الإمامة

The imamate, as Ahmad Amin presents it in Duha al-Islam, is the most important question on which the discourse of the Imamiyya turns. It is the centre of their inquiries, most secondary questions return to it, and most of the disagreement between them and the people of the Sunna revolves around it. ²

The summary of the data states that the people of the Sunna make the imamate a matter entrusted to the choice and consultation of the community. ²

Ahmad Amin describes the imamate as the colouring of the Imamiyya belief. ²

This account is from the al-Kafi of al-Kulayni as transmitted by Ahmad Amin, and it is the view of the Imamiyya, not the museum's position. Al-Kafi states that the imam has a spiritual connection with God of the same kind as that of the prophets and messengers; that the earth cannot remain without an imam, who is God's proof against His servants; and that faith in the imam is part of faith. ³

Al-Kafi describes the imamate as "the rank of the prophets and the inheritance of the executors, the vicegerency of God and the vicegerency of the Messenger." ³

What is not recorded here: direct Sunni sources, and the detail of the evidence each side offers. It needs a further source.