Alī(1). No one with any share of knowledge can doubt that Mālik ibn Anas, Hammād ibn Zayd(2), and Hammād ibn Salama(3)—
[Response to his statement that the Imāmiyya transmit this from trustworthy authorities]
As for his statement(4), “The Imāmiyya transmit this [from trustworthy authorities](5), generation after generation, until the chain of transmission reaches one of the infallible figures,” the reply is:
First, if this is true, transmission from a single infallible figure dispenses [with](6) anyone else; there is therefore no need for an infallible figure in every age.
Moreover, if such transmission exists, what benefit is there in this awaited figure from whom nothing is transmitted? If transmission from those figures is sufficient, there is no need for him; and if it is not sufficient, then what has been transmitted from them would not suffice for anyone who follows them.
Second, whenever transmission is established(7) from(8) one of these figures, the most it can amount to(9) is as though it had been heard directly from him; it is then subject to the same ruling as comparable reports.
(1) Abū Jafar Muhammad (al-Jawād) ibn Alī (al-Ridā) was born in AH 195 and died in AH 320. He was highly esteemed and intelligent. See his biography in: *Wafayāt al-A'yān*, vol. 3, p. 315; al-Dhahabī’s *al-'Ibar*, vol. 1, pp. 380–381; *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, vol. 2, p. 48; *Tārīkh Baghdād*, vol. 3, pp. 54–55. Ibn Taymiyya will discuss him in this book, vol. 2, pp. 127–128 (B).
(2) “Hammād ibn Zayd” is absent from manuscript (M). His biography appeared previously in vol. 2, p. 144 (T [0–9]).
(3) Manuscripts (B) and (A) read “Hammād ibn Maslama,” which is an error. Hammād ibn Salama ibn Dīnār al-Basrī, Abū Salama, was Shaykh al-Islām, the mufti of Basra, a grammarian, and a hadith scholar. He died in AH 167 at nearly eighty years of age. See his biography in: *Tadhkirat al-Huffāz*, vol. 1, pp. 202–203; *Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb*, vol. 3, pp. 11–16; *Mīzān al-I'tidāl*, vol. 1, pp. 277–279; *al-A'lām*, vol. 2.
(4) The following passage appeared previously in (K), vol. 1, p. 83 (M), and above, vol. 2, p. 99.
(5) The phrase “from trustworthy authorities” is absent from all five manuscripts, but appears in both passages cited in the preceding note.
(6) “From” is absent only from manuscript (N).
(7) Manuscript (B) reads “whenever it is established”; manuscript (A) reads “until it is established.”
(8) Manuscript (ʿ) reads “with.”
(9) Manuscripts (N) and (M) read “he would have to.”