تَعَالَى رَجُلَانِ رَجُلٌ وَكَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى نَفْسِهِ فَهُوَ جَائِرٌ عَنْ قَصْدِ السَّبِيلِ مَشْعُوفٌ بِكَلَامِ بِدْعَةٍ وَ دُعَاءِ ضَلَالَةٍ فَهُوَ فِتْنَةٌ لِمَنِ افْتَتَنَ بِهِ ضَالٌّ عَنْ هَدْىِ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَهُ مُضِلٌّ لِمَنِ اقْتَدَى بِهِ فِي حَيَاتِهِ وَ بَعْدَ وَفَاتِهِ حَمَّالٌ خَطَايَا غَيْرِهِ رَهْنٌ بِخَطِيئَتِهِ وَ رَجُلٌ قَمَشَ جَهْلًا فَوَضَعَهُ فِي جُهَّالِ الْأُمَّةِ غَارّاً فِي أَغْبَاشِ الْفِتْنَةِ عَمٍ بِمَا فِي عَقْدِ الْهُدْنَةِ قَدْ سَمَّاهُ أَشْبَاهُ الرِّجَالِ عَالِماً وَ لَيْسَ بِهِ بَكَّرَ فَاسْتَكْثَرَ مِنْ جَمْعٍ مَا قَلَّ مِنْهُ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا كَثُرَ حَتَّى إِذَا ارْتَوَى مِنْ آجِنٍ وَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ غَيْرِ طَائِلٍ جَلَسَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ قَاضِياً ضَامِناً لِتَخْلِيصِ مَا الْتَبَسَ عَلَى غَيْرِهِ إِنْ خَالَفَ مَنْ سَبَقَهُ لَمْ يَأْمَنْ مِنْ نَقْضِ حُكْمِهِ مَنْ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِهِ كَفِعْلِهِ بِمَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَهُ وَ إِنْ نَزَلَ بِهِ إِحْدَى الْمُبْهَمَاتِ هَيَّأَ لَهَا حَشْواً رَثّاً مِنْ رَأْيِهِ ثُمَّ قَطَعَ بِهِ فَهُوَ مِنْ لَبْسِ الشُّبُهَاتِ فِي مِثْلِ نَسْجِ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ لَا يَدْرِي أَصَابَ أَمْ أَخْطَأَ إِنْ أَصَابَ خَافَ أَنْ يَكُونَ قَدْ أَخْطَأَ وَ إِنْ أَخْطَأَ رَجَا أَنْ يَكُونَ قَدْ أَصَابَ جَاهِلٌ خَبَّاطُ جَهَلَاتٍ غَاشٌّ رَكَّابُ عَشَوَاتٍ لَمْ يَعَضَّ عَلَى الْعِلْمِ بِضِرْسٍ قَاطِعٍ يُذْرِی الرِّوَايَاتِ إِذْرَاءَ الرِّيحِ الْهَشِيمَ لَا مَلِی ءٌ وَ اللَّهِ بِإِصْدَارِ مَا وَرَدَ عَلَيْهِ لَا يَحْسَبُ الْعِلْمَ فِي شَيْ ءٍ مِمَّا أَنْكَرَهُ وَ لَا يَرَى أَنَّ مِنْ وَرَاءِ مَا بَلَغَ مِنْهُ مَذْهَباً لِغَيْرِهِ وَ إِنْ قَاسَ شَيْئاً بِشَيْ ءٍ لَمْ يُكَذِّبْ رَأْيَهُ وَ إِنْ أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرٌ اكْتَتَمَ بِهِ لِمَا يَعْلَمُ مِنْ جَهْلِ نَفْسِهِ يَصْرُخُ مِنْ جَوْرِ قَضَائِهِ الدِّمَاءُ وَ تَعِجُّ مِنْهُ الْمَوَارِيثُ إِلَى اللَّهِ أَشْكُو مِنْ مَعْشَرٍ يَعِيشُونَ جُهَّالًا وَ يَمُوتُونَ ضُلَّالًا.

