And what is in the Torah corroborates this.
This text cannot refer to these twelve, because he said:
“Islam will remain mighty,” “This affair will remain mighty,” and “The people’s affairs will continue to run their course.”
This indicates that the affairs of Islam will be upheld during their rule and will no longer be upheld once their rule ends. Yet according to [these] (1) Twelvers, the community’s affairs were never upheld during the tenure of any of these twelve. Rather, the community’s affairs remained corrupt and in disarray (2), with unjust aggressors ruling over them—indeed, hypocrites and disbelievers—while the people of truth were more humiliated than the Jews.
Furthermore, according to them, the rule of the awaited one continues until the end of time. Thus, in their view, no period is without one of the twelve. If that is so, time would no longer fall into two kinds of period: one in which the community’s affairs are upheld (3), and another in which they are not. Rather, they would be upheld at all times, which contradicts the authentic hadith.
Furthermore, those affairs will not be upheld thereafter unless the Mahdī rises—whether the Mahdī acknowledged by the people of the Sunnah or the Mahdī of the Rāfidah—and his tenure will be short, during which the community’s affairs will not be put in order (4).
Furthermore, he said in the hadith:
“All of them are from Quraysh.”
Had they been restricted to Alī and his descendants, he would have mentioned what distinguished them. Do you not see that he did not say: “All of them are descendants of