[Section: The virtues possessed by each of the imams that necessitate his being an imam, and the response to this claim]
Section
The Rāfidī said (1):
“Third: The virtues possessed by each of them that necessitate his being an imam.”
The response has several aspects:
First: At most, these virtues qualify their possessor to be appointed (2) to the imamate. Yet he does not become an imam merely by being qualified, just as a man does not become a judge merely by being qualified for that office.
Second: Others among Quraysh are qualified for the imamate just as these men are. They too are fit to assume the imamate, so there is no basis for singling out these particular men. Nor have those others become imams merely by being qualified.
Third: According to the majority of rational people, the twelfth of them does not exist; he therefore cannot be an imam.
Fourth: The two al-ʿAskarīs and others of comparable standing are not known to have distinguished themselves in knowledge or religion, as ʿAlī ibn al-Husayn, Abū Jaʿfar, and Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad are known to have done.