[p 1]

[p 2]

Meanings of some Arabic words and terms used in this book:

God is used for Allah which literally translates from Arabic as ‘The God’. It is also used where the direct Farsi word ‘Khoda’ had been used in the original text.

The word ‘Shaykh’ has many meanings, but in this topic it refers to a Wise Learned Elder. Its plural is Mashayekh.

Imam: Means Leader - This title in this work relates to ‘Leader of the Faithful Ali-IbnAbutaleb and his eleven descendents.” Not to be confused with ‘imam’, which usually means the person who leads prayers.

Hadith: These are the reports and accounts of acts and or sayings of the Holy Prophet and the 12 Imams – his Household - (May the ever-lasting Peace be with them and their followers).

Household: This refers to the Household of Prophet Mohammad, his daughter Fatemeh and cousin and son-in-law Ali – the Commander of the Faithful – and their eleven descendants.

EthnaAshar in Arabic means 12 and those who believe in the 12 Imams are called EthnaAshari or 12-Imami.

Shaykhi School is a name given to the followers of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsaie and Haaj Seyyed Kaazem Rashti (May the Lord Exalt their status) and Haaj Mohammmad Karim Khan Kermani and those ‘Learned’ elders who have followed him.

The major distinction of this school is that all teachings are primarily based on Hadith of the acts and sayings of the Holy Prophet Mohammad and his Household – May they be in everlasting Peace.

Khalif: Khalif or Khalifah is used in the Holy Quran to mean Viceroy or God’s Representative on Earth. The key issue is in italic below. (38:26) "O Dawud! We have indeed appointed you as a Viceroy on the earth, therefore judge among mankind with the truth, and do not follow your desires, for it will lead you astray from Allah’s path; indeed for those who stray away from Allah’s path there is a severe punishment, because they forgot the Day of Reckoning."

Khilafat: Is the Office or Rule by a Khalif.

khalif: A title used by Muslim rulers through the ages.

P.B.U.H. = Peace and Praise of God be upon him and his Household. Always used after a mention of the Holy Prophet Mohammad.

A.S. = Peace be upon him – Always used after one of the Holy Imams.

Hojjat: More usually, means proof or evidence and guide. However, with regards to the 12th Imam (A.S.) it means The Person Confirmed by God. He is therefore also called Hazrat Hojjat or his Eminence the Confirmed.

Soul & Spirit:In Hebrew ‘Soul’ is ‘Rauach’ and in Arabic it is ‘Rooh’. Soul is what is given to us at 4 months term in the womb. This is made up of many levels of spirits which may be at various stages of dominance .

The first is the ‘jamadi’ or mineral spirit which covers the things that are lifeless. Then we have the ‘nabati’ or vegetal spirit which motivates all vegetation and then we have the ‘heyvani’ or animal spirit which causes animation. Then there is the Rational Spirit and so on.

[p 3]

In the name of God, The Compassionate, The Merciful

With thanks to God and greetings to his chosen servants.

And then, I, God’s humble servant, Abdolrreza son of Abolghassem son of Zainol-Aabedin, received a letter from one of our fellow Iranians who resides in Germany by the name of Mr. Jamal Safari. It contains some questions about the distinguished Shaykhi school of Islam.

At first I wanted to write a brief answer but then thought that the answer would be beneficial to many others who would want to research and study about religion. So I decided to write a more extensive answer in the hope that it would benefit the inquirer and others like him.

I will quote the exact questions and then offer the answer – “and there is no power and no strength other than God’s.” و لا حول و لا قوة الا بالله

[p 4]

Mr. Safari has written: I want to choose a religion and faith for myself.

You have made a very good decision that would help you attain salvation. God’s religion at the present time is ‘Islam’. The preceding religions such as Judaism and Christianity were rightful at their own times and their prophets who had been sent by God were also rightful, and the last one of the prophets was our Prophet Mohammad, son of Abdullah (PBUH), whose religion is the last religion sent by God and his book is the last book sent by God. What he has called ‘Halaal’ (permitted to use, eat and do) is ‘Halaal’ until the Day of Resurrection, and what he has made ‘Haraam’ (not permitted to use, eat or do) is ‘Haraam’ until the Day of Resurrection.

Prophet Mohammad has informed that his followers would divide into seventy three sects, but that only one of them is ‘rightful’ and that is the just sect of ‘Esna Asharieh’ (believing in and followers of twelve Imams or successors to the Prophet) and the rest would have gone astray. The ‘Esna Asharieh’ believe that after the Prophet, his rightful successor was Commander of the Faithful (Amir-al-Momenin) Imam Ali (A.S.) and after him his eleven descendants who were Imams (leaders) of Moslems and the eleventh (the last) is in concealment and when the time is right and God decides, he will reveal himself and will bring justice to all.

So, if you want to choose a religion, then God's religion is 'Islam' and the rightful belief is that of the followers of 12 Imams - 'Esna Asharieh'.

[p 5]

Mr. Safari has written: “In to-day’s world nothing may be accepted blindly and without good evidence and reason.”

