In the last part of chapter four Janab Muhaddis Noori(ar) presents scholarly replies to few objections of the Ahle Sunnat. We briefly present a couple of these.

One of the objections raised is about the legal validity of appointing a child to the position of Imamate.

He replies that since Imamate is a unique divine position, the regular laws for worldly positions cannot be applied to it. He states the Shia belief that Allah can make eligible and appoint whosoever He wishes and the age of the appointee will not be a hindrance to Allah. He supports this argument with the Quranic incident of the appointment of Hazrat Isa(as) to the hallowed position of an Ulul Azm Prophet while he was still in a cradle.

When Imam Mahdi (atfs) appears Hazrat Isa(as) will come to assist him. He questions that if appointment to a divine position in childhood is accepted for the assistant of Hazrat Mahdi (atfs) [ie: Hazrat Isa(as)], then how can it become questionable for Hazrat Mahdi (atfs) himself.

Finally he highlights the contradictions of Ahle Sunnat scholars who one hand object to Imam Mahdi(atfs) while on the other claim instances of divine acts from the children of some of their scholars.

He puts forward many replies against their objection on the occultation of Hazrat Mahdi (atfs). In one of the replies, he quotes the incident of Hazrat Khizr (as) and Hazrat Musa(as) wherein the reason for the actions of Hazrat Khizr(as) became evident only at the time of his separation from Hazrat Musa(as). Likewise the real reason for occultation would become evident at the time of reappearance of Hazrat Mahdi (atfs).

Here we conclude the discussion of chapter four. Inshallah we will begin chapter five next week.

May the Almighty increase us in his recognition.