Our First Duty towards our Imam (a.t.f.s)

1: To obtain knowledge about the special characteristics of Imam (a.s.) and to have information about the certain signs of his reappearance.

• Rational Proof: The Imam of the Time (a.t.f.s.) is a guide and a leader whose obedience is compulsory and it is necessary to recognize correctly one whose obedience is compulsory. So that if someone lays a false claim to be that leader, he can be exposed at once and we shall not be misguided by his false propaganda. Thus the recognition (Marefat) of the Imam of the Time (a.t.f.s.) is obligatory and it is also obligatory to learn about his special characteristics so that if a false claimant of Mahdaviyat appears we can, at once, realize his falsehood. Further details will come in the coming pages, Insha-Allah.

• Textual Proof: Shaykh Sadooq (r.a.) has recorded a tradition of Imam Musa Kazim (a.s.) that he said, One who doubts about four things has denied everything revealed by Allah. One of these being the Marefat of the Imam of age."

It is obligatory to recognize our master (a.s.) and this is amply proved through traditional reports that we have quoted so far. In addition the following reports also prove the same:

1 - In Usool Kafi, through correct chains of narrators, it is narrated from Zurarah from Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s.) that he said: Know your Imam as it would cause you no harm whether the matter is advanced or postponed.

[Usool Kafi, Vol. 1, Pg. 371]

2 - In the same book, through his own chain of narrators the author has narrated from Fudail bin Yasar that he said: I asked Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s.) regarding the following verse of Quran:

يَوْمَ نَدْعُو كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ

(Remember) the day when We will call every people with their Imam.

[Surah Isra 17:71]

He said: O Fudail, know your Imam, for if you recognize your Imam properly, the advancement or postponing of this matter will cause you no harm. Because one who recognizes his Imam but he dies before the advent is having the same position as one who sat in the Imam tent; rather it is like one who sat under his banner. The narrator says: Some companions of the Imam said: The Imam said: It is like one who achieved martyrdom in the company of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.).

[Usool Kafi, Vol. 1, Pg. 371]

3 - In the same book, in a correct report it is narrated from Umar bin Aban that he said: I heard Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s.) say: Recognize the sign; for if you know the signs, it will not cause any harm to you whether this matter is advanced or postponed. Indeed Allah, the Mighty and Sublime has said:

يَوْمَ نَدْعُو كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ

(Remember) the day when We will call every people with their Imam.

Thus one who recognizes his Imam is like one who has been present in the camp of the Awaited Imam.

[Usool Kafi, Vol. 1, Pg. 372]

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