In response, it is evident that this has been true at all times or eras. One should never accept anything without good reason. And God considers reason as a sign and of the truth. He has said in his book: “Produce your proof if you are truthful” - (27:64) قل هاتوا برهانكم ان كنتم صادقين

God has given man wisdom by which he can understand the major concepts and that wisdom is his inner guide and what leads him to the righteous path.

God has chosen some people as his proof or evidence (Hojjat) who guide people on minor issues of religion. After understanding the major concepts and generalities, we must recognize these people (Hojjats) by their qualities and with God’s guidance be able to recognise them by our physical senses and then learn from them about minor concepts and issues since common people's intelligence is not perfect and they cannot understand minor issues. As a proof, look at people and see how they differ on details of issues. One likes what another despises. This is because one or perhaps both have defective wisdoms. Actually to ensure that we do not make mistakes, we need to compare our intelligence with that of a person with perfect wisdom. But as wisdom for the soul is like eyes for the body, major concepts may be understood even with an impaired wisdom without making a mistake.

Some people have good eye sight and others not. Now consider two persons, one having good eyesight and the other weak eyes both looking at a hill from a distance. The hill is enormous and both of them can see it. But small details like rocks or shrubs are easily seen by the person with good eyesight whereas the one with weak eyes cannot see all of these details; he may only see the large rocks or shrubs. A person with even weaker eyes will not be able to see any of minor details at all.

Now, important issues of the world such as the necessity of there being a creator for the world are evident for those with weak or strong understanding. Because it does not take much brain power to reason that as a building necessitates the existence of a builder, therefore this world being so big and so well-organized must also have a creator and it has not created itself. And looking at the order and wisdom in the world it can be reasoned that the builder of the world is Knowledgeable, Mighty, Wise and has not created all this on a whim.

So all intelligent beings can understand the above, and infer that God has had a purpose for creating mankind, of which they are initially unaware. Therefore, the Mighty Creator knowing that man was created initially ignorant - because that is how He created him – must somehow advise the mankind what His wishes are.

But since people’s senses are not suitable for taking orders directly from the Creator, they must be told in a physical manner, by a person like themselves who can speak to them, and must have a body they can see, and who must be so perfect in his creation and so wise to realize God’s commands and to notify others and tell them about God’s orders.

Obviously, minerals, plants and animals cannot perform this task as they are lower than people in understanding and besides, none of these groups can talk. Then undeniably this envoy must be a person like us. But as some people are honest and others tell lies, this person may have falsely claimed to be the Creator’s envoy. Since God wants people to receive the true word, therefore he must give this envoy certain evidence with which people may recognize him and believe him. It must be evident that he has a much higher intelligence than others and certain ability to perceive God’s commands. And because of his connection to God's Command, he would have such powers that no one else has.

Nevertheless he must be confirmed by God and if he is not a true messenger, then God must dishonour and disgrace him. The confirmed envoy is called ‘a prophet’ – one who brings us the commands of God and who conveys our prayers to God.

Now by reason of wisdom, even with imperfect wisdom, two general issues can be understood:

• There is a God who is Wise and Mighty and who has not created us in vain.

• To guide us to the purpose for which he has created us, he must send a prophet who is aware of God’s commands and what God has forbidden and who is also confirmed by certain signs.

But what the prophet’s name, his whereabouts or his looks would be, these are not things that can be realized by those with imperfect intelligence and so we must be patient until he introduces himself to us.

Therefore, by our wisdom we realize these two issues and we set them as the basis of our religious beliefs. Then we start researching to see if the results that we have achieved through reasoning have really taken place, and whether such people have really appeared in the world.

Through research we find out that indeed such people have stood and claimed to be God’s envoys, or prophets, have shown miracles and other signs which prove their righteousness. They have also been confirmed by God. He could have disgraced them but he did not, and many people gathered around and complied with them.

From all this it was proven to us that prophets such as Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad son of Abdullah, God’s everlasting peace be upon them, were all righteous and sent by God.

And we see that the last of them in addition to all other miracles and signs that he showed to substantiate his status as a Prophet, has also brought a book called the Holy ‘Quraan’.

He said that the ‘Quraan’ is the Word of God and a miracle in itself and that no one can bring anything like it. After almost fourteen hundred years no one has been able to bring anything like it. In the ‘Quraan’ we find mention of the past prophets and Prophet Mohammed’s own miracles. No one at the time denied these. A few called them sorcery, but none have denied the fact that nobody has been able to bring anything like the Quraan.

There is no reason to regard his miracles were acts of sorcery and those who have made such claims have made them without any proof. Had they been acts of sorcery then God would have discredited them – yet we see that nothing was done. Besides, his everlasting miracle the ‘Quraan’ is at hand and despite their best efforts, all his Arabic speaking enemies have not been able to bring anything like it in the past fourteen hundred years. Considering all the above points, we can be certain as to the veracity of his words and that he is indeed a prophet sent by God.

