is entitled to his lawful guardianship, while his property must be overseen by a trustee or some other competent guardian.

Before the age of seven such a child is not commanded to perform the prayer. Once he turns seven he is instructed to pray; if he reaches ten and still does not pray, he is disciplined for neglecting it. How, then, can a youngster of this sort be an infallible Imam, perfectly versed in the whole of the religion, such that no one may enter Paradise unless he believes in him?

Even if we grant his existence together with his Imamate and infallibility, people are only obliged to obey someone who commands them to do what Allah and His Messenger have enjoined and forbids them what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited. If they neither see him nor hear his speech, they have no means of knowing what he orders or forbids; consequently, it is impermissible to charge them with obedience to him, for he has issued them no commands, and obedience to one who issues none is impossible in itself.

Suppose he does give orders but those orders never reach the people, leaving them unable to discover them. In that case they are incapacitated, and the ability to acquire knowledge is a prerequisite for moral obligation—especially according to the later Shiʿites, who, agreeing with the Muʿtazilah on questions of predestination and divine attributes, are among the most insistent opponents of imposing duties beyond human capacity.

If someone claims that his concealment is due to people’s sins, because they frightened him into hiding, we reply: even granting that his enemies terrified him, what sin have his supporters and devotees committed, and what benefit do they gain from believing in him when he teaches them nothing and issues no commands? Moreover, how could it be permissible for him—despite the duty incumbent upon him to call people to the truth—to remain in this occultation that has now lasted for more than 450 years (1)?

What, besides, could justify for him a seclusion that none of his forefathers ever adopted—ʿAlī, Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar, ʿAlī ibn Mūsā, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, and al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī? Each of them lived openly among the people, and knowledge was transmitted directly from ʿAlī and Ḥasan