if (1) any part of the Revealed Law can be preserved without him, the rest can likewise be preserved, until the entire Revealed Law is preserved without any need for him.

And if (2) you say: Rather, it means that no part of the Revealed Law can be known unless he preserves it.

It may be said: In that case, no proof (3) can be established against the people of the earth except through his transmission, and the authenticity of his transmission cannot be known until it is known that he is infallible. Nor can it be known that he is infallible except through a consensus denying infallibility to everyone other than him. If that consensus is infallible, the Revealed Law can be preserved through it; but if it is not infallible, his infallibility cannot be known.

The fourth answer:

It may be said: By what is Muhammad’s prophethood—peace and blessings be upon him—established for someone who acknowledges his prophethood?

If it is said: By the miracles transmitted by the Imam.

The reply is: Anyone who does not acknowledge Muhammad’s prophethood is even less likely to acknowledge the imamate of Ali—may Allah be pleased with him. Rather, he impugns both.

If it is said: By the Prophet’s miracles—such as the Quran and others—which the Muslim community transmits through mass transmission.

The reply is: If the Muslim community’s mass transmission is proof by which the foundation of his prophethood is established, how could it not be proof by which (4) the subsidiary matters of his Revealed Law are established?

The fifth answer:

Concerning the Imam: Can he convey the Revealed Law to those who will transmit it from him through mass transmission? [Or] (5) must it continue to be transmitted through individual reports from one Imam to the next?