The religion he brought abrogated all other religions and he is the last of all the prophets – that is to say prophethood terminates with him. His religion is the last of all religions. Although all the previous prophets were sent by God the duration of legitimacy of their religion ended by the advent of the next prophet and whoever knowingly remained a follower of the former prophet was on the wrong path because he renounced the righteousness of the latter prophet. So actually he disobeyed God and so his actions are invalid.

On the basis of this prelude and line of reasoning, two of the principles of religion are proven to us: first that there is a ‘God’ and the second that he has sent a Prophet named ‘Mohammad son of Abdullah’, (PBUH) who is God’s spokesman and informs us of His edicts and what He has forbidden.

So we accept whatever attributes of God such as Justice, Ability, Knowledge, Dominance and all the innumerable others that he has told us about, whether we can prove them or not. And if we find something that does not agree with our intellect we must renounce our own intelligence and follow his words and believe them because we cannot trust our imperfect intelligence to understand all the details. By experience we note that we can not quite understand some worldly issues, such as sciences and exoteric matters that some others understand and we even make mistakes in these subjects.

So we realize that if we are likely to misunderstand apparent realities of the world let alone esoteric matters, then the safest way would be to set aside our own intellect and accept God’s Prophet who has perfect understanding and intellect, and experiences God’s revelations. So whatever he has reported to us of esoteric matters such the Day of Resurrection, Heaven, Hell, reward and punishment, and religious obligations we accept unconditionally. If we understand any one of them, we thank God who gave us enough intelligence, and if we do not understand any others, we accept and believe them and pray to God to strengthen our intelligence and open our mind’s eye to comprehend better. Following this line of reasoning we conclude that our duty is to follow God’s book and His Prophet’s statements.

Now if we look at God’s book we see that although God has said that ‘everything’ is mentioned in this book, it is a small book and we do not find ‘everything’ in it. The size of the book attests to the fact that it cannot contain all the injunctions and matters of the world. So certainly everything is not apparent but it is in the Quraan and only God and those who are resolute in its deeper knowledge know the allegories. When we look and find ourselves unable to understand everything directly from the Quraan, we realize that God’s book alone does not suffice us today and we cannot get all the answers to our questions from it. We cannot even find the fine details of mandates which are stated in the Quraan.

For example we read in the Quraan that we must perform daily prayers but it is not clear how it should be done and how many ‘Rakats’ (one unit of prayer consisting of three positions: standing, bowing, and placing the forehead on the ground) are there in each prayer and what must be said during each ‘Rakat’, etc. Therefore, the only solution is to refer to the Prophet’s words because only he knows the real meaning of everything. As we do not understand these things, other likes of us do not understand them either, and if they make a statement on any such issues, it is not certain that they have understood it correctly. So there is no good reason for us to follow someone whose understanding of the Quraan’s meanings is imperfect like our own and who shares our lack of knowledge of God’s wishes.

So our only solution would be to refer to the Prophet’s instructions, which is called convention (Sonnat). However, we note that after his appointment as Prophet, the Prophet only lived for 23 years. The first 13 years were spent mostly on being away from his home with very few followers. Then he migrated to Medina (from Mecca) where he spent most of his last ten years fighting wars with heathens which is claimed by some historians to have been some eighty battles, or on average one every 45 days which leaves very little time to teach all commandments for all the people and rules to last until the Day of Judgment.

It is said that there are no more than 4000 hadiths from the Prophet (PBUH) in our hands and it is obvious that these are not sufficient to answer all the religious questions. We must recognize that the Prophet of God, who has said that his religion will remain till the Day of Judgment, has not given all the rules and instructions and also the Book of God that he has left for us, covers all the generalities and instructions, but we cannot understand much of it – So what instructions has he left for his followers?

So we must find out what we must do and how this religion is supposed to remain “The Religion’ till the kingdom come: God’s book is brief and we do not find all the answers in it, there are not enough tidings left to suffice, then what are the people to do?

Therefore, we must refer to his instructions and if we do not find our answer there, then we will be justified to doubt his prophethood. Because when someone claims that his religion must remain till the end of time and that he is a messenger of God but does not dictate all the rules during his life and does not tell his people what they should do after him, then he cannot be considered to be wise, let alone God’s messenger.

But in referring to his speeches we find that this is not the case and he has not neglected to guide his people as to what to do after him, and that he has delivered God’s commands faultlessly and has fully proclaimed his prophethood. Close to the end of his days, when returning from his last pilgrimage to Mecca, he called for the people who were on the pilgrimage along with him, said to be about one hundred thousand, to gather at a place called ‘Ghadire Khom’ (غديرخم). At that place he mentioned all these problems and said that Ali (son of AbuTaleb) is the interpreter of God’s book and the guide for people to God after the Prophet was gone.

The Prophet said: “Be aware that the prohibited and permitted things are more than I can count or explain for you and tell you to do this and do not do that. But I was commanded to take your pledge of allegiance of whatever I have brought to you from God regarding to Ali and the acceptance of what I have told you about Ali, the leader of the believers, and the Imams (A.S.) who will come after him (Imam=leader). O group of people, think and understand God’s signs and revelations and manifestations and do not follow the allegories. So herewith I swear to God that no one can explain what it forbids, or clarify its interpretation better than this person whose hand I am holding.” He mentioned in the same sermon, “Whenever God commanded or forbade me so I commanded Ali and forbade him and he knows all the commands and what has been forbidden by the Almighty God, so listen to and obey him.”

