- did masoomeens(a.s.) observe taqiya on each & every occasion or they neverever DID TAQIYA IN USOOL-E-DEEN & is it true that ADL & IMAMAT was aded after the ghaibat - e -sughara?

The number of the fundamentals (Usool-e-Deen) is a theoretical

issue. It means that some issues because of their importance in terms of

being the pillars of the religion or the distinguishing aspect of this

school (Shia) from others (in terms of faith) or because being

fundamental for the practical and belief aspects, became part of

Usool-e-Deen. Which in reality is a kind of overall view of a religion

or school. It means that where possible we should interpret religious

issues to one fundamental point in order that learning, teaching &

propagation is simplified.

It is not that we have a verse or narration stating the number of

Usool-e-deen to be five viz, Tawheed, Nubuwat, Ma'aad, Adl & Imamah. Of

course all these five have been explained in the Quran and Hadith. The

reason for expressing just these five is their importance. If not, all

these five could be summarized in one, which is Tawheed or any other

fundamental, which in reality returns to one whole. Some scholars

expressed 150 fundamentals or more. It depends on our goal. Do we want

to introduce religion in its brevity or in detail, each of these have

many categories. As a result, Tawheed, Nubuwat and Ma'ad are the most

basic believes in all revealed religions. We could count other beliefs

as part of basic beliefs, which are achieving from their interpretation

or their dependencies, according to specific term. For instance the

Existence of Allah could be counted as the first principle and the Unity

of Allah could be counted as the second one. Or Nubuwat could be counted

as the principle of all religions and believing in Holy Prophet Mohammad

(saw) could be counted as another principle of Usool-e-deen according to

some Shia scholars. Adl, which is the secondary belief of Tawheed, is an

independent principle and Imamah, which is the dependency of Nubuwat, is

another principle. So the word, Usool-e-deen could be used in two

meanings: a general and a particular meaning.

The general in comparison to the secondary principles (furoo-e-deen) and

rulings includes all aspects of belief. The particular meaning is

specific to the most basic beliefs and does not relate to a period that

it originated from. Nor it means whether its origination is since the

period of the "lesser occultation" but rather they are the same beliefs

that were explained by the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw).