A Response to the Doubtful Ideas of Ahmad Katib with Regard to Traditions about the Twelve Imams

One of the reasons to affirm the birth and existence of the Proof of God, the 12th Imam, Hazrat Hujjat-bin-al-Hassan Askari (PBuH) is a series of traditions the succession of which has been narrated by both the Shiites and the Sunnites, in which the prophet (MGSBH) has also specified that he would have twelve Imams as his successors one after another. These traditions are briefly called: “Traditions of the Twelve Imams (or Caliphs)”. Of course, some of the Sunnite and most of the Shiite traditions have gone further to explain the characters and qualities of the 12 successors in additions to mentioning the number “12” and names. Of the most important points cited in them is the introducing of the Riser, that is, the twelfth Imam and also the news of his occultation. The news is that he is absent from the people’s views, in addition to remembering his father’s name, his grandfather’s and his other ancestors.Such traditions indicate the existence of Hazrat Mahdi, the Riser (PBuH) in two ways: The first is a general denotation to reveal the number twelve to which both the Shiites and Sunnites agree; and the second is, in particular, the text itself in which the names, the characteristics and other features have been expressed with the introducing of the twelfth Imam who is the very Riser (PBuH).However, Ahmad-al-Katib has denied the existence of the Proof of God. Hujjat-bin-al-Hassan the 12th Imam by raising some doubts about the traditions. The purport of his statement is that all such traditions are forged in the 4th century A.H. and we can not rely on them. Now in this article, you will hear al-Katib’s reasons, his claims and our criticisms against them.