The Book of Occultation — al-Ṭūsī · Hadith 33 (#Ḥadīth #27)

أحدها: يتعلق بالله وهو إيجاده. والثاني: يتعلق به من تحمل أعباء الامامة والقيام بها. والثالث: يتعلق بنا من العزم على نصرته، ومعاضدته، والانقياد له، فوجوب تحمله عليه فرع على وجوده، لأنه لا يجوز أن يتناول التكليف المعدوم، فصار إيجاد الله إياه أصلا لوجوب قيامه، وصار وجوب نصرته علينا فرعا لهذين الأصلين لأنه إنما يجب علينا طاعته إذا وجد، وتحمل أعباء الامامة وقام بها، فحينئذ يجب علينا طاعته، فمع هذا التحقيق كيف يقال:لم لا يكون معدوما.

The grace that reaches us from the Imam’s running the affairs and administering the society cannot materialize without three elements: One pertains to Allah, and that is that He creates the Imam. The second element pertains to the Imam, which is that he carries the burden of Imamate and performs its duties. The third element pertains to us, and it implies helping, supporting him and submitting to him. The obligation of undertaking the tasks of Imamate is secondary to his existence, for a task cannot be undertaken by a non-existent entity. Therefore, Allah’s creation of him is prior to his obligation of accepting leadership and our obligation of supporting him is secondary to these two elements, because it is obligatory upon us to obey him when he exists and has undertaken to carry the burden of Imamate and perform its tasks. With this reasoning in mind, how can they expect us to be bound to his non-existence and say that His Eminence does not exist?

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).