He added in the same sermon: “O flock of people, the Almighty God has ordered me to install Ali amongst you to be a Standard, an Imam, my successor and executor of my will - and that to choose him my brother and my minister. Whoever I am his lord, then this Ali is his lord. O God, love and cherish whoever cherishes him, assist whoever assists him and be the enemy of whoever is his enemy”.

It is quoted from Ibn Maghazeli, a Sunni scholar, that after this sermon Omar son of Khattab (who became the second khalif), addressed Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, and said: “Hail unto you O son of Abu-Taleb, you became my master and the master of any righteous man or woman.” Then Prophet Mohammed received a revelation where God said: “Today I perfected your religion and completed my bounty upon you and approved Islam to be your religion.” (5:3) اليوم اكملت لكم دينكم و اتممت عليكم نعمتي و رضيت لكم الاسلام دينا

The ‘Hadith of Ghadire Khom’ is one of hundreds of hadiths from the Prophet in which he has talked about the succession of Ali, Amir-al-Momenin (the Commander of the Faithful). This hadith is reported by both Shiite and Sunnis alike.

It is reported from Ibn Shahr Ashoob that there are over a thousand books, by Shiite and Sunnis, by writers of old or the more recent ones, in which this hadith has been mentioned through a variety of reporters; a number of books which are now at hand such as Abghat-ol-Anvar الانوار عبقات that include a number of volumes and Ghayat-ol-Maram المرام غاية which is a great book and all of them are assigned to this hadith by different reporters, both Shiite and Sunnis, also in different wordings.

So no doubt remains for a just person that the Prophet has not left his people in abeyance and has introduced his successor to them with the action that perfected God’s religion and gained God’s satisfaction. So we see that as wisdom requires that the Prophet must have a successor who knows God’s commands, reports show that indeed this has happened and by combining these two principles we realize that the successor of the Prophet is his holiness the Commander of the Faithful - Ali son of AbuTalib, God’s Peace be upon him.

On the other hand we notice that other persons who have also claimed such a position were disgraced by God and the invalidity of their claim became obvious to everyone. For example the first one who gathered the people and called himself ‘khalif’ (the viceroy) was Abu Bakr, who did not have any evidence for being the khalif after the prophet, whereas God has said that evidence is the sign of telling the truth. He says in his book: “Bring forward your proof if you are truthful.” (2:111 & 27:64) قل هاتوا برهانكم ان كنتم صادقين

But he did not have any proof so he was not truthful. He only reported a hadith from the Prophet in his defence which said: “My followers will not gather and agree on corruption”. Even this would not help because there was no unanimity amongst Muslims on him as being khalif.

On the other hand, the Prophet had mentioned in so many hadiths about the eminence of Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, that forced Abu Bakr to admit this fact and he himself was heard to have said from the pulpit many times: "Leave me to myself, leave me to myself, I am not the best of you while Ali is amongst you.” Now if he were truthful why did he take priority over Ali, and if he was lying what kind of khalif was he?

Also after him, Omar claimed to be khalif. He claimed that Abu Bakr had chosen him as the next khalif. This is also unacceptable because Abu-Bakr himself claimed to have been chosen by the people, what gave him the right to appoint a khalif for the Muslims? Who had given him such authority? Certainly he received no revelation from God. The Prophet had neither chosen him as khalif nor given him permission to choose the next khalif. Also even if the nation did have the right to choose the next khalif, where had they given him such authority? After Omar made sure that he was khalif, he climbed the pulpit and said: “The pledge of allegiance with Abu Bakr had been an error and a thoughtless action a ‘felteh’ and anyone who repeats it will be condemned to death.” If pledging allegiance with the first khalif was an error according to the second khalif who himself was chosen by the first one, and whoever paid such allegiance should be executed, then what right did he have to choose the second one?

Now if Omar is right, then his own and Abu Bakr’s khalifate would be invalid. And if he is telling lies, then lying is not acceptable from God’s khalif on Earth. Omar is also reported to have said from the pulpit: “I have a devil in me which possesses me. Any time it turns me awry, you straighten me out. And any time I committed an error, correct me.” Now what kind of khalif is this who is a plaything of his devil - and who pleads to the followers to straighten him out?

And also the next khalif, ‘Othman’ claimed khalifate through a baseless ruling. Omar picked out six persons to choose a new khalif after him and he told a guard to kill all six of them if they did not agree on a successor. Now what right did Omar have to make such a ruling? What gave him the right to decide on killing all the six in case of an undecided committee? What right did the person who had stated that the pledge of allegiance with Abu Bakr was an error and because he himself was chosen by Abu Bakr, had refuted both Abu Bakr's and his own khalifate, have to choose a Calif for Moslems in this bizarre way? All this aside, Othman was very cruel and encroached on people’s possessions so Muslims rebelled against him and killed him.

