The following material (Section 4, along with the annotation) is excerpted from the Ismaili Gnosis article, “Where is Imamat Found in the Qur’an?” (comprising 15 sections). The article’s footnotes and links provide in-depth insights, both exoteric and esoteric, on Qur’anic verses and concepts related to Imamat. For a more comprehensive understanding, please refer to the original article via the link provided at the end of this piece.
4. The Imam is the Guide, the Kitab is His Guidance (Qur’an 32:33-34 & Qadi al-Nu‘man’s Testimony)
Many people mistakenly believe that God guides humanity primarily by “sending down holy books,” leaving it up to individuals to read and interpret these texts on their own. However, this is not how the Qur’an presents the system of divine guidance. For instance, Qur’an 32:23–24 demonstrates that while God gave a kitab — an Arabic word meaning “divine prescription” (not a physical book)1 — to Moses⁽ᶜ⁾, He also appointed Imams to guide Moses⁽ᶜ⁾’ community:
“And We certainly gave Moses the Kitab (divine prescription), so do not be in doubt over his meeting. And We made it [i.e., the divine prescription known as the Torah] guidance (huda) for the Children of Israel. We appointed from among them Imams guiding (yahduna) by our Our Command (amr)…” (32:23-24).2
In the language of the Qur’an, the Imam is described as the “guide” (al-hadi), while the divinely prescribed Kitab is a “guidance” (huda) under the absolute authority of the Imam. According to God’s established way (sunnah) of guiding humanity, the presence of divinely-appointed Imams is as necessary as the Kitab (divinely-prescribed guidance)3 given to Moses⁽ᶜ⁾. Alongside the Kitab, it is the Imams, following the Prophet (in this case, Moses⁽ᶜ⁾), who are entrusted with the responsibility of guiding (yahduna) by God’s Command (amr). These verses affirm that the guidance of living Imams is necessary (32:24), and they also emphasize that the kitab itself—God’s revealed guidance—was delivered through the Prophet to whom it was given (32:23). Thus, the Kitab does not — and should not — stand alone as a source of guidance, nor does it refer merely to a “physical book”.4
In his manual of Islamic legal theory, Ikhtilaf Usul al-Madhahib (Disagreements of the Jurists) the Ismaili da‘i and Fatimid jurist al-Qadi al-Nu‘man decisively argued against those who claimed that the Qur’an alone is sufficient as a guide, thereby rejecting the necessity of the true guides—the divinely-appointed Imams from the family of the Prophet. Given the profundity and clarity of his argument and the evidence he draws from Qur’anic verses concerning the concept of Imamat and the Imams as divinely-appointed and authorized guides, a substantial portion of chapter 11 from the Ikthilaf is quoted below without additional commentary. However, we will later review select Qur’anic verses cited within the text.
Note: Hyperlinks in the excerpt below point to examples of contemporary esoteric interpretation (ta’wil) and elucidation (bayan) of the various Qur’anic verses cited.
In his Disagreements of the Jurists, al-Qadi al-Nu‘man writes:
The proponents of the principle of inference stated: The Book of God5 is itself the ultimate evidence and guide…. One should respond to them:
The Qur’an is, rather, the banner of the True Guide and the proof of the Messenger. God instructed His Messenger to say: “This Qurʾan was inspired in me so that I might warn you thereby, and those whom it reaches” [6:19]. God also said [through the Messenger], “O you who believe! Shall I guide you….That would be better for you, if you did but know” [61:10-11]; “We have sent down to you [O Messenger] the Message that you might clarify to the people what was sent down to them” [16:44]; “He is the One Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth” [9:33; 48:28; 61:9]; and “He is the One Who sent among the gentiles a Messenger from among them, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Scripture and the Wisdom” [62:2];
The guide is the Messenger himself in his generation and, after him those whom he announced would stand in his place for the nation. He is the guide, the one who makes clear, the indicator, the leader, the one who proves, and the warner. A prophet is called in Arabic a nabī, a prophet, because he informs—in Arabic yunbi’—creation about God, and a messenger is called a messenger because he brings the message of God to His worshipers. The one who stands in his place after him is called an imām, “leader,” since it is necessary that the worshipers not take precedence over him, but rather follow him, just as they used to follow the Messenger and not take precedence over him in his era.
