It is the duty of every one who has given a pledge of loyalty to the Imams that he should fulfil the terms of his pledge and always keep them in view. He should never act contrary to the order of the Imam. In carrying out his orders he should never exceed the limits nor fall short of them. He should not budge an inch from the right course. He should not put his interpretation on what he hears from the Imam. He should say nothing on his own account. He should not allow his imagination to influence his mind in these matters.
It is said that once Imam Jafar, greetings of God be on him, said to some of his followers, "You should be our silent propagandists." When the people asked him as to how they should carry on the propaganda by silence, he said in reply, "Carry it on by your good deeds." He gave a long sermon on this topic and said in the end, "When people find you doing the right thing they will know that it is we who have guided you in this matter. Thus they will run to us and you will prove to be the medium of their coming to us."
It follows that it is the bounden duty of every on who is the follower of the Imams to do good things and keep away from the evil. He should be devoted to God and he should discharge the duties that have been enjoined on him. He should commit no sins and should do nothing which provokes God.
He should not indulge in religious discussions unless he is permitted by the Imam to do so. The Imam permits only those people to carry on religious discussions whom he finds fit for the job. Many a debater indulges in discussions with one who happens to be more competent than himself and in the end suffers a defeat at his hands and becomes sceptic.
It is for these reasons that the Imams order us to be silent and have implicit faith in them. None, but the one who is selected by them and is permitted by them to carry on the discussions is allowed to pursue this course. One of the Imams said to one of his "daa-ees', "If you find your opponent a better debater than yourself then take the help of the inner knowledge, stop him by saying that you are not prepared to initiate him into the depths of the inner meaning. Do not prolong the discussion to give your opponent a free hand. It will create a bad result and make your opponent firmer in his stand. Keep him in suspense, if you are afraid of continuing the discussion. On the other hand if you know at the very beginning that your opponent is a better debater, do not discuss with him and stop him by saying that you believe in inner things. For, very often, discussion with those who are on the wrong path leaves the impression on the audience that your opponents are right. This is exactly what happened when the sorcerers challenged Moses by bringing their ropes and sticks and making them look like snakes. Moses got frightened of the wrong impression they had created on the mind of the audience, although in the long run truth prevailed and the falsehood was eradicated."
It is out of these considerations that we have been ordered by the Imam to be silent and secretive. Imam Jafar, greetings be on him, is reported to have said to some of his followers who offered their services for his support, "We asked you to do something easier than this but you did not do it." They said, "What is that, O the grandson of the Prophet." He said, "We asked you to keep silent. If you had kept silent we would have been pleased with you but you did not do so."
We must bear in mind that in doing the work of the Imams, we have to follow some specific rules that are prescribed for us. We have to do things by degrees and we have to proceed with caution step by step. If we do not stop at the first step and jump to the higher step and try to reach the destination earlier than we are required to reach it we shall be ruined. It will be like feeding a new born baby to death.
In short, these are the things which have prevented the Imams from making their inner knowledge accessible to none but those whom they have found fit. Had they allowed every one to have a free access to it, people would have ruined one another like a new born babe who is killed by feeding or like an embryo who tries to come out before it is fully developed.
Hence, the Imams have purposely kept this knowledge secret in order to test their followers. Had they given full publicity to it and informed every one of what it is, none would have opposed them. But God wants to test His devotees by asking them to have faith in the "ghaib." The Quran says, "This book is undoubtedly a guide to the God-fearing people who have faith in the ‘ghaib' i.e. that hidden thing." These are the people who according to the Quran have been "guaranteed success." If God had desired He could have forced all men to be devoted to Him. He could have easily asked some angel to shout from above and call people to devotion. It would not in that case have been necessary for Him to send one of His apostles to guide people. Had He done so none would have been superior to another and there would have been no room for exertion. In that case there would have been no reward and no punishment. All the people would have been of one type and knowledge and accomplishments and such other gifts of God would have been evenly distributed amongst them. God knows best what He does and His "walees" who are in the know of the divine secrets know best what they do. There is no God but He and there is no partner to Him.
source : http://www.amaana.org
