A Polemical Critique of the Imāmīs: Accusations of Cursing the Ahl al-Bayt and Following Zurārah over the Imams

The question:

We find that the Imāmīs disparage and curse the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt—peace be upon them—from among the nobles of the descendants of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn.

The answer:

That is their habitual practice; therefore we call them Rāfiḍa. Their predecessors—such as Zurārah and Muʾmin al-Ṭāq and others—were even harsher than these. Whenever we encounter an Imāmī who does not curse them, we are surprised by him and regard him as an oddity among his companions. Thus, whenever they curse the Imams of the descendants of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn—peace be upon them—they prove that we are upon the truth and that they are the false ones, and that they are truly the Nāṣiba and the Rāfiḍa. Moreover, the problem of these people is not only with the Zaydī Imams, but even with Imām al-Ṣādiq—peace be upon him—himself, who is also one of our Imams. Rather, they are merely followers of books and notebooks; otherwise, their predecessors and the founders of their method were disavowed by al-Ṣādiq—peace be upon him. What appears in the image below is the statement of one of their great predecessors, Zurārah ibn Aʿyan, and al-Ṣādiq’s—peace be upon him—stance toward him, when he said: “No one introduced into Islam innovations like those introduced by Zurārah; upon him is the curse of God” [Rijāl al-Kashshī 1/149]. Thus, cursing and sowing division within the Ahl al-Bayt is among the innovations of Zurārah, and the Imāmīs followed him and his companions in that. It suffices for us that we stand with the Ahl al-Bayt—peace be upon them—without distinguishing among them, and it suffices for them that they stand with the accursed Zurārah according to the texts of their own heritage. Let each act according to his own way.