God said: “Obey God and obey the Messenger and the Ones in Authority [Uli’l-Amr] among you”6 [4:59]; […] “Had they referred it to the Messenger and to the Ones in Authority among them, then those who derived it from them would have known it”7 [4:83]; “If you dispute over anything, then refer it to God and the Messenger”8 [4:59] and He said, “Whatever you dispute over, its ruling is up to God” [42:10]. He [i.e., God] did not say, “Regarding the conflicts which arise and over which you differ, seek to infer their answers from the Qur’an.” Instead, God commanded that this be referred to the Messenger during his time, and to the Ones in Authority after him, and He linked obedience to the Imams with obedience to God and with obedience to His Messenger.
If you say that the Qur’an is the guide in a figurative sense—because [in actuality] the Guide is the one who upholds the Qur’an, who expresses or interprets it, or who explains its contents—then this is permissible as a rhetorical figure. However, the true guide is the one who points the way to it, upholds what it contains, leads to it, and warns by means of the Qur’an that he has brought and by the Qur’an’s knowledge that has been entrusted to him, whereas the Qur’an itself is actually guidance, warning, instruction, proof, and explanation. It cannot stand alone until the guide guides by it, the warner warns by it, the leader leads by it, the one who adduces proof proves by it, or the explainer explains by it, as God stated in His Book in the passages that we have just cited and in other similar passages that we have not cited.
Were the Qur’an itself actually the guide, as you have claimed, then it would have stood alone, and there would have been no need for the Messenger, or for the Ones in Authority after him, along with it. But you [yourselves] admit that this was not the case during the Messenger’s lifetime, and that the guide to its contents and its explainer, who led and warned thereby and who cited its contents as proofs, was the Messenger for those who lived during his lifetime. Then how did the Qurʾan itself become the necessary guide after his passing, doing without someone to uphold it in place of the Messenger? Was it because God deposited something in it or added something to it that had not existed earlier? Or did He make you, the assembly of those who claim to uphold it, successors of the Messenger after him or put you in his place?
If the Qur’an were itself the guide, as you claim, then learning would also be itself the guide, and you, who claim that you are the learned, would not be guides to anything, nor would anyone be in need of you for any part of learning. He who desires learning could then seek it for himself and dispense with you in regard to it or in regard to any part of it. But the Qur’an is guidance, and learning is guidance as well, while the guide is the one who upholds it, just as the message is what the Messenger relayed from God and the Messenger is the one who carried, conveyed, and upheld it. Guidance consists of providing direction along the path and of recognizing and knowing the way, while the Guide is the one who knows and undertakes that task.
Because of your arrogance toward the Imams of right guidance and your stubborn refusal to consult them and refer to them as God commanded, you want to lead yourselves and others whom you have deceived and duped with your falsehoods. You rejected the true leaders and denied the guides, setting yourselves in their place with regard to the knowledge that was entrusted to them and usurping their titles….
[…] Obedience to the Messenger is imposed by the command of God as you have claimed, and so is obedience to the Ones in Authority after him, who are the Imams God appointed in his place after him, obedience to whom He connected with obedience to Himself and to His Messenger, declaring: “Obey God, and obey the Messenger and the Ones in Authority among you”9 [4:59]. People in the age of the Messenger did not have the right to infer from the Qur’an and the Practice what they did not know without the Messenger, but rather God commanded them to refer to him and ordered him to explain to them what He had revealed to him. The Messenger was the guide who guided them, the leader who led them, and the one who explained to them what God had revealed, and not the Qur’an, which you have claimed is itself the guide, since the Qur’an may be upheld but cannot uphold itself. In the same fashion, those who come after the Messenger may not cite it or anything else as evidence, as you have claimed, without the Guide who has been appointed for them after the Messenger and who undertakes what the Messenger used to undertake for the people of his time, explaining the Book of God and upholding it for the people of his age and time.
al-Qāḍi al-Nu‘mān, Ikhtilāf Uṣūl al-Madhāhib, translated by Devin Stewart as Disagreements of the Jurists: A Manual of Islamic Legal Theory, 285-293.
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Additional Material: Ismaili Tafsir and Ta’wil for Deeper and Esoteric Understanding
‘Allamah Hunzai: In verse 11:17 God says: “Is he who is on a clear proof from his Lord and follows him a witness of him [shāhidun minhu] and before him the Book [Kitāb] of Mūsā (Torah) which was an Imām [Guide] and a mercy (for the people, testifies to him, better or someone else)?”
