Stage two: a meticulous understanding of the Imāmiyyah faith
The four significant facts to be analyzed here are:
1. Divinity and Prophethood as the Imāmiyyah views them;
2. The reality of the sharī‘ah and religious injunctions from the Imāmiyyah’s viewpoint;
3. The reality of the goals of the Imāmiyyah faith;
4. The purport of some common expressions used by the Imāmiyyah.
Stage three: the Imāmiyyah’s roots
The points to be studied here are:
1 The Shī‘ah’s source of Jurisprudence;
2. Successorship to the Prophet (s); Imamate;
3. The Imāmiyyah’s identity;
4. Advent of the Imāmiyyah: source and causes.
Having finished these three stages, the reader shall enter the final stage and begin investigating the particularities of the Imāmiyyah.
Particularities of the Imāmiyyah
These particularities, though a part of stage two, are knowingly raised at this stage since they are the last points the Wahhābīs can understand in regard to Shī‘ism. There are three particularities which consist of the following:
1. A positive Twelver Shī‘ah believes in the members of the Household of the Prophet [Ahl-al-Bayt (‘a)];
2. The Imāmiyyah’s realistic view on the Companions of the Prophet (s);
3. The Imāmiyyah’s views concerning the Twelfth Imām’s (‘a) occultation.
These are the procedures to conduct research on the Imāmiyyah. The methods and their strict sequencing, I repeat, is a must when presenting the Twelver Shī‘ah faith to the Wahhābīs.[1]
The pyramid I have sketched below lucidly expounds all the earlier stages. The pyramid clearly shows our method of introducing Shī‘ism; it also requires us to go through the first stage, i.e. the Shī‘ah link, before the second one. Stage one is where we attempt to cure the disease of identifying Shī‘ism with the Ghulāt. The first stage has been placed at the top to emphasize its importance. Any miscalculation will bring a downfall. Stage one is what the Wahhābīs always have before their eyes.
[1] This is the scheme I have worked out in order for the Wahhābīs to acquire a sound knowledge of the Shī‘ism. My previous experience with Wahhābism clearly showed me that unless the disease of identifying the Shī‘ism with Ghulāt is cured and the issues of divinity, Prophecy, sharī‘ah (precepts of religion), Shī‘ah sources of jurisprudence, the occultation of the Twelfth Imām (‘a) are made clear meticulously and in detail, it will be impossible for a Wahhābī to appreciate the reality of the Prophet’s (s) succession and the Imamate. This is why I placed “Imamate” and “Occultation” in the final stage. This explanation will bar the illusion that I may have downgraded the issues of the Imamate and Occultation.
