Where is this God appointed teacher from whom I may ask my question?
Are you living in this world? There is a man, on this earth, alive and who claims to be a direct descendant of our beloved Prophet, the Imam (leader) of the time and age and the holder of Authority, the Noor (نور) or reflection and glow of Ali. Please do some research and I am sure you will be able find an answer. I have Iman in him, I am his follower, and he is my guide for straight path (sirat-al mustaqeem).
Best of luck !
Answer
Let’s keep the level of this dialogue in an academic level rather than informal chitchat. Yes I am living in this world, otherwise I was not able to communicate with you. I hope you do not believe that all Muslims who do not know your Imām (perhaps about 98% of Muslims) are not living in this world!
The problem my brother is that once a group of Muslims starts to associate themselves with beliefs that are not established in the Qur’an, they will then easily spread out into many sects and branches, since there won’t remain any tangible source to stop them from doing so. Given that these groups of Muslims decide to believe in things that are not established in the Qur’ān and given the numerous number of these sects who have separated themselves from the mainstream Muslims, it will be very time consuming to get familiarized with all these beliefs and their details.
When I search books and internet in order to guess who your Imām might be, I come up with many results. It depends which sect (from among those who have beliefs not established in the Qur’ān) you belong to:
– If you are an Imāmi Shī‘ī your Imam’s name is Muhammad b. Ḥasan and he is in occultation.
– If you are a Nizari Esmayeelee Shī‘ī then your Imam’s name/title is Karim Agha Khan IV.
– If you are a Mustali (Dawoodi Buhra) Esmayeelee Shia then your Imam’s name is Muhammad Burhaneddin.
– If you are a Mustali (Sulaimani Buhra) Esmayeelee Shia then your Imams are Abdullah ibn Hibatullah and/or Mohammed Ibrahim Ziaee.
And to remain brief I do not add more than other dozen Islamic sects who believe in divine authorities after the Prophet (sws) including some of the Sufi sects.
I can spend the rest of my life trying to figure out who among all these people who somehow claim divine authority is the real Imam. However I do not need to do this. The Qur’an has assured me that all disputes in regard to religious guidance have to be decided on the basis of this Book (2:213; 25:1). I am confident that there is no divine authority after the Prophet because the Qur’an has not informed me about it.
All the above sects have one thing in common, that is, they believe in something that is not found in the Qur’an as core of their religion.
All the above sects also have another similarity. They all claim that they follow Ali (ra).
I would like to conclude this discussion with some relevant statements narrated from Ali (ra) in Nahj Al-Balagha:
Make it (the Qur’an) your guide towards Allah. Seek its advice for yourselves and accuse your views (of being false) based on the Qur’an and regard your desires in the matter of the Qur’an as deceitful. (Nahj-Al-Balagha 176)
Allah has made it (the Qur’an) a quencher of the thirst of the learned … an evidence for him who adopts it, an argument for him who argues with it, a witness for him who quarrels with it, a success for him who argues with it, a carrier of burden for him who seeks the way, a shield for him who arms himself (against misguidance), …. (Nahj-Al-Balagha 198)
