Shaykh Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī · First Principle: Necessity of Imamate
وأما الكلام في الفصل الثالث: من قوله:إن الفائدة بالامامة هي كونه مبعدا من القبيح على قولكم، وذلك لم يحصل مع غيبته، فلم ينفصل وجوده من عدمه، فإذا لم يختص وجوده غائبا بوجه الوجوب الذي ذكروه لم يقتض دليلكم وجوب وجوده مع الغيبـة، دليلكم مع أنه منتقض حيث وجد مع انبساط اليد، ولم يجب انبساط اليد مع الغيبة، فهو غير متعلق بوجود إمام غير منبسط اليد ولا هو حاصل في هذه الحال.
Reply to the third objection: “The benefit of Imamate according to you is that it takes people away from evil acts. However, this cannot be achieved with the Imam in hiding and therefore, his existence and non-existence are not much different. As his hidden existence does not correspond to his necessary existence you have argued for, your argument – despite being contradicted when he is found administering the society, and administering the society is not necessary during occultation – doesn’t lead to the existence of an Imam, who is not running the affairs of society and neither in occultation the control of Imam on the society is proved.
Translation: Sayyid Athar Husain S. H. Rizvi — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.
This edition publishes no authenticity assessment for this narration. SacredTwo does not assign one.
Persian rendering (AI)
No published Persian translation of this edition is available. This rendering is produced by SacredTwo's model and is not a published translation.
AI-assisted translation — not a verified published translation.