Zurarah bin Ayan Doubted the Debating Abilities of Imam

علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن عبد الرحمن بن الحجاج عن زرارة قال: قلت لابي جعفر عليه السلام: يدخل النار مؤمن؟ قال: لا والله، قلت: فما يدخلها إلا كافر؟ قال: لا إلا من شاء الله، فلما رددت عليه مرارا قال لي: أي زرارة إني أقول: لا وأقول: إلا من شاء الله وأنت تقول: لا ولا تقول: إلا من شاء الله، قال: فحدثني هشام بن الحكم وحماد، عن زرارة قال: قلت في نفسي: شيخ لاعلم له بالخصومة. قال: فقال لي: يا زرارة ماتقول فيمن أقر لك بالحكم أتقتله؟ ما تقول في خدمكم وأهليكم أتقتلهم؟ قال: فقلت: أنا والله الذي لا علم لي بالخصومة.

Zurarah narrates that I to Imam Baqir : Will Momin enter hellfire? He said : By God, no. I said : Will only a kafir go to hellfire? He said : No, but whomever Allah wills. I repeated the same again and again , so he said : O Zurarah, I say no, and I say, except whom Allah wills. And you say, no, and you don't say, except whom Allah wills. Hisham bin Hakam and Hammad narrates from Zurarah that he said : I said to myself, the old man doesn't know about debate. Then he said : Then (the imam) said to me : O Zurarah, what do you say about your servant, and your ahl. Will you kill them? Then he (i.e Zurarah) said : I then said to myself : It is me , by God, who doesn't have knowledge of debate. (Usul min al-Kafi, Vol. 2, p. 385-386)

Its too bad volume 2 is not translated fully yet. Otherwise I would dig this up myself.

12r Shia Mahdi Will Dissapear due to Fear

A lot of 12rs claim that they don't know the exact reason to why the 12th imam disappeared. However, here we see Zurara confirming a reason. The answer he supposedly got was due to fear. I thought 'the wahabis' were wrong to accuse the last imam of fear. However, if they are wrong then Zurara should be condemned first.

H 892, Ch. 80, h 5
Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from al-Hassan ibn Musa al-Khashshab from ‘Abdallah ibn Musa from ‘Abdallah ibn Bukayr from Zurarah who has said the following. "The young boywill disappear from the public sight before his rise (with divine power)" The narrator has said,"I then asked, "Why (would that has to take place)?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "He will be afraid." He pointed out with his hand to his midsection. Then he said, "O zurara, "He is the one whose reappearance is expected. He is the one whose coming to this world through birth will be doubted. Certain people will say, "his father died without leaving any son behind."
Certain others will say, "Just before the dead of his father his mother conceived him." Still others will say, "He was born two years before the death of his father." He is the one whose reappearance is expected. The fact is that Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most gracious, loves to try and test the Shi‘a (his followers). It in such a condition that people of falsehood will raise doubts, O Zurara)."
The narrator has said, "I then said, May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, if will be alive at the time of his rise with divine power what should I do?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "O Zurara, if you will live up to such time then say the following prayer. "O Lord make me know You for if you would not make me know You I will not know Your prophet. O Lord, make me know Your Messenger, for if You would not make me know your Messenger I will not know the one who possesses Your authority over the creatures. O Lord make me know the one who possesses Your authority over the creatures for if You will not make me know him I will stray away from my religion." Then he said, "O Zurara, it is necessary that a young boy
must be murdered in the city of Madina." I then said, "May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, would he not be killed in the hands of the army of al-Sufyani?" He said, "No, but the army of the tribe of so and so will kill him. They will come to inter Madina, thus, they take hold of the young boy and kill him. When they will murder him in transgression, animosity and injustice they will not then be given respite. At such time good news will be expected, if Allah would so will. (al-Kafi)"


H 896, Ch. 80, h 9
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ja'far ibn Muhammad from al-Hassan ibn
Mu‘awiya from ‘Abdallah ibn Jabala from ‘Abdallah ibn Bukayr from Zurara who has said
the following. "I heard abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) say as herein below. "The person who will rise to Divine power on earth will disappear from the public sight before he will do so." I then asked, "Why, will happen so?" He said, "He will be afraid." He then pointed to his midsection meaning thereby being murdered." (ibid)

H 905, Ch. 80, h 18
Through the same chain of narrators it is narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from his
father, Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from ibn Bukayr from Zurara who has said the following. " AlQa’im (the one who will rise with Divine Authority) will disappear before he will rise with divine power. He will suffer fear. The Imam (a.s.) pointed to his midsection, meaning thereby being murdered." (ibid)


