whom he followed uncritically, without verifying what they said or consulting (1) what is known among the scholars, established among them through mass transmission, and familiar to their ordinary members and specialists alike.
Second: His statement:
“The general imamate entails conveying all rulings to the Muslim community.”
This statement is false. The community has received all the rulings from its Prophet and has no need of the imam in this regard except as it needs other scholars like him. The Companions knew most of the religious law that people needed. Whenever they disagreed over any of it during the time of al-Siddīq, they subsequently reached agreement through the knowledge which (2) they shared with one another. Al-Siddīq knew most of the religious law, and whenever some minor matter was unknown to him (3), he asked those Companions who possessed knowledge of it (4), as when “he asked them about a grandmother’s inheritance (5), and some of them informed him that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had awarded her (6) one-sixth” (7).