Now actions and statements of these khalifs are all witness to the invalidity of their dictums. And that is how God disgraced them. But Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, who was chosen to succeed the Prophet by God’s revelation, had no claims of faults or shortcomings against him by anybody; on the contrary, his behaviour was a model not only for Muslims but also for the wise. There is not the least indication of the invalidity of his position as Khalif and Imam.

Now wisdom and hadith prove that the Prophet must have a successor, and by hadith it was proven to us that the Prophet installed Ali, the Commander of the Faithful as his successor and Khalif and Ali himself declared that he was the true Successor, and no proof was brought forward to invalidate his claim to Khalifate. God approved him and revealed the invalidity of the other claims to Khalifate. Any impartial person would agree that after the Prophet, Ali is the true Successor and after him, as stated by the Prophet, his eleven descendants, one after another, would be Khalifs, till the last one who is alive and for some reasons unknown to us is concealed and in waiting.

Actually as one who is the ‘evidence’ of God on earth, the fact that he is alive is one of the most important proofs for the twelve-Imam Shiite, that they are on the right path. This is because we notice that Sunnis have no khalif - not even an ‘invalid’ one. Also the other Shiite beside the 12-Imami Shiites do not have an Imam (leader) who is alive. They have to admit that now-a-days there is no mediator between God and the people, that the contact is broken and there is no path to God. But the 12-Imam Shiite who believe that the twelfth Imam is alive, consider themselves seen and heard by him. They are certain that he safeguards the religion. They practise their religion with knowledge, belief, and assurance of his safeguard. The only people in the world who are on the right track are these people - And so by this line of reasoning, the third principle of our religion which is ‘Recognition of the Imams’ is proven. Again we see that all this is true: The Prophet has been, but he has departed, his eleven successors have also deceased and the twelfth is in concealment and none of us can reach them - so what must we do?

If these people were sent by God to inform us of his commands, and if this religion is ‘The Religion’ until the Day of Resurrection, certainly our duty should have been made clear for the period in which we live, and we should not have been left on our own. So we refer to their statements and hadith and we find out that they have clearly told us what to do. The 12th Imam (Hazrat Hojjat) has written in a letter that: “… about the incidents that occur, refer to the reporters of our hadith who have been confirmed by me and I have been confirmed by God. الوسائل ج18 ص101
اما الحوادث الواقعة فارجعوا فيها الي رواة حديثنا فانهم حجتي عليكم و انا حجة الله

From this text we understand summarily that we must refer to the reporters of the hadith. But the matter is still not very clear. Should anyone who opens a book and reads us a hadith to be considered as one who has been confirmed by the Imam, or are there any other special conditions?

By researching more we come across another letter by Hazrat Hojjat which states:
“There is no justification for any of our friends to bring doubt upon himself or others about the hadith that our confidants report. These people are confirmed by us and we have chosen them as our allies by conveying our secrets to them so that they can convey it to our friends.”
لا عذر لاحد من موالينا في التشكيك فيما يرويه عنا ثقاتنا قد عرفوا بانا نفاوضهم سرّنا و نحمّلهم اياه اليهم

This shows that we should only take from reporters who are reliable and trustworthy. And again by exploring the hadith we find a statement from the eleventh Imam Hassan Askari (A.S.), which states: “… of theologians, whoever can control his ‘inner self’, protect his religion, oppose his whims, and be obedient to his Lord, then people are to follow him. And these are just a few of Shia theologians and not all of them.”
فاما من كان من الفقهاء صائناً لنفسه حافظا لدينه مخالفا علي هواه مطيعاً لامر مولاه فعلي العوام ان يقلدوه و ذلك لايكون الا بعض فقهاء الشيعة لا جميعهم

This shows that the person we must follow is not only a truthful reporter but also must practise what he preaches. He must prevent his ‘inner self’ from disobeying the Imam, must be really religious and a believer, and must protect his religion. He must not obey his whims but must oppose them, and has to be obedient of his Imam’s commands. The warning at the end tells us that not anyone who dresses as a theologian has these qualities. Only a few have these qualities, not all, and following those who have these qualities is a must and obligatory. All Shiite consent to the fidelity of these three hadith and follow them. There is no doubt that during the concealment of the 12th Imam this is the order of the day. So our duty is summarily clear and we must search for such a person.

Now about such a person - it is clear that he is not an idolater and must be monotheist. He is not a Jew or Christian either, most certainly he must be found amongst Muslims. He is not a Sunni because they do not believe in our Imams. So it is limited to 12-Imami Shiites. He cannot be ignorant, because it is knowledge that we seek and the ignorant does not have it. So he is amongst the learned and the omniscient. Naturally those who do not have the above qualities are excluded. There remains only a few who are known for their knowledge of the hadith, and their exercising them, and obeying Imams, without being self-opinionated.