This verse teaches [us] that the holy Prophet is on a clear proof from his Lord, i.e., he is the true Prophet of Allāh and ‘Alī-yi Murtazā⁽ᶜ⁾, who is from him, follows him and is a witness [shāhid] to his truthfulness. Another witness in this connection is the ‘Book of Ḥazrat-i Mūsā⁽ᶜ⁾’ before him, which was an Imām and a mercy for the people. All these realities are universally accepted, but there is a question regarding the Book of Mūsā, the Torah, as to how it was an Imām?
The answer to this question is that according to the rule of the Arabic language, sometimes a thing is called by the name of another thing which is most often associated with it. For example, the camel that carries the water-skin is sometimes referred to as the water-skin. Such examples can also be found in languages other than Arabic. Thus, the learned people know that in the glorious Qur’ān, the holy Prophet is mentioned as dhikr (remembrance) (65:10-11), although dhikr is the name of the Qur’ān. It is in this sense therefore, the holy Prophet is called the dhikr (= Qur’ān). It is correct in many respects, some of which are external and some internal. Thus, it is established that from the ta’wīlī [esoteric] point of view, the spiritual leader (the Prophet or Imām) is called the Divine or Heavenly Book and vice versa.
Another reason for calling the Book of Mūsā an 'Imām' is that every Heavenly Book is originally a living light, i.e., the soul of knowledge and wisdom, which in reality is the spirit of the Imām himself. The Holy Spirit of Mawlānā Hārūn [Aaron]⁽ᶜ⁾ was revealed to Ḥazrat-i Mūsā⁽ᶜ⁾ in the form of a spiritual Book, the description of whose spiritual states and events was written on paper to some extent as the Torah, but the real Torah was in the spiritual and luminous form. That is, the real Torah was not separate from the light of the exalted Imām, as the wise Qur’ān says: “Say, who revealed the Book which Mūsā brought, a light and a guidance for humankind, which you put on the sheets of paper that you show, but you hide much of it” (6:91).
The wisdom of this holy verse shows that the Torah was in two forms: In the first and original form it was in Mawlānā Hārūn⁽ᶜ⁾ and Ḥazrat-i Mūsā⁽ᶜ⁾'s heart and mind as the miraculous light and all-embracing Holy Spirit of knowledge and wisdom, rectitude and guidance. From this miraculous light, according to “a light and a guidance for humankind” (6:91), the people used to receive miraculous guidance in such a way that the ḥujjats of the islands used to receive inspirational (ilhāmī) light directly and they used to guide the people through their respective dā‘īs. The other [secondary] form of the Torah is described in the above-mentioned verse.
The explanation of this Qur’ānic wisdom establishes that the Torah was definitely an Imām in its original and luminous state, by which is meant the sacred light of Mawlānā Hārūn⁽ᶜ⁾. For further verification and corroboration of this reality, the following holy verse should be reflected upon: “And thus We have revealed unto you (this Book in the form of) a spirit [rūḥ] from Our Command [amr]. You knew not what the Book [al-Kitāb] is, nor what the (ultimate perfection of) faith. But We made it (the spirit) a light whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants” (42:52). This verse shows that the wise Qur’ān too has a spiritual and luminous origin and reality, which is called the light of the Prophet and Imām.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shināsī, translated as Recognition of Imām,14-15.
‘Allamah Hunzai: In verse 32:24 God says: “And We made from among them Imāms who guide according to Our Command and they were patient and had certainty about Our signs (spiritual miracles).”
The explanation of this verse is that God made the Imāms from the [chosen] category (jins=genus) of the Prophets, who adopted patience in physical and spiritual trials. The external trials that the Prophets and Imāms undergo are known to all, but very few are aware of the internal trials with which they are tested.* It should be known that the internal trials are purely spiritual, and are full of knowledge, wisdom, rectitude and guidance. Through these trials, the son of the Imām ascends the ranks of the ḥudūd-i dīn one by one until he succeeds to the rank of Imāmat.
This verse also shows that the true Imām guides the people according to God’s command. This means that whatever guidance the Imām gives to the people is, in reality, from God and thus God’s command continues in this world. Indeed, only that guidance which is according to God’s command is the right guidance. It leads to the ultimate destination, gives the correct answer to every difficult question and the right solutions for the problems created by time and place.