One is he whom God has left to himself, who has strayed from the straight way and moves without knowledge or guide. He is utterly attached to fabricated words far from truth and reality and to his own innovations, and strides swiftly on the road of leading people astray; and he is a trial for those who are taken in by his deception. He has gone astray from the path of guidance of those who went before, and he leads astray those who follow him in his life and after his death. He carries on his back the burden of the sins of those he has led astray and remains always in pledge for his own sins as well. The second is one who has woven together things he does not know and moves swiftly with trickery and deceit among ignorant people; he strides quickly in the darknesses of discord and corruption, [and he speaks also of prayer and fasting,] but does not accept the benefits of peace and reconciliation. Those who merely look like men call him a scholar and a man of learning, but he is no scholar. From morning till night he goes on gathering things of which the little is better than the much, until he fills himself with the stagnant waters of ignorance and, in his own fancy, amasses a treasure in which no benefit is to be found. He has taken his seat upon the bench of judgement among the people and has undertaken to make clear what has become doubtful for others. In what he denies he supposes there can be no knowledge, and he knows no sound method beyond his own beliefs. If he compares one thing with another he does not call his own view false, [and if a matter is dark to him he conceals it, on account of the ignorance he knows in himself,] so that it may not be said: he does not know. If he opposes the judge before him, he has no assurance that the judge who comes after him will not overturn his ruling; and if he faces a difficulty, he assembles for himself a string of hollow words and draws from them a decisive conclusion. In the face of many ambiguities he is like the threads of a spider's web; he himself does not even know whether he has judged rightly or in error. If he has spoken rightly, he fears he may have erred; and if he has erred, he hopes it may turn out to be right. He is an ignorant man wandering in the darknesses of ignorance, like a blind man continuing on his way in perilous darkness. Toward his own opinion he is like the threads of a spider's web: if fire passes through it, he is in no way aware. In knowledge he is neither deeply rooted nor decisive, so as to profit by it. Like violent winds that shatter dry plants, he too tears apart the hadiths and narrations so that, in his own fancy, he may draw a conclusion from them. By God, he has neither so much learning as to separate truth from falsehood in people's disputes, nor is he fit for the office entrusted to him. He does not believe that beyond what he has denied there is any knowledge, or that there is any other view than what he has understood. If a matter is obscure to him he conceals it, for he is himself aware of his own ignorance; the blood shed by his tyrannical judgement cries out, and the inheritances he has wrongly given to others cry out. I complain to God of a people who live in ignorance and unknowing, and who give up their lives in misguidance.

وَ رُوِيَ أَنَّهُ عليه السلام قَالَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالطَّاعَةِ وَ الْمَعْرِفَةِ بِمَنْ لَا تَعْتَذِرُونَ بِجَهَالَتِهِ فَإِنَّ الْعِلْمَ الَّذِي هَبَطَ بِهِ آدَمُ وَ جَمِيعَ مَا فُضِّلَتْ بِهِ النَّبِيُّونَ إِلَى خَاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ فِي عِتْرَةِ نَبِيِّكُمْ مُحَمَّدٍ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله فَأَنَّى يُتَاهُ بِكُمْ بَلْ أَيْنَ تَذْهَبُونَ يَا مَنْ نَسَخَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِ السَّفِينَةِ هَذِهِ مِثْلُهَا فِيكُمْ فَارْكَبُوهَا فَكَمَا نَجَا فِي هَاتِيكَ مَنْ نَجَا فَكَذَلِكَ يَنْجُو فِي هَذِهِ مَنْ دَخَلَهَا أَنَا رَهِينٌ بِذَلِكَ قَسَماً حَقّاً وَ ما أَنَا مِنَ الْمُتَكَلِّفِينَ وَ الْوَيْلُ لِمَنْ تَخَلَّفَ ثُمَّ الْوَيْلُ لِمَنْ تَخَلَّفَ أَ مَا بَلَغَكُمْ مَا قَالَ فِيكُمْ نَبِيُّكُمْ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله حَيْثُ يَقُولُ فِي حَجَّةِ الْوَدَاعِ إِنِّي تَارِكٌ فِيكُمُ الثَّقَلَيْنِ مَا إِنْ تَمَسَّكْتُمْ بِهِمَا لَنْ تَضِلُّوا كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَ عِتْرَتِي أَهْلَ بَيْتِي وَ إِنَّهُمَا لَنْ يَفْتَرِقَا حَتَّى يَرِدَا عَلَیَّ الْحَوْضَ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ تَخْلُفُونِّي فِيهِمَا أَلَا هذا عَذْبٌ فُراتٌ فَاشْرَبُوا وَ هذا مِلْحٌ أُجاجٌ فَاجْتَنِبُوا.

And it is related that he, peace be upon him, said after that: O people, you must obey and know him of whose knowledge you are not excused; for that knowledge with which Adam, peace be upon him, came down, and all that by which the prophets attained excellence, down to your Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, is all with the progeny of your Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and his family. Where then are you bewildered and where are you going? O you who have been drawn from the loins of the companions of the Ark [of Noah], the likeness of the progeny among you is as the Ark of Noah; so embark upon it, and as those who were saved in that Ark, whoever boards it will likewise be saved. And in what I say I am, by a true oath, in pledge for this word; I do not speak falsehood. And woe to him who turns away. Again, woe to him who turns away. Has not this hadith of your Prophet at the Farewell Pilgrimage reached you, where he said: "I leave among you two weighty and precious things; if you hold fast to them you will never go astray after me: the Qur'an and my progeny, my People of the House; and these two will not part from each other until they come to me at the Pool. So look how you conduct yourselves toward them." Know that this water is sweet and pleasant, so drink of it; and that other is salty and bitter, so beware of it.