Still we may suspect the probability of feigning and hypocrisy and that they may not be what they appear. They may not really have these qualities but for the love of money, or rank, or other worldly and material motivations pretend to have these qualities and in reality they are lying. They do not try to understand God’s or the Prophet’s words correctly and preach us. Actually because of lack of piety they may fake a hadith to satisfy their worldly interests and tell us something which is untrue or unjust. Here we have to pray to God to help us. He has promised in his book that he will assert the truth and invalidate the untrue. It is God’s word: “Those who strive in Us - We will certainly guide them to our Paths”
(29:69) الذين جاهدوا فينا لنهدينهم سبلنا

Those learned theologians whom the Imam described in his letter are the path to God. If a person seeks them with good intentions, of course God will introduce them to him. On the other hand God will discredit those who claim deceitfully, and will reveal their lies to the diligent believer.

This is the proof of God’s confirmation which is the strongest foothold for a person. This is the only way one may acquire assurance, otherwise nothing in the world may deliver assurance. And as you may have noted, we proved and confirmed Prophethood and Imamate by this same line of reasoning. This line of reasoning is for those whose understanding is above the laity, because common people base their confidence in the causes, yet those with higher understanding base their confidence on the source of all causes (God).

You should use this line of reasoning to gain assurance. As you have noticed we used it to find the principles of the religion and that they are: First - The recognition of God and admitting that he is Almighty.
Second - The recognition of the Prophet and knowing that the Prophet for this era is Mohammad, son of Abdullah, (PBUH). There will be no prophet after him.
Third - The recognition of ‘his successors’– the twelve Imams. Fourth - The recognition of the truthful reporters of the hadith and the pious theologians that live at every age and God will introduce them to whoever is diligently seeking such persons.

All the rest of religious issues are subdivisions or branches of the above principles. These must be taken from the reporters of hadith. We must have faith in these and carry out their instructions.

[p 6]

Mr. Safari has written: With this purpose in mind, I started researching and at the moment I am studying Shaykhism. I have read three books so far that have condemned Shakhism. They even called them agents of colonialism, but I cannot accept the views of the authors.

Of course you have chosen the method of a wise person. One should study and research about matters and neither accept nor reject without good reason, and not just base such decisions on hearsay. That is why although you have read three books denouncing the Shaykhi School, you have not formed an opinion and are waiting to hear the other side’s case to make a judgment, which is a very admirable approach.

But Shaykhism, which you have mentioned, is not a particular religion. The Shaykhi School is exactly twelve-Imam Shiism. This name was given by others because we follow the great theologian, the late Shaykh Ahmad Ahsaii, may God elevate his position, so they called us Shaykhi. And in fact we are very happy to be related to an obedient friend amongst the friends of Prophet Mohammad and his Household (PBUH). Our advantage over others would be that our religious sages have written much more than others about the virtues and status of Prophet Mohammad and his Household.

I do not know which books you have read that have repudiated Shaykhis or who their authors were, but I can say of which level and groups of people they are. But first I must write an introduction so that the root of the issues is understood. God’s Wisdom and Justice dictate that people be guided by prophets and hojjats (guides), but they are free to accept or repudiate them. They are empowered to choose freely whether they want guidanceor deviation and their freedom of choice has not been taken away from them.

The wars that some of the prophets, such as Moses or Mohammad, were involved in took place primarily so that people could hear about the words of God. When that was accomplished people were left to themselves to choose freely. The prophets were after the true belief and heartfelt willingness and approval and not just apparent submission under duress.

The proof of this is in the Quraan where it says: “There is no coercion about religion and guidance has been clarified from deviation and can be recognized.” (2:256)
لا اكراه في الدين قد تبين الرشد من الغي

That is why the Prophet on his death bed advised Ali to sit at home and not to raise his sword. The Prophet said: “Ali is like the Kaaba (the black cubical building in God’s Mosque in Mecca towards which Moslems pray) that is why the people should go to him and not Ali to them.”

That is why he tolerated the hypocrites and did not expose and disgrace them. In this way he did not negate their right to choose freely and also made use of their multitude for Islam to show strength in numbers and to spread the word of God in the world so everyone would hear it. This gave infidels a chance to safely practise their wrong choice under the shield of Islam and so God’s evidence was shown to them and God’s justice became apparent. This is mentioned in Quraan:
“We aid them all, those people and those people, and God’s grant is not denied anyone.” (17:20)
كلاً نمدّ هؤلاء و هؤلاء من عطاء ربك و ماكان عطاء ربك محظورا

This is the reason why God gave the Devil the opportunity so that whoever prefers his seductions, is seduced. If God wanted otherwise, he could have annihilated him. Or the Prophet would have banished the hypocrites and would not allow them to undermine Islam while under its aegis. The companions of the Prophet were not all good people as the Sunnis claim. Most of them were hypocrites and God had forewarned the prophet in the ‘Hypocrites’ Surah of Quraan: 63:1-2
“Then the hypocrites came to you and swore that you are God’s prophet and God know you are His Prophet. And God swears that the hypocrites are lying. They have used their oaths as shields and suppress God’s path and it is bad what they are doing.”
إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُ اللَّـهِ وَاللَّـهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ وَاللَّـهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ
Then the hypocrites came to you and swore that you are God’s prophet and God knows you are his prophet, and God swears that they are lying.
اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ سَاءَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
They have made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of Allah: truly evil are their deeds.

