is the most deserving of censure, while the one that is least divided within itself and least separated from the community is the closest to the truth. If the Imāmiyya are foremost in separating themselves from all the other groups of the Muslim community(1), then they are the furthest from(2) the truth—especially since they themselves are more divided than all the other sects of the Muslim community, to the point that they are said to comprise seventy-two sects.

This very figure appears among the things(3) that one of this al-Tūsī’s own companions transmitted from him. He said, “He(4) used to say, ‘The Shia comprise seventy-two sects(5),’” or words to that effect. Al-Hasan ibn Mūsā al-Nawbakhtī and others wrote works enumerating the sects of the Shia(6).

As for those who adhere to the community, they differ less over the fundamentals of their religion than the other sects do. They are closer to every sect than that sect is to its opposite. They thus occupy the middle position among the adherents(7) of Islam, just as the adherents of Islam occupy the middle position among the followers of the various religions. They take a middle course regarding Allah’s attributes(8), between those who negate them and those who liken Him to His creation.