"If I intend to discriminate between my shias and others, I would find my shias experts in the art of exaggeration and in spinning out yarns; if I put them to a test, I would find them apostates; and if I try to determine their sincerity during an ordeal, I would find not even one out of a thousand sincere" imam zain-ul-abidin also accused them of a similar back-tracking. He observed that the shias of Hussein had turned apostate on account of their timidity and pusillanimity. There were only five exceptions who did not shake in their shoes and refused to follow the pack. They were abu khalid kabli, yahya bin um tavil, jabir bin muti, jabir bin abdullah and shabkah, hussain,s wife. The others had backed out of their allegiance. Shias are notorious for leaving their imams in the lurch on criticla junctions and for leaving them lone to fight the raging fires of war which they leaving them alone to fight the raging fires of war which they themselves had kindled. This fact has been repeatedly stressed in the preceding pages. Those whose curiosity is not muffled by these details and are determined to indulge in further intellectual adventurism are advised to study to study asfihani's book "maqatil-it-talibin". This book is packed with information about ali's progeny. A number of them climbed imamat but the shias degraded and humiliated them. The term 'rafidhi' sprang up as a result of their unblushing disobedience. When zaid bin ali bin hussain came out with a few commendatory words aobut hadhrat abu bakr and umar, the shias were stung to the roots and disowned him publicy. Hadhrat zaid commented (they have today) this is the reason they were called rafidha".

Razi has also explained its origin. When zaid bin ali bin ali bin hussain bin ali bin abi talib revolted against hisham bin abdul malik, his army openly criticized and ridiculed hadhrat abu bakr. He snubbed them and asked them to leash their tongues. But the shias, instead of acting on his advice, dumped him until only two hundred men of the cavalry stood by him. Zaid bin ali asked them: have you left me? They replied: yes. Form that day they received the epithet rafidhi.

There are people who believe that rafidhis are those who give precedence to hadhrat ali over other imams. The word is more or less used in the sense of revenge and shias are unhesitatingly dubbed as rafidhis in an outburst of their vengeful intenity.

This is, however, based on lack of information or sheer ignorance because the shias have persistenly tried to escape the unpalatable epithet which has become their permanent of bokhari in the eyes of shias) that muhammad bin sulaiman has related on the authroity fo his father: I submitted before abu abdullah jafar-the six inocent imam of the shias-the allegations that are hurled on us have broken our backs and deadened our hearts. According to a certain tradition the rulers consider it lawful to shed our blood. Abu abdullah asked: are you referring to rafidha. When I replied in the afirmative, he said: I swear, this name has not been imposed on you by your opponents but it is god who has conferred on you this lable."

They also believe that they are extradinary people while others are ordinary. This is the height of their prudery and grundyism. But the irony is that their priggish and niminy-piminy attitude is hardly justified by their general behaivour. Their practical conduct does not establish their superiority or extraordinariness. In many cases they are even worse tan the sweepings of humanity they so lackadaisically seem to persiflage. In fact what they badinage anthers is found in massive does in themselves. Therefore the myth of their exceptionality is an other invention of their diseased of their chronic inferiority complex and the sense of guilt which as bombarded their consciousness as a consequence of their tinkering with has bombarded their consciousness as a consequence of their tinkering with hallowed traditions and tampering with the fundamental tensest of guilt is a faith, thought they do not confess it. The prunes and prisms displayed by the Shi community are a visible proof of their of their guilt. Since they lack moral courage they do not have the guts to admit that their faith and the entire spectrum of values they seems to profess are in face embedded in falsehood and a blatant deviation form the right track. It is their sheer stubbornness and priggishness which compel them to perpetuate a lie sustaining it through fresh shots of malicious invention and perverse addition. However, their simpering and spanking attitude reflects only the hollowness of their pretensions. They resemble the jews in their coxcombry and 'mauvaise honte'.  like them they indulge in nambly-pamby and la-di-da platitudesl they are conceited, up-stage, high hat, good-goody people who have elevated a fake and worthless series of cliches into a philoophy of sanctity but they have failed to paper over the ugliness that blinks behind the rattle of their empty words.  they believe in the emergence of the very fundamentals of thier faith.  since they have propped up the existence of their imam on a mere supposition, they are under great stress to establish him as a man of flesh and blood as it is not easy to dress one's purley imaginary flights in the apparel of reality.  thus it is an extremely uphill task the cluds of suspicion not only in the minds of others but opinions about the intangible imam and the clash and jumble imam and the clash and jumble of their supposition. some of them even subscribe to the view that when his father died, he had left behind neither a specification about his successor nor any son to continue his heritage.

some of them cling to the belief that one of his slave maids was pregnant but the pregnancy had resulted in miscarriage nd not in the birth of a child.  kulaini has related a tradition attributed to ahmad bin ubaidullah bin khaqan: when hassan askri died, a noar burst out in 'surman rai' the king dispatched one fo his officials to is resiendce who combed the entire house adn sealed all to goods.   he conducted a thorught investigation to find out a son was expected or not. he sent for a few women who were well versed in the problem related to conception and pregnancy. these women examined all of his slave maids.  some one told them that one of the maids was pregnant.  thus she was quarantined in a special room and some eunuchs, her companions and other ladies were apponinted to gurard her.  all of tehm kept a steady watch over her till it was finally confirmed that pregnancy was only an imaginary figment.

There are others who believe that the child was born eight months after hassan's death while many others float the idea that he was born two years before his death i.e., he was born in sur man rai' on 23rd ramadhan in 258 A.H. some of them place his death within the year 56 A.H. while others believe that the birth of teh child had taken place five years before hassan's death and he had come into the world on 15 shaban, 255 A.H.

a similar difference of opinion exists among the shias about the name of the slave-maid who is supposed to be the mohter of the impalpable imam. some of them have named her nargis, others call her saqil or saiqal.  she has also been named  hakimah etc.

ibn hazm remarks that in the opinion of imamiyyah rafidha, muhammad bin hassan is alive. he has not died and he will continue to live until he has wiped out tyranny and injustice.  the shias also call him muhammad bin hassan mehdi muntazar.  one of the shia groups holds hte opinion that the birth of this imam-though he was never born and his existence is a mere supposition as he exists only in the minds on the shias-took place in 260 A.H., i.e., he was born the same year his father died. another group flouts this hypothesis andentertains the equally fictitious belief that he was born many years after the death of his father.  still an other gourp believes that he came into the world during the life of hs father.  they have attributed this tradition to hakimah bint muhammad bin ali bin musa who was present on the occasion of his birth.  she heard him speaking and reciting the quran soon after his birth.  his mother was called nargis.  the jamhur shias believe that her name was saqil.  an other group calls her sosan but all these hypotheses are illustrations of their psychic perversoin.  they indicate their loose and tenuous grip on facts.   they in fact are iving in a world of illusions nad the worst part of it is that these illusions are self-induced adn reflect a conscious attempt of these shias to lead astray an entire community of believers. it also shows that they have no scruples whatsoever and are willing to sacrifice reality for illusion, not because they are contributing to philosophical theorizing or other positive which is engendered more by the spleen than by the mind.  therefore all of their suggestions are packs of absurdities because hassan committed by the shias and their other stupidites spring directly form it.   this, in fact, provides the key to their grotesque philosophy.  thouth it sounds trivial, its longrange repercussions for the cohesion of the islamic faith are absolutely catastorphic.

then a plethora of yarns and cock-and-bull stories were spun out to celebrte the birth of a child who was never born, to explain his invisibility not only from people outside the fold of the family but the family members themselves who remined completelyin the dark aobut his birth and then it was sprung upon them as teh biggest surprise to their lives, these unbelievable tles relate not only to is birth but also to his gorwth and development, how he reached the age of imam, how he acquired the knowledge and information whcih is one of the essential prerequisites of imamat in the eyes of the shias.  in fact, shias have invented the most fantastic explanations to justify their illusions.  but illusions are illusions and connot be transformed into realities through the flawed will of a gaggle of ducklings, even if they rely on a formidable battery of evidecne to gieve credence in the folowing pages to expose their lie and to give credence to my thesis that their religion is propped up on an illusion which has no roots whatsoever in reality. i would like to discuss the belief of this group at comparatively greater length because its adherents claim to be the true representatives of the shias and embody the shia faith in its unadulterated essence.   they believe that they are the apricots, not the onions, of the shia religion.   my belief is that their claim is bogus and is negated by facts as its total structure is raised on the existence of a human personality who never jsaw the light of the day.  these inflated ballons' and puffed-up tube; are actually filled out with the air of pure insubstantiality and are absolutely devoid of the conrete of corporeality.

One of the shia exegetes who is never tired of flaunting this inter grity is abu tabrisi. he belonged to the sixth century a.h. he   relies on babwi qummi who has relied on hakimah bint muhammad ali through the mediation of muhammad bin hassan bin wail, muhammad bin ali sent word to me: o mt auntie, you should pray with me to night because it is the fifteen night of shaban. god will reveal one of his mediators who will function as the divine intercessory on earth. i asked: who will be his mother? he replied: nargis. i submitted: nargis does not carry any such indication. he replied:it hardly matters whether there is any indiscation ot not but whatever i am saying shall certainly come to pass. when i wanted to seat down, nargis leaped towards me and beganto take off his socks. she said to me:how are u, O Sayyidah? i replied: is it you who is my Sayyiahand the Sayyiah of my Ahl-i-bait. my words surpised her and she said:what are you saying? i told her: mt daughter,tonight god will bless you with a child who will be the 'Sayyid' not only in this world but also in the world to come. on hearing this she felt a sense of shame and guilt. When I finished my night, i had my meals and tehn reeled off to sleep. i stood up for my prayers, nargis wes stil in her night and when i finished my prayers, nargis was still in her senses and nothing had happened to her. i sat there for a while then slumped to bed. whne i woke up again i found that nargis was asleep. then she woke up, offered her prayers tehn ent back to sleep again.  hakimah adds: i came out of th ehouse to find if it was day break or not. it wasn't dawn yet and nargis was still asleep. doubts and suspicions cropped up in my mind. but abu muhammad shouted at the to of his voices: auntie dont rush, the time has arrived. i sat up and stated recitng the Quran. i recited Surah Sajidah and yasin. i was still busy in recitation that nargis starlted out her sleep.  i at once leapt towards her and asked her: may god protect you ! are you feeling anything? she replied : yes. i said: compose yourself and dont lose heart. what i had told you is about to happen.