And this is the real meaning of the hypocrite: Someone who states something which is contrary to his heart’s belief. And such people have always existed amongst Muslims - they are the Devil’s fifth column that has infiltrated God’s religion. And it was seen clearly how these hypocrites showed their hidden intentions after the Prophet’s demise by usurping the rights of true believers, harassing and hurting them.

So not everyone who claims being a Muslim is really a Muslim nor those who proclaim belief are really believers. It is probable that they are hypocrites and actually feel enmity towards Prophet Mohammad's Household. And there are, in all probability, hypocrites among Shiites too.

We even have reports indicating the existence of such hypocrites. We have had people who lived at the same time as one Imam who then denied the next Imam. There is a hadith by Omar son of Yazid who reports: “I entered the presence of Imam Jaafar Sadegh (A.S.) and he spoke extensively praising the Shiite.” Then he said, “There will be a group of Shiites who are worse than ‘Nasebs’ (a person who has the enmity of the Shia purely because of the Shia’s beliefs.).” I said, “Do they not claim your friendship and stay away from your enemies?” He said yes. So I asked him to identify them to me. He said, “They are a group who will be tested by ‘Zaid’ and by ‘Musa’.”
Evidently the Imam meant the ‘Zaidis’ who believe that Zaid is the real Imam, and ‘Fathis’ who took Abdullah Aftah, Imam's son, after Imam Sadegh, (A.S.), and after the demise of Imam Jaafar Sadegh, did not accept his son Musa, as the next Imam.

It is reported from Imam Sadegh, (A.S.), that "Regarding us, people are divided into three groups: One group befriended us, since they are awaiting the appearance of the twelfth Imam in the hope of material gains. So they repeated and protected our hadith but had shortcomings in their actions. So God will drive them towards the fire.

Another group befriended us. They heard our word and acted upon it in order to receive favours and benefits from people and make a living. But God will fill their stomachs with fire and they will feel thirst and hunger all the time.

The third group befriended us and protected our word; they obeyed our instructions and did not oppose our actions, so they are of us and we are of them." It is also reported from the same Imam defining different kinds of reporters of their hadith where he said, “And a group of them are our enemies (‘naseby’). They cannot contradict us openly so they try and learn some of the true knowledge from us and because of that, they are deemed legitimate and respected by our Shiite. They are despised by our enemies. But they add much falsehood to the true hadith, something that we detest but our faithful followers thinking that they are all from us accept all of them and therefore not only these people have gone astray but also have led others astray too.

These people are more harmful to the Shiite laity than Yazid’s army was to Imam Husain (A.S.) and his companions. Yazid’s army took lives and possessions of Imam Husain and his companions and that would elevate the latter in their spiritual position for what they suffered. But these imposters try to look like us by favouring us and showing hostility towards our enemies, cause uncertainty amongst our followers and so mislead and deny them the chance of embracing righteousness. Nevertheless when God sees someone who truly wants to protect his religion and venerates his Imam (A.S.), God will not leave him to himself to face these deceiving heretics but sends a faithful person to guide him on the right path. God helps him to accept the guidance offered by the faithful guide and so gives him the best benefits of the two worlds while eternal damnation awaits the person who misled him.

I mentioned these reports to inform you that there are all sorts of hypocrites among those who call themselves Shiites - who in the name of Shiism reject Shiism. So you should not be deceived by the mere appearance of their claims and as was mentioned at the end of the above hadith - Whoever truly wishes to protect his religion and venerate his Imam, God will not let him be deceived by the hypocrites and will guide him via His true believers, and gives him the opportunity to be saved. As I mentioned before, this is all based on relying on substantiation and confirmation by God and we must pray to him to guide us. And God will carry out his promise and guide us.

I will send you a few books written by our Mashayekh in rebuttal of those who have criticized the Shaykhi School. I hope that you would study them without any prejudice. And I hope that God would show you the truth clearly. Since you have not mentioned the names of the three books you have read and I do not know the criticisms mentioned in them, I cannot answer them specifically but they are usually of a specific type, and the more recent abusers have learnt from their predecessors and simply re-recite and rewrite the same things.

I hope that you will find all the answers in the books that I will be sending you, except the one that they have invented lately, to which you pointed, about Shaykhis cooperating with colonialists, which was fabricated by Khalesi Zadeh in one of his writings. Surprisingly he mentions at the same place that he has no historical document to substantiate this claim. Yet it is a sad joke that unscrupulous authors quote this baseless claim and accept it and state it as a fact. I saw in a book called “Colonialism’s Mercenaries in Religious Attire” where the author had written extensively on the subject and the author’s only proof was based on KhalesiZadeh’s fabrications.