With regard to the Imāms’ certainty it should be borne in mind that there is a great difference between believing in God’s signs and having certainty about them, because belief is both common and special, whereas certainty is special only. Thus, in the above verse the statement that the pure Imāms have certainty about God’s signs indicates that all the wisdoms and realities of the knowledge of certainty, the eye of certainty and the truth of certainty are manifest and evident to them and no sign of God is hidden from them.
All these matters are related to the Imām’s recognition, that is, they are useful only to those who believe in the doctrine of Imāmat and have reached one of the levels of the Imām’s recognition.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shināsī, translated as Recognition of Imam, 31-32.
*Author’s Note: Regarding ‘Allamah Hunzai’s comment, “The external trials that the Prophets and Imāms undergo are known to all, but very few are aware of the internal trials with which they are tested”, compare with 2:124: “And when his Lord tried Ibrahim with Words and he fulfilled them. (Then) He said: I am making you an Imam for mankind.”
The term kitab, often translated as “Book”, should not be understood as a “text” in the modern sense of the word. The word kitab as used in the Qur’an means God’s “decree”, “prescription”, or “guidance” and not a physical text.
Allamah Hunzai: In verse 6:91, God says: “And they estimate not the power of Allāh its true estimation when they say: ‘Allāh has naught revealed unto human being’. Say: ‘Who revealed the Book which Mūsā brought, a light and a guidance for humankind that you have put on sheets of paper which you show [i.e., you transfer it from the luminous form to the written form on paper], but you hide much [of it.’”
This verse contains numerous realities and wisdoms concerning the living spirit of the heavenly Book. In order to understand them, it is essential and necessary to be aware of the reality and nature of revelation and inspiration. Thus, the inspiration and revelation takes place in the form of a light of knowledge and a living spirit, which is called the revelation of the Holy Spirit or the Trustworthy Spirit. In reality, it is this light of intellect and understanding or the spirit of knowledge and wisdom, which abounds in countless wonders and miracles called the heavenly Book, even though it might not have come directly into the written form on paper, but rather passing through the blessed tongue of the Prophet and the tip of the scribe's pen.
It should be remembered that the heavenly Book always remains in the glorious spirituality of the Prophet, then in that of the Imam in its original form and state, without any decrease, even after being written on paper. It is this [luminous esoteric] book which is called the living light and real guidance of the Imam of the time.
It should be known that the subject of the esoteric Book is first light, and then guidance whereas that of the exoteric Book is first guidance, and then light. This means that through the holy light of the Imam is found the path to the realities and recognitions of the Qur’an and through the guidance of the knowledge and wisdom of the Qur’ān is attainable the recognition of the light of Imamat.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shināsī, translated as Recognition of Imam, 45-46.
‘Allamah Hunzai: In verse 46:12 God says: “And before it there was the Book of Mūsā, a guide (Imām) and a mercy (for the people); and this is a Book confirming (it) in the Arabic language, that it may warn those who do wrong and bring good tidings to the doers of good.”
True mu’mins must know that it was the holy and blessed light of Mawlānā Hārūn [Aaron]⁽ᶜ⁾, which was the real Book of Ḥazrat-i Mūsā [Moses]⁽ᶜ⁾. Since a heavenly Book is a living light in the state of revelation (wahy), then in this sense it was a guide (Imam) and a mercy for the people. How the Imām's Holy Spirit or light can be a Book has already been discussed in this book.
When studying Ismā‘īlī literature on ta’wīl, it will be noted that in the language of ta’wīl, the “Book” frequently stands for the Imām or the asās. Thus the asās of every nāṭiq is his luminous Book. Therefore, by Ḥazrat-i Mūsā⁽ᶜ⁾'s “Book” is meant Ḥazrat-i Mawlānā Hārūn⁽ᶜ⁾, whose blessed light was called the Torah.
If, contrary to this explanation, we accept that prior to the Qur’ān, the external Torah (with the interpolations made in it by the Jews) was a guide and a mercy for the people, it would be tantamount to saying that there was God's pleasure, guidance and mercy even in the interpolations made by the Jews in the Book. However, this cannot be true, because the physical Book (Torah) in which people have interpolated, cannot be an Imam and a mercy for the people, nor does the Qur'an confirm this.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shināsī, translated as Recognition of Imam, 34.