    then nargis and myself became drowsy with sleep. i woke up as i heard the foot-steps of my master.  i flicked away the piece of cloth covering nargis and saw the new born imam prostrating on the gorund.   i lifted him and dandled him against my breast.  he was a clean, bonny baby.   abu muhammad shouted: auntie, bring my child over to me. i took teh child over to him.  he placed both of his hands under the head nad back of the child and pressed his feet fondly against his chest.  he put his tongue into his mouth, rubbed his hand over his eyes, ears adn other parts of his body adn said to him: speak, my son. the son came out with thee words: i witness that god has no rivals or partners and that muhmmmad is his messenger.  then the child sent salutations on amir-ul-mominin and other imams, talked about his father and had his milk.

abu muhammad said: auntie, take him to his mother so that he my pay er his regards and then bring him back. he said: auntie, come after seven days. hakimah adds: i came over in the morning to pay him my courtsies.  i drew away the curtain to have a glimpse of my sayyid but i found that he was not there. i submitted to sbu muhammad: may i be sacrificed for you, where is my sayyed? he replied: i have placed him in the trust of a person to whom um-e-musa had entrusted her child.   hadkimah further adds: i called on him after the seventh day.  i greeted abu muhammad.  he said: bring my son over me. i picked up my sayyid who was wearing a robe make of patches nad shreds.  he repeated what he had done on the first day. he put his tongue inside: speak, my son. the child uttered the words: i witness that god has no rivals or partners. he sent salutations on hadhrat muhammad (peace be upon him), amir-ul--mominin ali and other imams, and he paused as he mentioned his father. then he recited the following verse:

"And we desired ot oblige the people who had grown weaker in the country, to confer on them leadership, to make them inherit their country, to give them power them power within the coutnry and to unravel to phaorah and haman of which they were scared"

this tradition has been reported by muslla baqir majlisi with a heavy sprinkling of fresh spices and additions form kulaini, ibne babwi qummi, tusi and sayyed murtadha etc.  who is popularly know by the epithet of iim-ul-huda. theis this episode has also been related by rijali, the shia historain and by the muntahil-amal.

the shias have tried to tried to wrap up the fantasy in the authentic robes provided by their scholars like babwe qummi adn tusi etc. but the fantasy apperars to be even more grotesque because the authenticity of their sources is equally dubious.  this is, in fact the general pattern fo their reasoning. they first invent an obscenity and then rely on a battery of cooked-up evidence to sanctiy and then rely on a battery they let on opportunity slip to indicate their logicla opproach, expose the malice at eht bottom of thier fake reasoning and expose the malice at the bottom of their intentions.  their with startling innovations.  the yarns they spin out to bamlogic and coherence.  And they are such shameless creatures evidence and dressing up their are such shameless creatures edidence and dressing up their have packed their moral scruples.  And this is quite undrstandable, if one is aware of the different levels of their perversity. if they can lambast and lampoon the companions of the prophet (peace be upon him), the fabrication of lies nd fantasties is hardly expected to give them an un-easy feeling. 

hakimah also states in the same yarn: i started reciting and the child inside the womb also followed suit: he repeated my words. He also greeted me form inside the belly of his mother. I was scared as i heard the voice of the child coming form the womb.  abu muhammad shouted: don't be surprised by what god has revealted. god in his infinite wisdom blesses us with the power of speech when we are children and when we grow up, we become divine representatives on earth. H had not yet completed his explanation that nargis disappeared. it seemed a screen had interposed between us.  i ran towards abu muhammad screamingly. He said: auntie, place go back. You'll find Nargis at the same spot.  I had not yet turned aobut that the curtain that had interposed between us was suddenly raised.  My eyes were dazzled by the paragon of light. I saw that the child was in a state of prostration. He lifted his fore-finger towards the sky and said: i witness that there is no deity to be worshipped except allah. My grand-father is the messenger of allah and my father is amir-ul-mominin.   then he counted all the imams down to himself.  later he prayed: o god! fulfil the promise you have assigned to me. Don't let me falter (him my mission) and transform the world into a cradle of justice and equity thorugh my agency.  Abu muhammad said to me: auntie, bring the child over to me.  when i took him there he stood on hadn in front of his father and greeted him affectionately.  hassan took him away form me.   I saw birds were fluttering over the head of the child.  He was assisting him in sucking his tongue.  It seemed as if he was quaffing some syrup from him. Hassan said: take him to his mother so that she may feed him milk.  then bring him back to me. I took him to his mother.  She suckled him and sent him back to abu Muhammad.   the birds were still flapping over his head.  One onf the birds screamed out: pick him up, take good care of him and bring him over to us once in every forty days.   the bird held him in his claws and flapped away into the skies: my child, I trust you to teh same entity to whom um-e-musa had entrusted her child.  Nargis started crying at this sight.  aub muhammad told her to be quiet.  the milk of other women is unlawful for this child. Therefore, he will soon be returned to you as musa was returned to his mother.  god himself says: "I returned musa to his mother; so that she might cool her eyes to see her son and ecape frustration and grief".

Hakimah says: I asked him about the bird. He replied: The bird is the sacred soul who is a permanent companion of the up on a definite pattern.  The child was returned after forty dys. I saw that the face of the chld was inclined towards my nephew. He called me. When i went near him, is saw that the child was waling in front of his father.  I submitted: O sayyid!  The chld appears to be two years old. he smiled and replied: the childern of the prophets who are imams in the making grow by more raped strides than other children.  My child has gorwn in one month to the size that other children take at leat a year to grow up to. Our children speak while they are in the bellies of their mohters, they recite the quran and they pray to god in thier state of conception and infancy and the angels greet them day and night.

I saw the child after every forty days until a few days before the death of abu Muhammad he had grown into a handsome young man. I could not reconginse him and i asked my nephew: who is he before whom you have asked me to unveil myself? he replied: he is the son of Nargis and after me he will be my khalifah.   after a short while, you'll not find me but you should contiune to obey my words"

tabrisi has also endorsed it in "IIam-ul-wara" with the following addition. Nasim, one of the servants, told me when he visited him teh night after the birth of the heirapparent, he sneezed. He said: When i was over-joyed to hear his comment, he said: Shall i inform you about the significance of your sneeze? I said; pleace do. He replied. it means i shall stay alive for three days.

Ibn fatal observes: when the sayyed was born, his father sent for abu amro. When he came, he told him to distribute ten thousand packs of bread and ten thousand packets of meat.  Ali bin hashim remarks that countless goats were sayyed was born, a light beamed out of him which reached the horizon'. I saw white birds descending fomr the sky who touched the head, the face adn teh entire body of the newborn with their feathers and then fluttered up into the sky.  when we recounted it to his father, he burst into  laugh and get his blessings and when he appears on the earth as imam, these angels will be his helpers and supporters.

A Question: A sensible person would naturally like to ask why is he scared and hiding himslef in a cave if the angels are his helpers and supporters? and if hassan's son ispresent in ingly raped peace, then any further investigation about him is a pointless exercise.  if this heir-apparent fo hassan was present, then how his borthe Ja'far managed to usurp his heritage?

The fourth note-worthy point is that the status of the grandsons of teh prophet (peace be upon him) is an open secret.  No one is unaware of the superiority enjoyed by hassan and hussain. If their superirity is acknowledged on all hands, then the facts of thier normal and natural gorwth obviously subtracts something form their exceptional status and tarnishes their superiority.   theis especially applies to hadhrat hussain who is considered to be the father of all the succeeding imams by the shias and the presence of the prophet (peace be upon him)   was obviously an additional factor.  The traditions of teh shias are eloquent about the fact that at the time of teh death of the prophet (peace be upon him) hadhrat hussain was still a child adn he had not crossed over into the adolescent phase with any miraculous or supernatural speed.  Leaveing hadhrat hassan nad hussain aside, it is not at all possible to indicate any imam who might have broken the naturla barrier of gorwth to achieve adolescence far in advance of the normal ripening age.

The fifth obvious point is that no sensible person is willing to lapup the quantum of exaggeration and distortion contained in these fantasie.  one naturally pities the person who manufactured these bunglings because he pathetically lacks the art fo skillful inventor, it reflects his stupidity and total lack of finesse in invention.

the fable of the birds adn the yarn of teh disappearance of Nargis are absured tales which are often related by the storytellers in informal gatherings adn coffee-house.  they are hopelesly deficient in truthfulness and seem to be the products of an inexplicalbe sense of malice or members of the hshimi and alvi tribes were completely in the dark about their reality though these members included persons of teh stature of um-i-hassan, hasan's brother and on top of the list as the nave of ahmad bin abdus-samad, popularly known as tumar, who also maintained   register showing the names of alvi childern. when a person in 302 A.D. claimed that he was Muhammad bin hassan askri ad the news reached muqtadir,  the abbasi caliph, he sent for abitabib's herald to investigate the matter. He also sought the advice fo other experts to sort fact from fiction. All of them unanimously confemned him as a liar as hassan askri had died without leaving behind as issue. the claimant was people form falling into his trap.

These yarns nd perverisities are in themselves and eloquent proof of the fact that the shias have hopelessly failed to estblsih the truth of their calim.  Besides the shias are also deeply divided on this issue and the majority of askri's son because no son was born to him, they obviously fell victim to a wide cleavage of opinion.

