saww , His Imams -asws along with Masoom Imam a.s of his time (Imam-e-Zaman -asws ). He then should refer to them in all his affairs and put himself in their -asws custody. And added, ‘what will he know in the hereafter who has been ignorant from the very beginning?

[14] Someone asked from Amir-ul-momaneen -asws what will be the identity of a monin in future? Amir-ul-Momaneen -asws replied, ‘He would like to stay close to God’s representative, he will establish friendship upon seeing him but would disassociate himself from the enemies of Allah -azwj even if they are his close relatives.

[15] In another tradition narrated by Zarah, Imam -asws said, Momin is that who has directly received Allah -azwj s’ message in his heart regarding our (divine) rights on him.