And this is the best of the opinions, yet it still calls for further (1) clarification (2): all (3) the God-fearing are upon one path; their object of worship is one, they follow a single Book, a single Prophet, and they are all servants of one Lord. Their religion is one, their Prophet is one, their Book is one, and the One they worship is one (4). It is as though they collectively constitute a single imam (5) for those who come after them. They are not (6) like the divergent imams whose paths, legal schools, and creeds have become mutually at variance (7); therefore, true following is confined to what they are unanimously upon, which is a single reality—and that alone is the genuine imamate.
Section
Moreover, the Exalted has informed us that this imamate is attained only through patience and certainty (8), for He said
(1) The word “additional” is omitted in manuscripts B and C.
(2) In the preceding issue, Husayn ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hamadhani (d. 663 AH) mentioned six views; see al-Farid fi Irab al-Quran al-Majid, 3/643-644. However, five of them fall under the three views mentioned here. As for his sixth view, Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned it as an elucidation of the third view.
(3) The word “all of them” is omitted in manuscript C.
(4) From the first occurrence of “and their object of worship is one” to the second occurrence of the same phrase, manuscript B reads: “Their object of worship is one, their way is one, and their Prophet is one. Thus, their religion is one, their Book is one, and their object of worship is one.” Manuscript C reads: “Their Prophet is one, their object of worship is one, and their Book is one.”
(5) The word “one” is omitted in manuscript B.
(6) Manuscript B reads “laysa” (“is not”).
(7) Manuscript C reads “those whose schools of thought differ” in place of “the differing ones whose paths, schools of thought, and creeds have differed.”
(8) The base text reads “wa bil-yaqin” (“and through certainty”); the adopted reading is that of manuscripts B and C.