Finally, I would like to record a tradition whose varacity is simly unquestionalbe in the eyes of the shias and which has been recorded in al-Kfi, their most authentic book. Kulaini, had related it on the authority of ahmad bin ubaidullah bin khaqan who is an enthusiastic suporter of the imamat fo hassan askri.   The tradition runs as follows: when hassan askri fell ill. he his father informing him the capital.  He returned immediatley and he was accompanied by five servants of the amir-ul-mominin.  they were all tried and loyal servants. Nahrir was one of them. he commanded all of them to remain with hassan and to keep tabs on his movements and to inform him aobut what happened inside his house.  He also sent word to a batch of medical pracitioners to visit him and nurse him day and night. He was appried after two or three days that hassan had grown consideralby weaker. He commanded teh doctors to stay by his bed and  keephim under constant care. He also sent word to the chief justice.   When he arrived, he commanded him to pick out ten reliable persons among his companions who had distinguished themselves on teh basis of piety, trustworthiness adn faith. He dispatched them to hassan's house adn commanded them to stay inside the house. These people stayed there until he breathed his last. Hassan's death generated a squall of cries adn wails in sur man rai'. The king dispatched some of his officials to his house who surveyed and examined all the objects at his residence and sealed all the goods. They also looked into the possiblility of the birth of a child who could claim succession after him. In this context they utilized the services of women who had any information about a potentail pegnancy and who possedessed expertise in the relevant field.  These women conducted an medical examination of the slavemaids of hassan askri.  Some of them were of the opinion that one of teh slave-maids was pregnant. she was, therefore quarantined in a separate room and nahrir, the servant, his companions and some of the women were appointed to guard and serve her.  Later all of tehm became busy in hassain askir's funeral rites.  The streets and bazars of the town wre closed down.   Banu hashim, Banu Qawas, Banu abi andothers participated in the funeral ceremonies. it seemed as if hell and broken loose in surman Rai'. when the dead body had broken loose in sur man rai. When teh dead body and been washed and wrapped in the coffin, teh king asked abul 'isa bin Muta-wakkil to lead teh funeral prayers.  When the coffin was placed on thegorund for prayers, abu lsa took awany the cloth form his face adn invited banu hashim, the livs, teh abbasis, teh leaders, the lawyers adn the judges to have a final glimps of his face. 1he told them while showing the face: Here lies hassan bin ali Muhammad bin radha who died on his death bed. Such and such among thereliable and trustworthy servants of the amir-ul-mominin, such and such judges and such and such medical experts were present.  Then he covered his face again.  He ordered teh funeral to be carried away and he was brued in teh same house his father aly buried.

After the performance of the funeral rites the king as well as other people tried to find out if hehas left behind any issue.  They knocked at each and every door for this purpose. The division of his heritage was suspended. The people who has been appointed to guard the slavamaid kept up their watch until it was established beyond doubt that kept up gnancy was only an illusion.   After teh myth of pregnancy had been exploded, his heritage was distributed between his mother and his brother j'afar.  His mother filed claim relating to the will which was established in the court.

All Shia historians, writers and muhaddithin have related this tradition. For instance, mufid in "al-irshad" Tabrisi in "llam-ul-wara Urbili in "kashaf-ul-ghummah, mulla baqir majlisi in jila-ul-uyyun, the author of fusul in "al-fusul al-mohmah " and abbas qummi in "muntahil-amal have reproduced the tradition in the same words.

This tradition has demolished the entire structure of the birth and imamat of teh twelfth extinct imam which is raised on a foundation of the twelfth extinct imam which is raised of a foundation fo yarns adn self-imagined concotions.

A number of distinguished shia scholars have themselves acknowledged teh irrfutable fact that hassan askri was not blessed with a son during his life nor did the people find any clue to any one of his sons after his death. therefore, Imamat passed on to his brother J'afar who confiscated his entier belongings and tried to secure the same position amng the shias as his brother and acheved.

Why did they spin the birth-yarn of the extinct Imam?

The shias have tried to invest this imaginary figure with a corporeal frame beacuse they wanted to escape the questions posed by their adversaries, they wanted to evade the pits which they have dug out themselves, they wanted to cover the self-fabricated myths bout their own imams through the equally fabricated invention of the extinct imam.  It is axiomtic that lies hatch lies, they do not hatch chichens or rabbits.  The lies pile on one another, until they acquire a complex tissue of lies and what kind of a religion it is whose very foundations are raised on the fragile cement of fibs.  For example, the shias invented the principle that an imam does not die unless he has specified his succeoosr and he do so only if he is blessed with a son Kulaini has attributed it to jafar that an imam does not die without an intimation about his successor and until he has indicated his imamat in his will.

Their second principle about imamt was that it is transferred through succession. Kulaini has attributed it to j'afar that imamt will not be conferred on two brothers after hassan abd hussain ali bin abi talib, and according to the divine injunction imamt will now circulate only among the childrin of ali. similarly kulaini hasattributed an other tradition purporting to the adtricted circulation of imamt to isa bin abdullah bin umaion ali bin abi-talib. I asked abu abdullahy who should i entrust with imamat in case an accidnet happens? he pointed towards his son Musa. i asked what should be done in case an accident happened to musa? he replied in thatcase his son should be appointed the imam. i again submitted: what should be done in case his son is i again submitted: what should be done in case his son is involved in an accident and he has lift behind an elder brother and a younger son? he replied his son should be appointedthe mam and imam and then the son of his son should be appointed the the imam and the succession should pass on form son to son.  you should always appoint the son of a son as imam.

They have ascribed a tradition to ai bin musa radha to lend further substance to the principle fo succession fo imamt among the sons. he was asked if imamt could be transerred to a paternal uncle or a maternal uncle? he replied in the negative. he was asked again fi it could be transferred to a borther. he again replied in the negative. he ws asked once again who would be the recipient of imamat after him though he has not yet been blessed with a son. what he meant was that the birth of his son ws a necessary pre-requistie of imat because both are concomitant in fact. The presence of a son validates the transferrce of imamt. It remains lame-dock and invalidated otherwise. The third point to note is that imatat is transferred only to the eldest son. Kulaini has spelled out certain indications of imamat on the authority of ali bin musa. One of teh specified indications is that he should be the eldest son of his father. he also is entitled to imamat unless he is marrred by some flaw or is entitled to imamt unless he is marred by some flaw or defect when ali bin musa bin j'afar was askedt to pin-point the principal indication of imamat, he replied thatto be the eldest son was its chief indication.

the fourth point relates to the shia conviction that only an imam gives the final bath to an imam.  They have confirmed it on the authority of ali radha that the imam receives his final bath form an other imam.  hte fifth indication of am imamis that the prophet's amour fits him. Accordingly they have atributed it to imam baqir that one of the evidnet signs of am imam is that when he wears the prophet's armour, it fits him to dot, and if some one else of greater or smaller height wears it, it wil exceedhis height by the length of a hand. similaryly ibni babwi qummi has related on the authority of ali bin musa radha, the eithth imam of the shias , that the armour of the prophet (peace be upon him) invarialby fits an imam. J'afar bin baqir had argued in favour of the imamt of his son musa on the ame basis as has been endorsed by abdur rahman bin hajjaj. He said to imam j'afar; may i be scrificed ofr your sake, you know my visits to you have been pretty much curtailed. Therefoer, please tell me who,ll be the imam after you? he repled mus had worn the armour and it fitted him.

The sixth indication if an imam is that he is also in possession of the prophet's weapons. Kulaini has attributed it to ali bin musa bin j'afar has stated that imam is recognized by three attributes which are exclusive; (1)He should be the closest indicate his imamat in his will, and (3) he should be in possession of the prophet's weapons.

The seventh sign of an imam is that he should excel others in the quality of his knowledge. Kulaini substantiates this attribute through the words of Abul Hassan.

"All the Imams are equal in knowledge   and valour". Hur Amili has attributed it to Ali bin Musa bin J'afar. Imam is unique in his times. No one can match him in excellence; no scholar can excel him in knowledge, no one can act as his substitute , no one can be his equal. god confers on him special attributes through his blessings. Ibn babwi qumni also ascrbes it to ali bin musa bin j'afar that imam has many attributes. One of these atttributes is the wuperior orienationof his knowledge as compared to the knowledge of others and he is also vraver than orhters and his valour is not circumscribed by the pleasantness of unpleasantness of a situation; it is marked by an unfluctuating consistency.

The eighth attribute of am imam is that an imam is immune to ejaculation and wet dreams. The shias hvae confirmaed this attribute on the authoity of ali bin musa bin j'afar.

The ninth principle credits the imam with a knowledge of hidden secrets.  The secrets of the universe unflod before the imam on account of his eceptional status and this is what distinguishes him form other poeple.   he possesses knowledge of all teh revbealted books and the linguistic variations do ledge of all the revealed books and the linguistic variations do not hinder his understanding of their contents. They have mentioned a number of other qualifications. Ibn babwi qummi spells out on the authority of ali bin musa bin j'afar that an imam possesse a number of attributes: He is the mose learned among the people ; he possesses he qualities of justice, piety, humility, valour, magnanimity and righteousness in the superlative degree; he is pure and virtuous by birth, he is blessed with bouth retrospective and prospective futhre. He is without a shadow. When he is his mother's womb, he raises both of his hands and witnesses the uniueness of god as teh creator and teh apostle-hood of muhammad (peace be upon him). He does not have wet dreams or nocturnal discharge. his eyes sleep but his heart keeps awake; he is also a muhaddith. The prophet's armour fits him. His faeces cannot be seen because it is teh divine duty of the earth to swallow it. His smell is superior to that of camphor.  he is greater wellwisher fo teh people, even more thatn themselves; he ismore affectionate towards them, even more thatn their parents. His attitude is most complaisant towards god. He himself practises or eschews what he commands or forbids others to do and his deeds of commission or omission are marked by exceptional attachment or detachment. His prayers are readily recongnized and "robed as destinies". If he prays against a rock, it splits into two halves inteh flash of a second. he possesses the weapons and the sword of the prophet (peace be upon him). He has a book in which are entered teh names of his followeres who are likely to be born till doomsday; similarly, he has a book in which are entered teh names of his enemies who are likely to be born till doomsday. He also possesses a book which is seveny hands long adn contains a reference to all human needs and contingencies. he has a special leather on which are recorded all the branches of knowledge and scholarship; he is also in possession of a page of fatima's quran.

