Usul al-Kafi

Essential Quotes

“He is veiled without any veil and is concealed without any covering. He is recognised without being seen and has been described as being formless.”

“He [Muhammad] departed (from the world) and has left behind him the book of Allah and his deputy (nominated executor, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib) the chief of the believers and the guide (Imam) for those who guard themselves against evil.”

“Whoever among the Imams died, he used to nominate after him his successor as a declared luminous, righteous guide (Imam). Who would guide people (towards the Truth) and would be constant in his guidance. These guides (Imams) called the people towards Allah as His demonstrators and are designated by God as the patrons for His creation.”

“God wanted them to refer to Imam (to know the Truth), forbidding all other people to pass hasty verdicts.”

“If it had been proper for the people of health and peace to remain ignorant, then God would have never ordered them to be interrogative, and the need for sending the prophets with the books and the codes would never have arisen.”

“I have commenced and inaugurated this book of mine with the chapter on reason, the greatness of knowledge, the great status of those who possess it, their high worth, the defectiveness of ignorance, the baseness of its possessor, and their lowered rank. Since reason is the axis on which every thing revolves, it is on the reason that all the argument rests.”