He was actually an enemy of Prophet Mohammad and his Household. He denied their virtues to the point that he had prohibited mentioning the name of Ali, the Commander of Faithful, in Azaan (the call to prayer recited aloud before daily prayers.). But since God has promised to disgrace the liars, he also mentions in his book that the late Seyyed Kazem Rashti was a citizen of Vladivostok, and was a Russian spy. But by referring to Encyclopaedia Britannica it was found out that the city of Vladivostok was built 20 years after the demise of Seyyed Kazem Rashti. Now you can use this example as a yardstick to check their other claims.

Moreover it is hard to think of a good reason for British and Russian governments to hire the erudite and send them to Iran to write nearly nine hundred and fifty books in various sciences such as theosophy, jurisprudence, mathematics, natural sciences, chemistry, physics and to spend their lives in promoting Islam and reporting the virtues of Prophet Mohammad and his Household. Men who spent their lives inviting Muslims to brotherhood and friendship towards each other. Men who never interfered in governmental matters, or who did not take one tiny step to benefit the foreigners. On the contrary they have written books against them as my eminent great grandfather the late Hajj Mohammad Karim Khan, may God raise his status in Heaven, wrote an expansive book called ‘Nasserieh’, at the request of Nasser-ad-Din Shah, King at a time when the British had anchored at the Port of Boushehr and had landed troops.

That book is about fighting the enemies of Islam and the outcome of the domination of foreigners. There is another book repudiating Christian missionaries, who worked in Iran to expand the influence of their governments and also the promotion of Christianity in Iran. I wonder what benefit such hypothetical spies would have for Russia and Britain. Any rational person who reads the book “Colonialism’s Mercenaries in Religious Attire” would realize that it is a pack of lies and that the writer’s motive had been personal enmity and also to profit from the sale of the book. At the request of one of our friends I have written an answer to that book and God willing, we shall print it and perhaps you might read it too.

[p 7]

Mr. Safari has written: I am sure that you can kindly send me a book, which states the truth and considers Shaykhism as the right path.

As I said before the beliefs of Shaykhis is not anything other than what the Twelve-Imam Shiites believe. As for the criticism directed at us, for the most part they are slanderous and nothing can be found in our books to justify their libellous remarks. The other cases cover issues of disagreement which have always existed amongst scholars and the most important of these are four:

• First is the subject of Resurrection. They slander us that we believe in resurrection of the soul and not the body. God is witness that our Mashayekh have not said such a thing and bodily resurrection is one of the requisites of Islam, and our Mashayekh would never contradict any of the necessities of Islam. They have mentioned in their scientific researches that this physical body does not return on resurrection but that man returns with his ‘original’ body. Some other famous and greatly respected theologians such as Majlessi and Khaje Nassir-Toosi are also of the same belief. Our Mashayekh have offered many intellectual or reported proofs supporting this point. The requirement in Islam is to summarily believe that the body will return and understanding the real nature of it is not a requirement, and if someone expresses an idea somewhat different from the understanding of the common people, it does not necessarily mean that he has deviated from the religion. The characteristics of the ‘Return’ are theoretical and there are fourteen different theories. Our Mashayekh have also expressed their opinion.
• The second point is the matter of virtues of Prophet Mohammad and his Household which has been vastly expounded and mentioned by our Mashayekh. Still, in comparison, they have written less than what Sunni authors have written. It is hard to understand why some, who claim to be Shiites, deny these virtues and show hostility towards those who talk about these virtues, unless we say that these are enemies who are dressed as friends or perhaps through their ignorance they have been deceived by such people.
• Next is acting on a conjecture or guesswork and without proof. Some theologians have claimed that, “At this time irrefutable knowledge of the Imam’s dictums cannot be attained and so we can only make a guess. And since we are theologians if we arrive at a conjecture then that would be God’s decision and we and our followers must obey it without any question.” But Shaykhis do not accept this and believe that the flow of knowledge from Imams is not cut off and irrefutable knowledge of them can be attained. It is important to note that based on more than 70 verses of the Holy Quraan and more than a thousand hadith, acting on a conjecture is forbidden. And this has been discussed extensively in our books. I will send you two books: ‘Ershad-ol-Avam’ (Guidance for the common) by the late Hajj Mohammad-Karim Khan Kermani, which completely covers shaykhi beliefs concerning The Unity of God, the Prophet, Imams, and the recognition of the Shiites and where the topic of Resurrection has also been extensively discussed. The other book is ‘Ejtahad and Taghlid’ (Adjudication and Compliance) - written by my father where it has been shown that to act on the basis of a conjecture is not permitted. I hope that by reading these two books no ambiguity about Shaykhi beliefs would remain for you.
• Another issue is the definition of the ‘Principles of the Religion’ that are wrongly trumped up to excite the laity whereas there is no dissimilarity. The ‘Principles of the Religion’ in the order that they recount them has not been reported from the Imams. Based on their own preference, each theologian has regarded some issues as ‘primary’ principles and some others as secondary. Some have even said the main and only principle is monotheism and the rest are all secondary. Some have counted only three: believing in the one and only God, then the Prophet Mohammed, and then the Imams (the successors). And some have counted five: Believing in unity of God, Justice of God, the Prophet, believing in the Resurrection, and finally the Imams.