Khayal ‘Aly: Kitabu’llah (typically understood as the “Book of God”, e.g., the Qur’an) does not — if it truly serves as God’s Guidance — stand alone; rather the Kitab must exist alongside the Guide. As Qadi al-Nu‘man writes:
The Guide is the one who upholds the Qur’an, who expresses or interprets it, or who explains its contents…whereas the Qur’an itself is actually guidance, warning, instruction, proof, and explanation. It cannot stand alone until the guide guides by it, the warner warns by it, the leader leads by it, the one who adduces proof proves by it, or the explainer explains by it, as God stated in His Book.
al-Qāḍi al-Nu‘mān, Ikhtilāf Uṣūl al-Madhāhib, translated by Devin Stewart as Disagreements of the Jurists: A Manual of Islamic Legal Theory, 289.
Simply put, the Imam and the Kitab go hand in hand and both must be accepted by believers who seek to be guided by God. It is important, however, to note that sometimes, the term Imam is not only associated with Kitab — the “divinely-prescribed guidance” — but also identified with it, particularly when the Kitab performs the function of guidance or leadership. This is because when a divinely-revealed Kitab is described as an Imam — “…and before him the Kitab of Musa, which was an Imām [Guide] and a mercy” (11:17), “and before it there was the Book of Musa, an Imam (Guide) and a mercy (46:12) — this reflects the Kitab’s original, luminous form and its spiritual connection with the spiritual reality of the True Guide, who, in fact, embodies it. As ‘Allamah Hunzai explains about the Book of Moses:
Another reason for calling the Book of Mūsā [Moses] an “Imām” [11:17] is that every Heavenly Book is originally a living light, i.e., the soul of knowledge and wisdom, which in reality is the spirit of the Imām himself. The Holy Spirit of Mawlānā Hārūn [Aaron]⁽ᶜ⁾ was revealed to Ḥazrat-i Mūsā⁽ᶜ⁾ in the form of a spiritual Book, the description of whose spiritual states and events was written on paper to some extent as the Torah, but the real Torah was in the spiritual and luminous form. That is, the real Torah was not separate from the light of the exalted Imām, as the wise Qur’ān says:
“Say, who revealed the Book which Mūsā brought, a light and a guidance for humankind, which you put on the sheets of paper that you show, but you hide much of it” (6:91).
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Imām Shināsī, translated by Faquir Muhammad Hunzai and Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai as Recognition of Imam, 14-15).
In other words, when God refers to the Kitab as an Imam, it is only because the haqiqah — the true reality — of the Kitab and the living Imam who guides by God’s Command is one and the same. It does not mean that a physical, written book [e.g., the Torah or the Qur’an] — “which you put on the sheets of paper” — is itself an Imam.
Sayyidna al-Kirmani: God imposed obedience to the Imam by means of His declaration: ‘O, you who believe, obey God and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you’ [4:59]. Thus, He [i.e. God] connected it [i.e. obeying the Imam] to obeying Him and obeying His Messenger. Wisdom precludes the linking of a pearl with dung, or the noble with the base, or the pure with the unclean. For that reason, it is necessary that the linking of obedience to the Imam with obedience to the Messenger who is infallible happens because the one is like the other. If the linking of obedience to the Imam with obedience to the infallible Messenger happens because of the one being like the other, and obedience to the Messenger and its being an obligation is because of his being infallible, it is necessary that obedience to the Imam is obligatory because of his own infallibility. Therefore, the Imam is infallible.
Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī, al-Maṣābīḥ fī Ithbāt al-Imāma, translated as Master of the Age. 80-81.
‘Allamah Hunzai: The word “istinbāṭ” is mentioned only in one holy verse (4:83), but due to its link with the ulu'l-amr (the custodians of the Divine command), its meaning spreads from the beginning to the end of the Holy Qur’ān. For it means to verify, establish or substantiate something, or to reflect properly, or it is the wisdom and ta’wīl, or the bāṭin (esoteric aspect) of a verse. In this sense, istinbāṭ is in every place of the Noble Qur’ān.
