Past eventOther · The Lantern of the Path · Session 42

Networks of Guidance Under Siege

Wednesday, 5 November 2025

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Imamah, Part 22 · Imam al-Hadi, Part 2 of 2 A ruler thought he had silenced one man by locking him inside a garrison. He had actually placed him at the centre of a network spanning half the Muslim world. Confined to Samarra and watched around the clock, Imam Ali al-Hadi, peace be upon him, still had to answer legal questions from Khurasan, collect religious dues from Qom, and guide followers as far as Yemen. He did it through the wikala — a clandestine network of deputies across Qom, Rey, Baghdad, Khurasan, Samarqand and Yemen, who gathered khums, carried questions to the Imam and returned his signed rulings, and mediated disputes in his name. Shaykh al-Tusi later catalogued its members by name and village — one entry records a deputy from outside Baghdad, noted simply as "reliable in his hadith". That trust was also the network's weak point. Impostors circulated, and the Imam issued signed letters warning his followers away from them. Four months before his death in 254 AH, he formally designated his son, Imam Hasan al-Askari, before a group of witnesses, handing him both the charter he had written and the network he had built — the infrastructure that would carry the community through the coming occultation. How do you lead a movement spanning a continent when you cannot leave your own street? What the evening covers The wikala system. How a network of deputies across six regions collected dues, carried questions to the Imam, and returned his rulings. A named agent. How Shaykh al-Tusi's Kitab al-Ghayba records real deputies, by name and village. Guarding against impostors. Why the Imam issued signed letters exposing false agents, and why trust was the network's real currency. The handover. How, four months before his death, the Imam formally designated his son before witnesses, passing on both charter and network intact.

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إِنَّ الْوَفَاءَ تَوْأَمُ الصِّدْقِ، وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ جُنَّةً أوْقَى مِنْهُ، وَمَا يَغْدِرُ مَنْ عَلِمَ كَيْفَ الْمَرْجِعُ، وَلَقَدْ أَصْبَحْنا في زَمَان اتَّخَذَ أَكْثَرُ أَهْلِهِ الْغَدْرَ كَيْساً، وَنَسَبَهُمْ أَهْلُ الْجَهْلِ فِيهِ إِلى حُسْنِ الْحِيلَةِ، مَا لَهُمْ! قَاتَلَهُمُ اللهُ! قَدْ يَرَى الْحُوَّلُ الْقُلَّبُ وَجْهَ الْحِيلَةِ وَدُونَهَا مَانِعٌ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللهِ وَنَهْيِهِ، فَيَدَعُهَا رَأْيَ عَيْن بَعْدَ الْقُدْرَةِ عَلَيْهَا، وَيَنْتَهِزُ فُرْصَتَهَا مَنْ لاَ حَرِيجَةَ لَهُ فِي الدِّينِ.

O people! Surely fulfilment of pledge is the twin of truth. I do not know a better shield (against the assaults of sin) than it. One who realises the reality of return (to the next world) never betrays. We are in a period when most of the people regard betrayal as wisdom. In these days the ignorant call it excellence of cunning. What is the matter with them? Allāh may destroy them. One who has been through thick and thin of life finds the excuses to be preventing him from orders and prohibitions of Allāh but he disregards them despite capability (to succumb to them and follows the commands of Allāh), while one who has no restraints of religion seizes the opportunity (and accepts the excuses for not following the commands of Allāh).

Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 41, Section 2