H 916, Ch. 80, h 29
Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad has narrated from from Ahmad ibn Hilal who has said that ‘Uthman
ibn ‘Isa narrated to us from Khalid ibn Najih from Zurara ibn A‘yan that abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) has said the following. "It will be necessary for the young boy to disappear from the public sight." I then asked, "Why it will be necessary?" He said, "Because he will have fear- he then pointed towards his midsection. He will be the one whose reappearance will be intensely expected. It will be he in whose being born people will have doubts. Certain people will say, "His mother has just conceived him." Others will say, "His father died but left no surviving son." Certain others will say, "He was born two years before the death of his father." Zurara has said, "I said to him, ‘What do you command me if will attain that time?" The Imam (a.s.) said, "Pray to Allah in the following words. "O Lord, make me know You for if you would not make me know You I will not know You. O Lord, make me know Your prophet, for if You would not make me know your Messenger I will never know him. O Lord, make me know the one who possesses Your authority over the creatures for if You will not make me know him I will stray away from my religion." Ahmad ibn Hilal has said, "I had heard this
hadith fifty six years ago." (ibid)

12r Shia Required To Rely on Fallibles such as Zararah b Ayan Sheibani

In many debates, the 12r point out areas where Sunni personalities have shown the Ahlul Bayt (as) to be the most superior leaders on earth. One example is where Umar (ra) says if it wasn`t for Ali I would have been ruined. Another areas is where Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) says `If it wasn`t for my two years with Jafar I would have been ruined. Now these saying are true, but the 12r use these quotation to prove the Sunni aqeeda wrong. They say this is proof that we shouldn`t depend on anyone but the imams to transmit knowledge of Islam. They further add these imams are infallible so it is wrong to follow anyone else.

On the contrary, when you dig up 12r Shia sources you realize that they don`t have any direct books from the imams themselves. Look at the Jafari fiqh itself it depends on various different books and hypothesis of the shia scholars to derive fiqhi ruling. Then from this ruling we have contradiction in areas such as Kalma, Khumms, Taqiyyah, Tabarra, Takfir, Jumah & Namaz Eid Namaz, Azaan, Mattam, Jihad etc. All these areas, have contradictions within one school of thought. Anyway, aside for these ruling, we discover from a 12r Shia perspective `the infallible` imams depended on fallible students to spread Islam. Among the famous traditions in the 12r shia sect, we encounter a strong praise of one of the chiefs of the 12rs Zararah bin Ayan Shebani. When we look into his status the 6th imam says without him Shia Islam would be perished. Below is an extract from the 12r Shia sources.

Zararah b. Ayan Sheibani, was one of the chief companions of Imam Baqir [a] and Imam Al-Sadiq [a]. He was so respected and trustworthy that Imam Al-Sadiq [a] said: If this man, Zararah did not exist my traditions would have been lost. (Rejal-Kashi, Wasa'il Shiah v.18, Monlahal Amal, v.2. Pg. 871).
http://www.al-islam.org/hesham/17.htm

I was always told that the number of imams in the 12r sect were 12. Yet here we see even after reaching half a dozen imams, the deen of Shia Islam had to spread by fallible. You would think the full responsibility would be left to the imams numbering 7-11. Yet the 6th imam supposedly predicts with his unseen knowledge that its not the case.

Next, the 12rs tell us we should only follow a dozen imams, and nobody else. Yet in another famous tradition the 6th imams supposedly says to do taqleed of Zurara bin Ayan. The 6th imam tells ` Yunus ibn Ammar: "Whatever Zararah has quoted through Imam Baqir [a], it is not lawful for us to refute it.`
http://www.al-islam.org/hesham/17.htm

With this tradition above saying it does not even leave room for a Muslim to apply aql toward the naql from Zararah.

After my experience with the 12rs, I have come to a conclusion that when a 12r tells us to accept Shia Islam and follow Ahlul Bayt (as), this is not the reality of the sect. In reality when one accept 12r Shia islam, they are following an Islam which is transmitted and interpreted most of the time by non-Ahlul Bayt members such as Al-Kulayni, ibn Babawaih, al-’Ukbari, Tusi, Hilli, Al-Majlisi, etc.. ( the four books). This projection presented by the 12rs is not definitive path of Islam, but an limited interpretation of who the Ahlul Bayt were from another perspective.