An other hadith testifies to his closest affiliation with god. Between him and god are some pillars of light through which he can have a look at teh deeds of all human beings. Imam j'afar is supposed to have commented that the world will be ruined and devastated if it is drained of the presence of an imam. it is also attributed to him that if only two persons survive on earth, one of them will be the divine agent.these are foundation principles on which the shias raised the structure of imamat. but when the life-style of many of their imams nor are they capable of embodyign and many of thier imams nor are they changed the facts to harmonize with fiction which was purely a product of their monize with fiction which was purely a product of their over-fertile fancy. for example, some of teh imams were not the eldest sons of their fathers, musa kazim and hassain askri are the obvious examples; some of them wre not given teh final bath by any of the imams: ali bin musa bin j'afar was gieven teh final bathe by his son jawad who was hardly eight years old at that time. similarly musa bin j'afar did not receive the bath from his son because he was not present at thejuncture of his death. he happended to be in madina at that time.

It is also not clearly established wheather zain-ul-abidin had been able to manage the inal bath of his father hadhrat hussain with his own hands. The doubt crops upits ugly head on two counts; first he was bed-ridden, and second the armed forces of ibn mobilty. There were also some of the imams whom the prophet's armor did not fit at all. For instance, Muhammad bin ali radha was hardly eith years old at teh time of his father's death. similarly when he died his son ali bin Muhammad was of a tender age. Again some fo the imams did not possess the prophet's weapons. if muhammad had possessed these weapons, his brother zaid would not had have picked up a quarrel with him, similarly adullah aftah etc, would not have taken up teh cudgels against musa bin j'afar. some of the imams were only moderate scholars and did not live on the summit of knowledge which is considered to be the hallmark of an imam by teh shias, How can a mere child be the greathest scholar of histimeslteh shias themselves have stated that their child imams hadto imbibe knowledge and learing under the supervisoin adn gudance of other people. the shias wre also skepticla about the quantum of knowlege possessed by some of their imams j'afar skeptcism has not spared even j'afar bin baqir. Imam j'afar himself supports, raather connives at the skiptical attitude.

"May god bless zurarah bin ain. if persons like zurarah had not been there, teh sayings of my father would have been destroyed.   zurarah has also commented on imam j'afar and his father in these words.

"May god bless abu j'afar. My heart is not satisfied on his count.

He has also added:

"This companins of your lacks in-sight abut matters relating to rijal (study of men)

Similar views have been circulated about the knowledge of is son musa. abu baisr muradi is ont one of the most dependable shia reprters. j'afar bin muhammad had anticipated his entry into paradise. Kashi has reported from shoaib aqr qufi aobut the same abu basir. When abul hassn was mentioned inteh presence of aub basir, he remared; in my opinion the wisdom adn understanding of our companion is compainion is not yet complete. one of the traditions gives a more blunt complexion to is comments; in my opinion the knowledge of our companion is imperfect.

As far as valour is concerned, the shias rank Hadhrat Hussain the hightest among the Imams whose valour is almost proverbial and it is their conviction that no other Imam can match him in courage and bravery. What has been recorded about the bravery of other Imams is in fact grounded in fiction and fantasy because none of had the guts to defy and resist the ruler of his times. On the contrary some of them expressed thier alleginace to them. some of the imams kept themselves aloof form those of thier cousins who raised them even their moral support. some of them were extra as has been related in teh last chapeter. all these facts are shias aoubt the role played by hadhrat hassan are standard fare and any attempt to tone them down or gloss them over is like denying sunshine on a hot summer day

The facts also contraiect the thesis that the imams possessed knowlegde of past and teh futue. If this had been the case, their answers to teh question bosed by their followers would not have been riddled with contradictions and in-consistencies. the imams were aware of the facts that the people who asked questions were their sincere followers and ot thier inveterte enemies. Nau bakhti has singled out teh case of umar bin biyah. He asked abu j'afar a questioin which he answered apparentlyto te pest of his knowledge next year he popped the popped the same question but he came out wiht an entirely different explanation he humbly submitted to the reverenced imam that his second explanaion was obivoulsy out of step with his first explanation though the question was identically phrased on both the occasions. he however tried to justify the glaring incompatibiltiy by suggesting that sometimes his replies were based on dissimulaton taiyyah) or conscious distortron and the degree of dissimulation is dictated by teh exiency of teh occasion. his companions. god knows that wehn i had asked him the question, it was my sincere intention to act on his edict beacuse i could not possible doubt his explanation as it carreied in my eyes the stature of a religious injunction. when my loyalty to him was absolutely unqualified, he has no reason whatsoever to rely on dissimulation. It seems both the answrs were based on improvisation. Therefore, he did nt remember the answere he hand given me last year. Later umar bin riyah publicly deied his imamat adn proclaimed thta an imam who issued incorrect edicts could  not possilby be an imam.

Kulani has related in his kafi on the authority of zararah bin ain. I asked abu j'afar a question. He answered it. then some one else asked him the same question. but teh other man came over and he also posed the same question but the anwere he gave this time clashed with the first two prophet!both of them belong to iraq and your confirmed followers but you have givn them differnet answeres, though the question they posed were identicla.

abu j'afar: zurarah, it is good for us. this mode of action is good for our survival and for your survival. if you agree among yourselves, people, will give crediblity to your views abut us and this will endanger our mutual survial. you shais on the points of your lances or brun them alive in teh fire, they will always leave you in a state of rift and division". but he responded to it the way.

the lingustic versatility of the imams is also a myth and melts away instantly on the hot-plate of reality. but for the shias their fantasies have hadened into facts adn they are findig it increasingly hard out of the shell of myths fabricated by their own fertile imagination

when hassan askre was left stranded without a male issue, the shias felt teh sky scraper of thier faith crumbling. therefore, they spun out the yarn of an extinct child to escape the burst of unpalatalbe questions in teh comping times. thier failure to invent a plausible excuase would have landed them into a two-pronged danger. On the one hand it would it would have inflicted a fatal blow on their view and ideas, and on the other hand, it would have thrown ito suspicion the imamat of hassan askri who could have thrown into suspicion the imamat of hassan askri issue not only affected his won imamat but it also had an adverse effect on teh validity adn authenticity of other imams who had formulated the principles of imamat. It is of course an other tale that these principles wee mostly observed in the breach adn the imams themselves often violated them. it served to invalidate their spurious predictions which are supposed to he rooted in perfect knowledge. the imams are immune to errors and lapses fect knowledge. teh imams are immune to errors adn lapses adn articluate only what is revealted to them. nau bakhti is an extremely prejukiced shia. he is one of thier leading figures he religious observations are mixed with a dash of philosophical spercultion. on the basis of his views he is included phical speculation. on the basis of his views he is included among the shias of the imamiyyah sect. he states without mincing matters tht after the deth of hassan skri the shias fell prey to umpteen dobuts and suspcions and split into various sects. One of the sects belived that hassan was still alive; he had not died but simply disappeared and he is the standing imam. this viesw is supported by teh shia conviction that he cannot die unless a child born is to him as the earth cannot afford the vacuum created by the absence of an imam.

the second sect held teh view that hassan bin ali and died alright but he remained alive even after his death. if he had left behind a child, the news of his death would have been presence of his on the imamat would have been reserved for his successor. but he had not drawn his will in favour of any one.

the thired sect dexlares that j'afar, and not hassan, was the imam because hassan died issueless and an imam does not die without drawing his will and specifying hs successor.

the fourth  sect believes that j'afar could not possibly replace ali as imam because he did not enjoy good reputation on account of his perverse way of life. hassan cannot lay claim to imamat either vbecause he died issueless adn an imam who dies without leavign an issue behind is a contradiction is terms. therefore, alis 's son muhammad was the bonafide imam after ali, who had died during the life of his faher.

The fifth  sect believes that hassan was the imam after ali and after him imamat passed on to j'afar, adn j'afar's saying that rules out the circulation of imamat betweeen tow inculmbent imam is blessed with a son. in case he is without a then his borhter is entitled to imamat under the law of necessity.

Thus the shias invented the fiction of hassan's son to flesh out their own convictions but the fiction proved even more intrctable as, instead of eliminnating suspicions, it further compaunded them. The question to be raised obvisouly relates to the imamat of a person who fulfills some of its essentials but dies issueless. One of the sects has hassan and the followers of this sect claim that their contention is supported by exhaustive research. if it is assumed that he has an ivisible son, then such a claim can be stuck out aoubt any issueless corpse. If our minds operate on these lines, we can also claim that the prophet (peace be upon him) had left behind a son. Besides abu j'afar, abu radha had left behind three a son. Besides abu j'afar, abu radha had left behind three sons, one of whom was a bonafide imam. hassan's issueless death falls into a pattern: the prophet (peace be upon him) had not left any sons behind at the time of his death, abdullah j'afar had not left beined at the time of his death, abdullah j'afar had not left behind any son either, nor had radha been blessed with four sons. Theerefore the myth of the son is absoultely fake. but it is quie true that one of his slave-maids was pregnant and teh child delivered by her would be a boy and an imam because an imam cannot die issueless as it would rob the earth of divine presence.

An other sect has contradicted it. those who believe in the birth of the child accuse others of self-contradiction but the fact is that they themselves are the victims of an outragious in-consistency because their belief borders on sheer absurdity and is an exercise in stupendous irrationality. besides their insistence on teh validity of their belief further compounds the the outrage. they justify their research with a rare degree of arrogrance adn teh outcome of their investirare degree of arogrance adn teh outcome fo their investigation isthe mere discovery of pregnancy if not the establishment of teh acutal fact of delivery. The followers of this sect do not disown delievery but disacknowlege pregnancy. they stress teh invisbility of teh child and his later discovery. this phenomenon is endorsed by conventional and biological evidence. Therefore they claim that their belief more is more reasonable as compared to the belief of others.

Still another sect is of the opinion that hassan's child was born eith months after his death and those who claims his birth during his life time are liars. Their claim bogus because if the child had been born he would not have remaind invisible. but it is true that pregnancy was withnessed by the king and others people. This is the reason his heritage was not the king and other people. This is the reason his heritage death. he ordered teh child to be named muhammad though he was hidden adn still invisible. His father had at the same time indicated his succession also.

