and pilgrimage, as well as other matters that fall under obedience to Allah and His Messenger. How, then, can the Imamate alone be the noblest issue for Muslims and the most important objective of religion?

If it is said:

“We cannot obey (1) the Messenger except by obeying an Imam (2), for he is the one who knows the revealed law,”

it is said:

This [is] (3) merely an assertion of the doctrine, for which there is no proof. It is well known that the Quran does not establish this as it establishes all the other foundations of religion. [It has already been explained that no one has benefited in this regard from the Imam whom they claim, and it will be shown—Allah Most High willing—that knowledge of what the Messenger brought does not require recourse to any of the Imams] (4).

[The second argument: The Imāmiyyah themselves place the Imamate last among the foundations of religion]

The second argument is as follows:

According to the Imāmiyyah, the foundations of religion are four: divine oneness, divine justice, prophethood, and the Imamate. The Imamate (5) therefore ranks last, while divine oneness, divine justice, and prophethood (6) precede it. Under divine oneness, they include the denial of Allah’s attributes, the claim that the Quran is created, and the claim that Allah will not be seen in the Hereafter. Under divine justice, they include the denial of divine decree (7), the claims that Allah is unable to guide whomever He wills or lead astray whomever He wills, and that He may will what does not come to pass while what He does not will may come to pass, along with other such claims. Thus, they do not say that He is