and more than one scholar deemed it weak. They said, “It is not authentic.” A group responded regarding it in a way indicating that the members of his household, taken collectively, cannot agree upon misguidance. They said, “We, too, affirm this,” as al-Qādī Abū Ya'lā and others have stated.

Yet the members of the household have never agreed—praise be to Allah—upon any of the distinctive tenets of the Rāfidī doctrine. Rather, they are innocent of it and far above being tainted by any part of it.

As for his statement, “The likeness of the members of my household is that of Noah’s Ark,” it has no known chain of transmission—not (1) a sound one—nor is it found in any of the reliable hadith collections. If it was narrated by the sort of indiscriminate collectors who transmit reports of this kind and narrate fabrications, that only makes it weaker still.

The second point: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said concerning his kindred that they and the Book would never part until they came to him at the Pool. He is the truthful one whose truthfulness is confirmed; this therefore indicates that the consensus of the kindred is an authoritative proof. This is the view of a group of our fellow scholars, and al-Qādī mentioned it in al-Mu'tamad.

The kindred, however, comprise all of Banū Hāshim: the descendants of al-Abbās, the descendants of Alī, the descendants of al-Hārith ibn Abd al-Muttalib, all the other descendants of Abū Tālib, and others. Alī alone does not constitute the kindred, and the foremost of the kindred is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

This is demonstrated by the fact that the scholars among the kindred, such as Ibn Abbās and others, did not deem it obligatory to follow Alī in everything he said; nor did Alī require people to obey him in