Finally, the twelfth shia sect imamiyyah believes that all others sects are in the wrong. it is true that god will engender an off-spring from the children of hadhrat hassan bin ali; it is also true that imamat will ont operate between tow brothers after hasan and hussain because if it so happens it will a affix the seal of approval on teh statements of teh compainions of ismail bin j'afar and validate their brand of religion; it also furnishes a confirmatoy proof of teh imamat of muhammad bin j'afar; it is also not possible that the world should be stripped of the presence of an imam because in that case its destruction is guaranted. They admit that hassan had died and that a son would be born to him who is invisible. but they believe it is unlawful for the people to cliam the unveiling of a phenomenon that has been kept secret by divine choice. it is equally unlawful to make reference to his name, to interrogate teh venue of his birth and conduct investigation into his origins adn reality. Therefore any probe into his identity is absolutely forbidden.

Thus the shias were motivated by this insescpabel compulsion to invent the existence of a son for hassan askri, and it is quite understandable that in their inventive quest they discarded all logical and rational hurdles and relied on the most fantastic explanation to pad out the filial myth.

How to prove teh validity of their imams?

On teh one hand is the state of affairs discussed above: on the other hand these people have miserably failed to estabcation and specification. They claim that teh predecessor imam must indicat4e the imamat of his successor and they have dedicated a number of chapters in their books to highlight the crucial significance of teh clause of specification. Kulaini etc have especially concentrated on this clause in a systematic manner and have frequently referred to the imamat of their self-styled imams. But the irony is that shia tra of their self-styled imams. But the irony is that the shia traditions seems to disacknowledge the evidence furnished by their imams to establish the viability of their spiritual office. In many cases they have completely brushed aside the qualifications which are considered essential by the shia community for the personality of an imam and for his actual elevation to the hightest spirityal office, for example, specification in the will, seniority in age, fitness for the prophet's armour, the presence of his weapons, the final bath of predecessors, by succeeding imams, exceptional valour, knowledge of the unknown etc. are supposed to be the attributes of an imam. These attributes have been ennumerated and discussed in the preceding pages. But experience tells us that the imams have given short shrift to these qualifications.  Instead they have relied on magical tricks adn syllogistic sophistries and there are plenty of shia traditions to substantiate teh unsavoruty practice of their imams. If they were in possession of signs and specifications, they would not have taken the support of magic and sleight of hand. the shias adduce the example of an old woman among the followres of ali, hassan and hussain who called on ali bn hussain zain-ul-abdin. she observed: i called on ali bin hussain. I was shivering all over on account of old age as i was one hundred and thirteen years old. I found the imam absorbed in a state of knealing and prostration. since he was quite disappointed. But he pointed towards me with the help of his forefinger which restored my youth.

Similarly they have narrated another episode. When hadhrat hussain received martyrdom, muhammad bin hanfiyyah sent the followers message to ali bin hussain: your father has been martyred but he has not appointed any one his executor. I am your uncle, the brother of your father, the son of ali and i am older than you in years. (Ali bin hussain replied): let's go to hajr-i-aswad to seek its verdict in the matter. thus both of them went to hajr-i-aswad.  Ali bin husain said to muhammad bin hanfiyyah: first you should pray to god and request him to give power to speech to the stone and then you can ask it to give its verdict. thus muhammad first cried his heart out and prayed to god as he had been directed. He then called the stone but hajr-i-aswad gave no reply-then hussain prayed-there was a flicker of movement in hajr-i-aswad. the movement quickened into a steady wave adn it was possible that the stone might shuffle its moorings, but instead it spoke in eloquent arabic: by god, teh imamat is the right of ali bin hussain.

They have also related on the authority of musa bin j'afar that when a clash popped ub between him and his brother abdullah who was j'afar's eldest son-musa ordered a pile of fuel to be placed in the middle of the house and sent for his brother abdullah. When he came over, a large party of imamiyyah shias had already called on musa who were now comfortably settled in their seats. When musa sat down he ordered the heap of fuel to be lighted. The fuel had completely burnt out but the people were still unware of the purpose behind the whole show. When the entire pile turned into glowing coals, musa stood up and sat down amidst the fire with his cloths on and talked with people for some time. then he stood up, dusted his cloths on and talked with people for some time. then he stood up, dusted his clothes adn returned to the people who had gathered there. He said to his brother abdulah: it you claim that you are the imam after your father then you should sit on the fire as i have done.

Kulaini has narrated an other episode to establish the confirmation of musa bin j'afar imamat and the superiority of his claim over that of his borthers. Somebody asked musa bin j'afar: who is the imam? he repplied: if i tell you who the imam is, will you take my word for it? he said: yes. Musa replied: i am the imam. He said: i must have a proof of it. Musa said: go to this tree-he pointed towards a treeand tell him that musa bin j'afar commands it to move over to him. The man says: i saw that the tree moved and stoodbefore musa. Then he signed with his hand and the tree returned to its original position.

they have also related a story in proof on the imamat of muhammad bin ali radha. Somebody called on him and said to him: i would like to ask you question but i feel very shy to ask it. he told him: I can tell you intend to ask. Do you want to ask me about the imam? He replied: by god! That is the question i wanted to ask. He replied: I am the imam. He submitted: do you have any proof of your imamat? The stick he held in his hand at once spoke out: My master is the imam of the times and he is also the hujjat.

these episodes obviate the principle that imamat is established through specification (Nas) alone, that the successor imam must be indicated by teh predecessor imam. the difference that occasionally cropped up a consequeence of the absence of indiction which eventually forced teh shias to seek the crutches of outrageous inventions and absurd explanations.

the situation is pretty symptomatic and revelatory; it reveals the hollowness of teh principles framed by the shias about imamat. Their clamis are not just claims, they are not supported by proof and argument. Ibn hazm has refuted the 'Nas' claim of teh shias in his "Fasl". Addressing the shias, he remarks: There are two conditions which are essential to prove the imamat of your imams and all of your sects agree on the presence of these conditions. first, there is a clear indication of his succession: and second, people need him badly for the exposition and articuation of shari because imam is the only one who posseses complete knowledge of the sharia. No one else excels the imam in knowledge. then tell me how did Muhammad bin ali bin hussain have a better claim to imamat than his other brothers zaid, umar, abdullah, ali and hassain? if they cliam to have derived the 'Nas' either form his his father or the prophet (peace be upon him), it is not an innovative presumption on their part, nor is their claim more valid than that of teh kaisaniyyah sect which claimed the imamat of muhammad bin hanfiyyah. if they claim that was superior to his brothers, their claim remains equally unsupported by arguments because man's external conduct does not always mirror his interanal condition and the noble apperance of a person can not be make a definite measure of his superiority. sometimes the inner reality is in conflict wiht the outer facade. here i would also like to ask the shias what made musa bin j'afar more superior to his brohters muhammad or ishaq or ali to stake out his claim to imamat? I am aure they have no argument in their bag of tricks except the impalpable claim. Similarly i would like to pose the question what special factor clinched teh imamat for ali bin musa when seventeen of his brothers flaunted their wares with an equal fan-fare. but again they have no argument except teh argumet of the insubstantil claim.

And there are a number of other questions which can be shot at them. for instance why did they prefer teh claim fo muhammad bin ali bin musa over that of his brother ali bin muhammad bin ali bin musa over that of his brother ali bin ali, ali bin muhammad and the claim of hassan bin ali bin muhammad bin ali bin musa over the claim of his brother j'afar bin ali? and teh claim is advanced by those people whose capacity for lies is unlimited. Similarly if some body tries to claim imamat for other reverened figures among ali's progeny or for some other hallowed figure among the banu umayyah, he will also be commmittin an act of sheer stupidity as no sensible person can afford to indulge in this form of blind-man's buff. It is the occupation of people who are drained of all sense of decency and decorum and whose stubtio of the specification (Nas) clause in intended only to hoodwink teh innocent people adn it does not carry any divine endorsement. the divine will functions consistently and it does not operate in spasmodic jerks.

Besides imamiyyah, ithna ashriyyah, jafriyyah or rafidh also believe in the immunity of the imam form errors and lapses. he is directly appointed by god and he does not wear the band of allegiance to any one ele round his neck. The reference to the innocence of imams is further elaboration here is simply an exercise in tautology.

But the clause that an imam should not wear the tag of obedience to any one else needs elaboration. Kulaini observes that hisham bin salim called on musa bin j'afar after teh death of his father. He found musa in a state of anxiety. He was also crying. He was literally on the horns of a dilemma and did not know what to do and where to go. He was not sure whether he should seek the support of marhaba Qadriyyah, Zaidiyyah, motazillah or khwarij. Hisham asked musa: Who will be our imam after your father? he replied: you,ll soon come to know about it. Hisham adds: i asked him: are you the imam? He replied: I don't claim so. Hisham further adds: i thought to myself i had not phrased my question properly. I submitted again: is there any imam whom you follow? He replied: no I was deeply impressed by his dignity, a feeling i had experienced in teh presence of his father.

A large number of shia books attest to teh fact that any one who wears the band of allegiance of someone else cannot claim to be an imam. The imamat of such a person is absolutely fake and does not carry divine sanction. In order to wind up teh discussion i would like to take a bird's eye view three-dimensional exposition.

THE INNOCENCE OF IMAMAS:

The innocence* of Imamas over-publicized by the Shias is hardly a dettled affair. It is in fact as debatable and controversial as other attributes of the Imams. Though the Shias believe that their Imams are innocent, their own acts and deeds negates such a surmise. For instance, Hadrat Ali, who in the eyes of Shias, is the first innocent Imam, and Hadrat Hassan, who is the second innocent Imam, did not see eye to eye with each other on certain issues. He had disagreed with his father when he was reciving people's allegiance after the martyrdom of Hadrat Uthman. Hadrat Hassan had also diagreed with him when he decided to take up arms against those who were demanding revenge for Uthman's blood. (The relevant details are given in the second chapter of this book.) The difference between the first innocent Imam and the second innocent Imam proves that one of them was in the right and the other in the wrong. And this has been historically established that after the battle of Jamal Hadrat Ali had endored Hadrat Hassan's opinion and reagretted the fact that he had not acted on his advice.

