Is Imitation Permissible in Matters of Belief?

Beliefs are rooted in the innermost nature of every human being and form the order of their innate disposition. They are not acquired; rather, they are a turning toward one’s innate nature. When the human heart is awake, sound and wholly well, the principles of belief shine in all their brilliance. But when a person becomes estranged from their innate nature through injuries of the heart, they need rational argument to find their way back to their beliefs and attain them once more.

Verses and hadiths on divine unity are the measure, the standard, the light and the water of the human being’s innate nature. Through them, one can awaken and illuminate that nature and raise the edifice of one’s beliefs.

To benefit from hadiths on divine unity, the first essential step is to establish that the report was reliably transmitted from the Infallible Ones, peace be upon them. Once its reliability is assured, one must take the equally essential step of understanding and interpreting the hadith, so as to grasp what the Infallible Ones, peace be upon them, intended by their blessed words.

When affirming a hadith, we must be confident that its narrator meets the required standards and that it has been transmitted verbatim, without omission, addition, distortion or scribal error, and so on.

Certainly, accepting a report without heartfelt affirmation has no credal value or authority. Imitation of the Infallible Ones, peace be upon them, has no place in the principles of belief: a belief gains value and authority only when the heart affirms its truth. Faith has meaning only through heartfelt affirmation; once that faith takes root, it becomes certainty and conviction.