God says to the Prophet “Warn your nearest relations.” “Warn the people of the day when punishment will be inflicted on them’.’ These verses show to us that in the matter of warn- ing from God the relations of the Imams and others are all alike. They are all enjoined upon by God to be devoted to the Imams who have been appoint- ed by Him. The Quranic verse “Obey God, obey the Prophets and obey your spiritual heads” i.e. the Imams is as applicable to their relatives as to others. The Prophet says to the children of Abdul Muttalib “O the children of Abdul Mutta- lib, let you not appear before God with the proof of your relationship with me when others appear before Him with their good deeds. I will not intercede for you unless you bring your good deeds with yourselves. Your actions alone will decide your fate in bringing you nearer to Him or driving you further away from Him.” Imam Jafar Sadiq was once asked by a man whether the tradition “The one who dies without acknowledging the Imam of his time will die a death of a pervert,” was an authentic one? The Imam replied “Yes”. “Will your relatives also” said the man ” die the death of perverts if they do not acknowledge the Imamat of the Imam of their time?” “Yes”, said Imam Jafar “In this matter our relations and others are all alike.”
Really speaking the relations of the Imams are expected to be the foremost of all in their recogni- tion of the Imam of the time. They are required to set a good example by submitting themselves to the Imam and by carrying out his orders with the utmost willingness. Allegiance to the Imams is enjoined on us all, but the responsibility of those who are nearer the truth is much heavier than that of others. In other words the relations of the Imams are expected to be more steady in their loyalty and devotion to the Imams than the rest of the people.
If they are indifferent to them or if they become envious of their position and imagine that it is below their dignity to make allegiance to them they will be degrading themselves to the position of infidels. God has selected the Imams from amongst them. He has ordered them to be de- voted to them like the rest of mankind. If they oppose them they will be opposing God. If they make a show of pride to them they will be showing pride to God. If they turn away from them they turn away from God. Those who oppose God will be disgraced by Him. Those who show pride to Him will be humiliated by Him. Those who turn away from Him will be subjected to speedy decay. In short, nothing will be more ruinous to them than the perverted idea that they are superior to others in the matter of allegiance to the Imams.
When Ali, peace be on him, paid to Talha and Zubair their legitimate dues from the booty, they protested by saying, “O the commander of the faithful, have you no consideration for our relationship with you?” Ali said in reply, “Are you more closely related to me than I am to the Prophet?” They said, “You are more closely related to him than we are to you.” “Then”, said Ali, “did not the Prophet distribute the booty among the muslims equally without giving prefer- ence to one man over another?” They said “The Prophet did distribute the booty equally, but those who succeeded him gave us a prefer- ential treatment.” Ali said “Who was more learned, the Prophet or his successors?” They said, “Certainly the Prophet was more learned.” A long discussion took place amongst them and in the end Zubair and Talha were convinced that Ali was right. Their later ruination was due to no- thing but the wrong notion that they had a greater claim over the booty than others. They broke their allegiance to him and waged a war against him. They launched on a course which brought about their disaster. The details are too long to be mentioned here.
In short, it is the duty of the relatives of the Imam to know the true position of the Imam and set an example to others by submitting themselves to his will. They should ponder over the words of God and the words of the Prophet and follow the tradition which has been laid aid down by their predecessors. They should never allow jealousy to influence their conduct. They should remember that one son of Adam was ruined because of his jealousy of his brother whose offer was more accept- able to God than his. They should never allow hemselves to be carried away by the idea that because of their relationship with the Imams they are superior to others. They should never imagine that because of their relationship they are exempted from the duties which are imposed us all alike. On the contrary they should on us realize that their responsibility in the matter of devotion to the Imam is much heavier than that of any one else.