   The second point to note is that Hadrat Ali himself believes in his fallibility. He has himself admitted that he is not immune to error. Therefore, he had made it clear to the people tht they should not hesitate to advice him on any issue to promaote the cause of justice because, left entirely to himself, he could not rule out the possibility of error.*

   The third point has been stressed by the historians as well. When Hadrat Hassan decided to patch up with Hadrat Muawiyyah, Hadrat   Hussain along with other people opposed him. The Shias believe that both the Imam area innnocent but Hadrat Hassan took no notice of hadhrat hussain's opinion and patched up with hadhrat Muawiyyah. Hadhrat hussain often expressed revulsion about the patch-up and told teh people that he would have felt less degraded if his nose had been snipped off. It is obvious that one of them was in the right and the other in the wrong. There are numerous examples of opinionative clash between the imams though they are all supposed to be innocent.

Appointment by God.

The claim of teh shias that an imam is appointed by God is a hollow claim. It is not supported by facts adn arguments. As long as teh chin fo revelation remains interrupted and Gabriel's interlocution is suspended any one can claim that he has veen appointed by god.

Absence of allegiance to another imam.

It is essentail for an imam that he should not wear the band of allegiance to another imam. But it is an established fact right form hadhrat ali down to hassan askri that no imam appears to have fulfilled this confition. But it can be definitely stated aobut the insubstantial, extinct adn unborn imam that imams are concerned, it is now a fact of history adn it is to the imams and caliphs of their times. their allegiance is wrote. The shias also admit that hadhrat ali is the first innocent imam who swore allegiance to hadhrat abu bakr, is teh second innocent imam, pledged fealty to hadhrat also took the oath of allegiance at the hands of hadhrat Muawiyyah. Ali bin hussain pledged fealty to Yazid and in Hussain (Zain-ul-Abidin) is the foruth innocent imam in the eyes of teh shias. This applies invariably. to all the imams who took the oath of allegiance at the hands of others adn lowered their exceptional status as imams. Teh conditions laid down by shais as essential for imamat are fulfilled by none of their imams. Their confessions and acknowledgements on teh other hand serve to negate the relevantce of these conditios.

Why is imamat necesary?

The shias believe in the necessity of imamat which is in fact vicegerancy of the prophet (peace be upon him) Imamat is a directorate of secular and religious affaris. It is necessary because it is a favour and a blessing. It is almost like prophethood. It is a favour and a pleasure that when people obey a person who eliminates oppression, encourages good deeds, discourges evil practices, they will draw closer to virtue and away form vice. and this is some thing certainly to be enjoyed. What in fact holds for prophethood, also holds, for imamat.

Sayyid zain remarks that imamat is obligatory because imam is a deputy of the prophet (peace be upon him) He guards teh islamic sharia, guides the muslims sustanins the role of law, explicates difficlt verses adn traditions, interprets subtleties adn distinguishes between relevance adn irreleveance.

Hilli observes that an imam shouldbe the protector of sharia as teh chain foorevelation has been suspedded after teh death of teh prophet (peace be upon him) and the Quran and sunnah are notin a position to issue detailed injunctions on the earth.  Therefore, it is necssary that an imam should be appointed by god. It is the need of the world and there is no harm in it either. Since the world is a battlefield of disputes adn dissensions, it needs and imam to resolve its tangles. The disputes might multiply in teh absence of an imam. Teh appointment of tehimam is therefore compulsory to keep the entire machinery of teh earth in good gear.

In order to confirm teh authenticity of their imams they have quoted reasons adn arguments which in fact negate the imamat of most of their imams. With the sole exeption of hadhrat ali, all of them negate the very basis of their imamat. These imams have never been elevated to the highest public office to tone up secular adn religious matters; they were never invested with the power to keep off the oppressor: the Shia traditions bear testimony to teh fact that they never had teh courage to condemn evil and applaue virtue. One of these imams is not even born. Even if we presume his birth, he never had the spunk to make himself visible as he was too can he undertake the onerous responsiblity of guarding islamic sharia, and sustaining a just application of its injuntions. The eleventh imam was so young at the time of his imamat that some persons were appointed to protect his belongings because he lacked the power to protect his possessinos himself. Therefore others wee entrusted to run his affairs. If he could not take care of his own affairs, how could he be espected to take care of teh vast religious and worldly affairs whose resoulution required equally vast knowledge and experience.

The shia literature waxes elequent aout the fact that most of the imams issued edicts against divine and prophetic injunctions to save thier own necks. This point was borht up in reference to imam j'afar and his father baqir. they had converted the unlawful into the lawful and vice versa. Kulaini has reported in his "Al Kafi" form musa bin hashim: i was sitting with abu Abdullah. Somebody asked him about a Quranic verse adn he gave his explanation of the verse. Then another person came who also asked him to explain the same verse. The second explanation differed form the first explanation. I felt a stronge sensation. I felt that someone was scratching at my hert. I said to myself: Abu Qatadah in syria never confused even a single letter or sound and here is a man whose entire explanation is twisted and out of key. I was still lost in the maze of my reflections that an other man called on him and asked him about the same verse and (to my total surpise) his explanation clashed with the first two explanations.

Kulaini attributes it to muhammad bin muslim: i called on abu abdullah. At that time aub hanifah was with him. I submitted: I,ve had a strange drema. he said: narrate it as teh interpreter of dreams is with us nad he pointed with his hand towards imam abu hanifah. I submitted that i seemed to have entered my house. My wife came out and broke a few to have entered my house. My wife came out adn broke a few to have entered my house. My wife came out and broke a few nuts adn threw them at me. The dream has perplexed me and I don't know what it portends. He said, that i am kicking up a great row to obtain my wife's heritage adn i'll achieve my purpose after a great deal of struggle. When abu abdullah heard the interpretation, he shgouted instant approval and admired his sensitivity. When abu hanifah left i told him that i found his interpretation. therefore the correct interpretation is entirely different. I said: you had shouted approval of his interpretation adn admired his correct diagnosis on oath, though he was obviously on the wrong track. He replied: my approbal on oath actually meant disapproval adnwhat i meant was that he had discovered his mistake.

I would like to remind you of anohter tradition reported by kulaini from Zurarah and which has been presented in the preceding pages. Can we affirm on the basis of teh available available evidence that they ar4e protectors of the injunctions of Sharia and are competent to efect their balanced implementation? Then some of teh imams and willingly surrendered their imamat. Hadhrat Hassan is an obvious example who had handed over his imamat on a platter and he had entrusted his personal affairs adn the affairs of his followers to tose before whom he had surrendered. There were others who willingly expressed their allegiance to others. thisas cite the example of imam Zain-ul-Abidin. Hteir traditions clearly endorse it. some of teh imams failed to secure worldly power inspite of their struggle. Hadhrat hassan is an embodiment of this failure. Ibn Hazm believes that teh imams of teh shias are quite non-committal aobut teh relevance of imamat to teh explication and implementaion of sharia injunctions. The shias seem to thrive on claims only which are absolutely shorn of substance and are triggered by rhetoric alone. And they also lack consensus on crucil issues as is teh case with other sects. On teh countrary, teh differecnes among shia sects are much worse. The other people who have followed their imams, for instance hanfis, shafiis, malikis and hamblis havve recorded the thoughts and views of their respective leaders abu hanifah, shafii, malik and ahmad through the distinguished schorlars of thier schools of thought but shias related the views of their imams directly without the filter of the third medium; they have obviated teh necessity of scholarly intervention in their stubborn arrogance and their comparisons and infereces lack conviction and one fails to be convinced that a statement attributed to musa bin j'afar, ali bin musa, huhammad bin ali bin musa, ali bin muhammad or hassan bin is actullay make by tehse hallowed personalities. the situation becomes even more dubious after hassan bin ali and its perversity acquires threatening proportions. The juristic issues attributed to hadhrata hassan adn hussain hardly run into ten pages adn their accretion is associated with the fertillity of shia imagination rather than with reality.

Hadhrat hussain was the only imam after his father who publicly preached peity and was willing to face the gravest reisks and hazards in teh path of virtue. I have examined the various meliorative statements the shias have attributed to their imams and found them hollow and without susbstance. The imams are found to be empty kettles adn the shais have tried to create dn perpetuate the illusion that there is something brewing in them. What they possessed in abundance, of course, was plenty of air and vapour but as far as genuine courage and the willingness to put all at stake is concerned, they gave a poor account of themselves. therefore the high falutin claims of the shias about the valour of their imams have no basis in reality and are backed by the chronic fantasy on which the very genesis of their faith is based; it also reflects the perversity of their mode of thought. These imams of teh shias were, in fact, either ordered to wear teh cloak of silence or they had the liberty to express their views. the truth lies between these two positions. If they were ordered to assume silence and they succumbed to it, it would mean they agreed to perfom and act absolutely incompatible with their high spiritual status. It would be tantamount to teh commission of an act of incongential circumstance, assumes even more urgent proportions. For a truly pions man the degree of urgency adn immediacy is directly proportional to the quantum of threat and challenge that intends to muzzle it.  To break though the layers and whirls of suppression adn come out with a clear adn daring articulation of faith is the primary duty of clear adn daring aritculation fo fiath is the primary duty of the imam and to be a paryt to the cirme, no matter what the motive, is a dastardly act and no amount of leniency or blinking can condone it. And if they had the liberty to propagate their faith adn they maintained either diplomactic silence or were distracted by other considerations, they were also guilty of violation of the covenant they had signed with god through election or succession. this act nulifies their imamat because it is equivalent to divine disobedience. When they were asked about the balidity of thir imams, they tied to wriggle out of the impasse by suggesting that the concept of imamat was grounded in inspiration and revelation. But it was only parrying the real issue. One could gather form their and impalpable explanation that any one could come out with a cliam to imamat and justify it on the flimsest grounds adn they may not be able to reject his claim or cast reasonalbe doubt on the authenticity of his claim. then some of teh fathers of these imams died while how did they acquire the old. One would like to ask them how did they acquire the knowledge of teh subtleties adn complexities of sharia at such a tender age because their own father could not be expected to help that these imams had imbibed knowledge through revelation, it would be like flying in te face of established realities as revelation is only a prophet's prerogative and the Imams do not enjoy this concession or privilege. Such a belief is an absolute violation of fundamentals of islam.