[…] The translation of the verse under discussion is: “And when there comes to them news of security or fear, they spread it abroad; and if they had referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority (ulu'l-amr) among them, those among them who can search out the knowledge of it [yastanbiṭūnahu] (i.e., the ḥudūd-i dīn) would have known it” (4:83). The wisdom-filled allusion of this verse is that mu’mins should have faith and certainty in their hearts about the Prophet and the ulu'l-amr, so that they may attain the grace of istinbāṭ from the Imam of the time, and the physical and spiritual ḥudūd. In this verse, the word “min-hum” (from among them) is mentioned twice, of which the first is used for the ulu'l-amr and the second for the ḥudūd under them. As you know, Divine knowledge was revealed to the Holy Prophet, who granted it to the ulu'l-amr (i.e. the Imams) and they open the door of knowledge and wisdom to their representatives.
These two verses (4:59, 4:83), namely, the ‘verse of obedience’ and the ‘verse of deduction’ respectively, become one subject because they are about the ulu'l-amr and they are the exegesis of one another. Verse 4:59 says: “O you who believe! obey God and obey the Prophet and the ulu'l-amr from among you (who are with you throughout history and in all the cycles); then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to God and the Prophet, if you believe in God and the last day; this is better (for you) and very good with respect to ta’wīl.”
An extremely important point which should be remembered forever is that, just as obedience to the ulu'l-amr (Imāms) is enjoined upon mu’mins after obedience to God and the Prophet, similarly, it is also enjoined upon mu’mins to have recourse to them with problems and disputes. But obedience comes first and then having recourse to them. Therefore, if someone has recourse to God, the Prophet and the ulu'l-amr for a solution on a question of knowledge, without first being obedient, the door to knowledge and wisdom does not open. For the first and foremost requisite is obedience.
In verse 4:59, the command to refer ideological disputes to the ulu’l-amr is not apparent, but in verse 4:83, this command is very clear, because the latter verse is the exegesis of the former verse. Further, obedience is prior to having recourse and having recourse follows it. If a fortunate mu’min truly obeys God, the Prophet and the Imām, he automatically has recourse and without formal questioning, receives answers to all his questions. And this is the perfect guidance.
‘Allāmah Naṣīr al-Dīn Naṣīr Hunzai, Qurratu'l-Ayn, translated by Faquir Muhammad Hunzai and Rashida Noormohamed-Hunzai as Coolness of the Eye, 8-10.
Sayyidna al-Kirmani: God made it obligatory to refer what one does not know about, or that in which there is a difference of opinion, to the Messenger. He decreed referring to him in His saying: ‘If you quarrel concerning a matter refer it to God and the Messenger’ [4:59]. In regard to what one wanted to know concerning matters that were the subject of contention and difference in respect to issues of religion during the time of the Prophet, the authority was him, but it was not possible nor feasible for him to remain in the world to be among his community to the end so that they could refer to him that in which there occurred a difference or a issue of religion regarding which they did not have sure knowledge. Accordingly, it was necessary to put in the place of the Messenger someone to whom to refer those issues of religion about which there were differences, so that the decision would be his in that matter and the command of God would be upheld. The person who assumes the place of the Messenger is the Imam. Thus, the Imamate is essential.
Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī, al-Maṣābīḥ fī Ithbāt al-Imāma, translated as Master of the Age, 76.
Sayyidna Ja‘far b. Mansur al-Yaman: Whoever obeys the Messenger on the exoteric [aspects] but disobeys him on the esoteric [aspects] — by which [the Messenger] designated his Legatee [i.e. ‘Ali] — ‘his work will be annihilated and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter’ [Q. 5:6]. Indeed, the Messenger is the Imam of his era, and when he leaves this world, it is necessary that there is an Imam whom God has made it an obligation to obey, as He made it an obligation to obey the Messenger. God’s words — He is Mighty and Sublime: ‘Obey God, obey the Messenger and the holders of authority (ūlū al-amr) from amongst you’ [Q. 4:59] are an indication of this. There is no era at all where worshipping is possible without the Imam of that era. After the Messenger, the Imamate is not suitable except for the one appointed as an Imam by the Messenger — may God bless him — in the same way that God appointed the Messenger [to function] as a Messenger, and not as an Imam.
Ja‘far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, Kitāb al-Kashf, translated by Fârès Gillon as The Book of Unveiling: Early Fatimid Ismaili Doctrine in the Kitāb al-Kashf, attributed to Ja‘far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, 351-52.
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