Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

336 'Ali's attitude towards the Kharijites and Shia
Yoosuf al-B-i says in his encyclopaedia al-Hadri'iq an-
Nridirah j5 Ahkrim al-'Ztrah at-T6hirah: "I wonder what difference
there is between one who disbelieves in Allah (s) and His
Messenger, and one who disbelieves in the Imams, even though it is
proven that imamate is one of the fundamentals of religion."284
Al-Majlisi says: "It should be noted that the fact that the words
polytheism and disbelief are applied to the one who does not believe
in the imamate of 'Ali and the Imams who are descended from him,
and believes that others are superior to them, indicates that they will
abide forever in
Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli said: "Imamate is a general mercy,
and prophethood is a more specific mercy, because it is possible for
there to be a time without a living prophet, which is not the case with
regard to the Imam. Denying general mercy is worse than denying
specific mercy."286
He describes the one who does not believe in their Imams as
being worse in disbelief than the Jews and Christians. Based on that,
he says that there should never be any time without an Imarn. This is
a reference to their belief in the existence of a hidden, awaited Imam,
which is something that is rejected by many Shiite groups. The
scholars of genealogy and histoty who examined this issue stated that
this Imam was never even born, hut here a shaykh of the RX~Lfidi Shia
says that denying him is worse than disbelief!287
Their shaykh, al-Mufeed, stated that there was consensus
among them on this view of regarding the Ummah of Islam as
disbelievers. He says: "The Imamis are agreed that the one who
denies the inlamate of one of the Imams, and rejects what Allah (&)
has enjoined upon him of obedience to the Imams, is a misguided
disbeliever who deserves to abide forever in The matter
went so far that their shaykh Ni'matullah al-JazZ'iri declared the Shia