Shaikhiyyah:

Subsequently, the shias split into ithna 'ashriyyah adn other sects, of which the most important sect is shaikhiyyah which derived its name from shaikh ahmad bin zain-ul-din bin ihsai bahrani (he was born in 1166 93 A.H. and died in 122394 A.H.) Khuwansari has praised him in teh highest terms. He calls him one of the greatest theologians and philosophers of his times who was fascinated by teh exteriors of objects as well as teh interiros of things. the phenomenal world attracted him as much as teh ontological world, he championed both the world of becoming adn teh world of being. He was in fact an envialbe complex diverse attributes; his depht of scholarship adn beauty of conduct blessed him with exceptional status. He was unrivalled in eloquance adn with exceptional status. he was unrivalled in eloquance adn in his love of teh ahi-e-bait. Some scholars have accused him of extremism adn fanaticism but their views are reflections of their own prejudice adn are not supported by objective evidence. He was a man of immeasurable dignity adn nobility. He spent his time mostly at the place of worship in yazd. Than he left for isfihan where he stayed for a long time.

when he was returig to his place of orign which was was! Hussain and arrived in Qarimin on his was to his home town which ws located in bin, hohammad ali mirza bin sultan fathe ali swhah qachar, who was a just and self-respecting ruler, insisted on his stay in his town. He complied with his request adn stayed there till teh death of the amir. His death unleashed a rash of bloody tussles in his kingdom. From there he left for hair sharif to spend the remaining years of his life in teh propagation of generally believed that he was well versed in different fields generally believed tht he was well versed in different fields o knowledge. some poeple crack him up for his encyclopaedic informatin. He had formally studied medicine, the art of recitaion, arithmetics and astrology. he also claimed to possess knowledge of industry, numerology, magic and other esoteric disciplines. it is believed that he compiled approximatley on hundred books. some of teh historians claim that the number of his book exceeded even the hundred figure. His disciple, syed Kazim rushti remarks: our master one night saw that hadhrat hassan placed his branches of knowledge with the help of the sacred saliva which tasted sweeter than sugar adn honey and smelled bathed in divine radiance. The house was filled with teh presence of god and he grew indifferent to everything that smacked of worldly attachment, and right at the moment when he had surrendered himself to hadhrat ali, his belief in god grew so nitense that he became absolutely indifferent to eating, drinking and other nexessities of life.

In addition to books he delivered many lectures in karbala, tus and other overwhelmingly shia areas in which he expressed his views adn convictions without restraint. he claimed that god has distribbuted his light among hadhrat ali and his eleven sons. all of them adre reflections of allah. they possess divine attributes. They are the most honourable imams. thought they differ in appearance, in reality they are identical.

Ihsai used to claim that the imams are an affective justication of divine presence on earht, manifestations of the will of lord and physical embodiments of god's purpose and intention. god would not have created anything if he had not created the imams. Whatever god performs, he performs for the sake of the imams. In themselves they do not possess any power but throught them the divine power is mediated adn filtered adn assumes a palpalbe shape. Since god's power can not be demarcated and human reason is not in a position to draw up the lines of divine resource-fulness, god created the imams to rovided of his infinity to the finite creatures. No one can obtain divine proximity without first obtaining proximiyt to the imams who are his visible representations. One who misunderstands the imams in facts misunderstands god himself. The guarded tablet is teh heart of the imam which telescopes teh heavens tablet is teh heart of teh imam which telescopes the heavens adn the theheart of the imam which telescopes the heavens and teh earth. The imams are teh fist cratures adn they have supriority over all other cratures.

His views about teh twelvth imam are enumerated below for teh enlightenment of the readers.

(1) He is dead. The invisible mehide whose arivla s avidly awaite by the shia comunity is aresient of the world of spirits and has no commexion with the world of flesh adn bone.He is also known by the epithets jabi laqa' and ja bi-rasa. This imam, whom i love enven more thatn my won life, left this world and entered paradise when he felt of his enemies.

(2) The returnig imam will not be teh son of askri, but some one elese into whom be infused teh soul fo hassan askri. he adds that he will return to the world in teh guise of another sperson adn hisbirth will take place like the birth of an ordinary person.

(3) this peson will be imam muhammad bin hassan askri even though he si born into the house of his  new parents. Similarly imam Mehdi will appear in a corporeal frame, nad not in an insubstantial form.

(4) he is also called qaim because he will stand up again after he dies. When he was asked if he would stand up form his grave, he replied: yes form his grave, i.e. he will come out form the belly of his mohter jablisa and jabliqa is his place of residence in the heavens. this place is not located on earth as some people erroneoulsy suppose.

He does not believe in the immortality of flesh. since the body is composed of the four basic ingredients which dissolve after the disinteration of the body and do not leave even a trace behind, therefore the human body is permanantly destroyed. What survives and is re-invested with a formal shape is the litght spiritual frame which he calls the quintessence or the essence of essences: "jauhar-ul-jawahir it is a frame tht will be raised again. the other ingredients of the body return to their orininal elements. Water blends with water and earth blends with earth. the crude portions of teh soul are also destroyed adn it survives only in its most refined form.

One of the series of beliefs propagated by ihsai is that imam mehdi is not circumscribed by space adn time. He can appear at any time and at any place in the guise of a perfect believer or a saint adn it is obligatory to repose faith in him. He believes in the following four pillars of religion. since ihsa was the perfect man of his times, he was also known as Rukn rabin-bab. According to him, 'bab' is a person into whom the soul of 'bab' is transfused, and mehdi is a person into whom teh soul of mehdi is transfused. Similarly an imam and a prophet. All these persons differ in appearance but in reality they are identicl. they are all incarnations of divine essence which is absolutely unitary.

Ihsai denied both physical and spiritual ascension. he believed that teh propet (peace be upon him) is present every where. therefore it wounds aburd that first he was on the earth and then he ws lifted towards the skies. he is in fact not limited by the xonstraints of space and time. if someone finds him in teh sky, he will find him there with all teh heavenly accompaniments and appurtenance.

After his death ihsai succeeded by his disciple sayyid kazim rushti in 1242 as teh head of the shaikhiyyah sect. he followed him to the dot and elevated himself above the other disciples, even those who had an edge over him in terms of years. he excelled them in spirtiual concentration and in the quality of his exceptional experiences denied to other. He also anticipated the early arrival of imam mehdi.

The shaikhiyyah sect is grounded in a fundamental tension between and substance. teh tension is resolved only throgh spirtual contemplation and it also mainly contributes to the vicissitudes of the phenomenal world. The essence is immutalbe: it is a reflection of divinity. But the substance is mutalbe by virtue of its inherent composition. the essence also contains the accidental-and adventitious retrospectively true but carries a prospective relevance. In creation, it will affix teh stamp of limitaiton even on teh hell and heaven. But these concepts are perennially operative as one enters heaven through love of the imams and ahl-i-bait of the prophet (peace be upon him) adn both hell heaven are a consequence of man's own deeds.

Khu ansari has mentioned in his book that he was inalienably attached with ihsai as teh shirt is attached to the body an cultivated in himself all the precious qualities of head and heart which endeaed him to his illustrious teacher and made him excel his other disciples. Sayyid kazim bin amir sayed qasim hussaini jilani rushti kept the candle of his ideas buring and served as a torch-bearer for his followers for a long time to come.

He spread the views and convictions of his mentor with exceptional zeal. he managed to attract a number of people to his views propagated by ihsai adn as a result of fresh conversions, a new sect was the light of the day which included people from iran, arab, iraq, azerbaijan and kuwait. Rushti was followed by Muhammad karim khan kirmani bin zahir-ul-daulah, the ruler of kirman, muhammad khan, his son his brother zain-ul-bidin adn then his son qasim khan ibrahimi who ruled as caliphs one after the other in a continuous line of succession. It may be noted thatali mhammad shirazi was also one of teh disciples of sayyied qazim rushti. he as obviously aligned with teh views of the shaikhiyyah sect. therefore all those who embraced his invitation were also included among teh shias of teh shaikhiyyah sect.

It is interesting that most of indo-pak shias of the ithna ashriyyah sect hold teh views propagated and practiced by ihsai and rushti, thought they do not openly confess their alignment wth these views. But on the basis of their convictions they belong to teh shaikhiyyah sect as is publicly affirmed by some of their scholars. They have established their centres in different parts of the country. Multan and karachi in pakistan are especially patronized by them. they receive financial adn cultural assistance form kuwait. this qroup has acquried wide publicity and its following is also quite extensive. I dont like to discuss the sect in further detail as i intend to devote a separate book to the origin and beliefs of this sect which is expectecd to contain some untapped information.

Nur bakhshiyyah sect.

this sect is found in the valleys of himsalayas, kohistan and baltistan adjacednt to chinese tibet. the shias of ithna ashriyyah clim it as an off-shoot of their own sect. the followers of this sect call themselves nur bakshiyyah shias. this sect derives fomr teh name fof Bakhsh, the founder who was born in 795 A.H. in kohistan. They believe that he was born qavin, a village in kohistan and father had migrated there from Ihsa'. According to another view his father abdullah was born in ihsa and his grandfather muhammad was born in qatif.

Muhammad nur bakhsh bakhsh was disciple of khawaja ishaq khatlani who as a disciple of wayyid ali hamadani. Khawja was impressed by his performance and conferred on hm the appellation nur performance and conferred on him the had been disclosed through inspiration. Muhammad nur bakhsh claimed that he was imam mehdi and the prophet (peace be upon him) had predicted that he would appear during teh terinal period, his name would be muhammad and his father's name abdulla. the prophetic prediction matched his credentials. His patronym is also consistent with the prophetic anticipation. One of his sons was named qasim. His followers addressed him by teh appellation of imam adn khalifah-tul-muslimin. He often stated that in the past he self-articuation had arrived to steer the people towared their final destinationthrough their spiritual crisis and to make them aware of the ultmate inspiration.

he launched a massive revolutionary movement againsit the iran goverment of the times, and was consequently arrested. On his release he left for kurdistan where he spread his message among teh people. the natives of kurdistan responded to his invitation woth exceptional enthusiasm. A visible proof of their religious fervoru appeared in teh form of conins which carried his impress. 

He was re-arrested but, during his state of imprisonment, he announced on the pulpit of harat on friday in 840 A.H. to discard his cliam to khilafat and to give up his anti-state activities. then he was packed off to kaylan and from there to ray where he breathed his last in 869 A.H. At the time of his death, the cities of iran and iraq were packed with a large number of his followers.

The bird's eye review of muhammad nur bakhsh reveals that he did not belong to ithan 'ashriyyah because this sect identified the supposed so of hassan askri as mehdi while nur bakhsh regarded himself as teh promised mehdi. He was in his book rebutted the arguments of those who identfiy hasan askri's sons as mehdi. He writes: some people are of the opinion that muhammad bin imam askri is the promised mihdi but it is not true. The prophet (peace be upon him) himself has stated that his name, his patronym and the names of his parents, and the name of this mehdi is muhammad. Besides none of the other names comes pat to teh prophetic specification.

the fact is that muhammad nur bakhsh did not share the beliefs of ithna 'ashriyyah shias. He believed in the unity of being prounded and practiced by teh sufis. It was his prgramme to transform all teh prophets into mystic lords. instead of "tanasiky" he floated teh term "baruz". the soul that is infused into the child when he has spent four months in the mother's womb, he identifies it as human resurrection. At this juncture the human entity and teh real entiry (The divine essence) blend into each other. His thoughts indicate that he believes in the philosophy of "radiance" (ishraq), spiritual conditioning of his followers through remote control, and kind of tele-pathic communication. Dr. Muhammad ali Aburiyan also supports this view, though he has no cogent reasos to confirm his hunch. Some verses from the ghazals of nur Bakhsh express his faith in the unity of being.

An english rendering of these verses is produced below: whether we are hadi or mehdi, we are all equal. If we struggle persistently, we are mehdi, we are all equal. If we struggle persistently, we are mehids we are a drop of the ocean of being. We have unlimited potential for inspiration. O Lord! When shall i return form my status as drop? O Lord! send me to the ocean of radiance.

Nur Bakhsh expresses his concept of love in teh same strain as Muhammad bin arabi has expreses in the following verse:

(I am aligned with the religion of love, irrespective of its demands and compulsions because love alone is my religion and faith)

A translation of some of his verses is given below:

The day i reconginzed the faze of my love, i felt elevated above teh entire creation .

I grew indifferent to faith and religion.

I am disafiliated form the community and i am not attaced to any religion.

He was so deeply imersed in the love of being that he totally lost a sense of personal identity. During his state of absorption he often asked: Am i nur bakhsh or am i someone else?

I dont not, of course, deny that when iran fell under the sway of the safvis and they wielded the sword with unprecedented barbarity to force the conversion of people to shiaism, the nur bakhshis also declared their allegiance to shiaism. when ismail safvi conquered tastar and asked people about their faith, he did not spare thse who claimed to be the followers of nur bakhs.

Thus a large number of his followers escaped to india and settled among the hills and other far-flung areas of the country, and tenaciously clung to the fundamental tenets or their faith. an other argument that supports the independent sectarian status of nur bakhshis is their separate fiqh, their separate identity and their sparate places of instruction. It is, nevertheless, true that they seem to exemplify some of the ithna ashri characteristics: they mourn the death of imam hussain with the same show of passion and enthusiasm as is displayed by teh shias of teh ithna ashriyyah sect. But they have some extremely vital differences as well. an other factor that supports their non-shia status and establishes their independent identity is that form the point of view of mysticism and the mystic chain they are appended to suhrwardi, junaid baghdadi and siri saqti, and none of these sufis was a shia. Muhammad bur bakhsh has described his shufis was a shia. Muhammad nur bakhsh has described his chain of mysticism as teh zahbiyyah chian. I reproduce below verbatim fom his book:

"Muhammad nur bakhsh, khawja ishaq khatlani, hadhrat amir kabir sayyed ali mamidani, hadhrat shaikh muhammad mazd qani, hadhrat shaikh alauddaulah samnani, hadhrat shaikh abdur isfrani, hadhrat shaikh abu najib shohrwardi, hadhrat shaikh ahmad ghazali, hadhrat shaikh abu bakr nisaji, hadhrat shaikh abu ali kalibi, hadhrat shaikh abu ali rudbari, hadhrat shaikh junaid baghdadi, hadhrat shaikh siri saqti hadhrat shaikh maruf karbhi, hadhrat imam ali radha.

Muhammad nur bakhsh has explicitly stressed some points which arque against his shia identity. for example, he surveys the scene after the death of the prophet (peace be upon him) and concludes that both the natives and refugees had unanimosuly agreed to take the oath of allegiance at the hand of hadhrat abu jakr because the prophte (peace be upon him) and himself appointed him to lead the prayers during his illness. since it was prophetetic commmand, all of his companions had expressed thier instant concurrence, as prayer is the pillar of the faith. It is attributed ot hadhrat ali that whenever the azan invited the people to prayer, the prophet (peace be upon him) asked the people to request abu bakr to lead the prayer on his behalf. When the prophet (peace be upon him) died, I thought that prayer is the flag and the pillar ofr faith. if the prophet (peace be upon him) chose him for the important pillar of faith, we also chose him to lead us in worldly affairs and we pledged at his hand.

On the day of the prophet's death when hadhrat ali found the companions squabbling among themselves in saqifah bani saidah on teh issue of khilafat, he took the ring off teh prophe's hand, gave it to hadhrat abu bakr and said to him: go to the people and pacify them and see to it that htye agree on your leadership. hadhrat bu bakr accompanied by hadhrat umar went over to the people. hadhrat umar argued with the poeple persuasivley. they were easily convinced and voluntariily pledged at his hand. with the help of the prophet's ring and hadhrat ali's planning, all the people agreed on his imamat.

thus it is not correct to presume that this sect is an offshoot of shiaism. It is an independent sect and , inspite of its, minor resemblances with the shia faith, its major differences mark if off as a separate brand.

Akhbariyyah and usuliyyah:

Another major rift developed among the followrs of ithna ashriyyah in the last few centuries. this rift is popularly known as the between akhbaris and usulis. the rift split the ithna Ashriyah into tow rival groups. the diference was not restricted only to verbal  exchange but often assumed physically menacing dimensious; it actually fracturized the unity of their faith and generated an ugly spate of allegations and counter-allegations in its wake. the tow sects did not any oportunity  slip to malign each other, The differences, if fact intensified byound the limits of sanity. the akhbaris accused the usulis that they had been expelled form the fold real original shiasim. books were written and magaiznes were published to fan the difference nd to create more ripples inthe pool of factionalism. the akhbaris believed in teh manfest traditions. It did not matter whether they were literally true or metaphorically true. What mattered was their apparent validity and in that they followed teh views of thier forefathers.

It may be clerly understtod that teh akhbairs acknowledge the manifest and the experssed traditions while the usulis believe both in the manifest and the non-manifest raditions.

In simple phraseology it down to teh fact that teh akhbais treat only the quran adn teh sunnah as primary sources. All other sources are adventitious in their evaluation. A hadith in the eyes of a sia is a statement afftibuted either to the prophet (peace be upon him) or to any one of their innocent imams. this derviation is obligatory for teh authenticity of a shia hadith, otherwise it remanis an ambigouus entity and ambiguity in religions matter is easily exploitable both for virtuous and vicioud ends. hadith i this sense is an obligation for them. Therefore whatever is ascribed sense is an oblgation for them. therefore whatever is ascrived to teh prophet (peace be upon him) and to the innocent imams is obligatory for teh shias because it possesses teh status of a divine to te the insinuatioins of uncertainty. simiobvously immunce to the included in their 'usul arba', then they accept its validity without reseration and qualification. the authentic books of ruels and principles ofr the shias are tose which were compiled and composed by the companions fo their imams. when the companions of imams derive traditions form their imams, these traditions are vested with a halo of unquestioning authenticity and no one can possibley raise even his little finger against their inherent credibility. Both teh substance of a tradition adn teh mode of its narration are directly attributed to teh imam. therefore, to pick holes in these traditions means to pick holes in their imams which would be sheer heresy on teh part o th shias.According to Muhammad baqir, the fifth incconcent imam of teh shias, hman reason is incapable to grasp teh toal significance of the sayings of the imam. the syaings of the children of muhammad are not easy to understand: they are too sublte for ordinary human mind because they are formulated under special circumstances, often in angelic presence and with prophetic consent. god facilitates their comprehension by the true believera because thier hearts are spiritually tuned to teh people: teh sayings of teh children of muhammad (peace be upon him) should ber readily believed whin they reach you, are able to indentify them. You should be readily them. YOu should acknowledge any saying that softens your hearts. And if you hearts don't accpet it, you should return it to god, his messenger and the children of muhammad (peace be upon him) A man will be destroyed who hands down a tradition withouf firmly believing in it and if he fluctuates in it is expression. it should be noted that denail is tantamount to disbelief.

Musa kazim, the seventh innocent imam of teh shias, once told ali bin suwaid sai to invite only those poeple towards god who were ready to embrace to invitaiton. He added: You should acknowledge the leadership of the progeny of muhammad (peace be upon him) and whatever comes to you form us or whatever has been attributed to us, you should not reject it as a lie even if you are aware of teh apparent truth. You don't know our motive behind it and you don't know the maner in which we have phrased it. therefore believe in what i say and don't ask me about what i conceal from you.

thus, no teh bais of this principle, it is sheer ignorance and meanness to rely on human reason in order to understand their sayings. they advise the suspension of inference or judgement in teh absence of a definitive argument and the conclusion may be delayed till one discovers the presence of an authentic argument or explanation. It is attributed to jafar bin baqir: he was asked what a person should do who is facecd with two alternatives on a religous isue, when one of the alternatives is positive and the other si negative. he replied: he should wait till someone comes to him to apprise him of the rue state of affairs.

Ibn babwi qummi has reported form ali ibn musa, teh eighth innocent imam of the shias, what you don't find in teh early sharia, you sould entrust it to us because we are the early sharia, you should entruset in to us becaues we are more qualified to explain it. Don't form your onpinion about it. It is better for you to pause (and suspend you judgement) and you should continue your efforts and investigations unles you receive its definete interpretation form us.

If someone adopts some other course of action, he will not only lead himself astray but also misguide others.