The religious texts

The religious texts, as derived from the Book and the recognized Sunnah, are divided into two categories, with no third: a clear category and a hidden category.

The clear category refers to explicit texts that clearly indicate their meanings and do not require effort to understand.

The hidden category refers to ambiguous texts, which require effort to extract their meanings and to understand them, necessitating diligence to clarify their implications from potential misunderstanding to action.

There are three matters, as mentioned by the infallible Imams:

1.     A matter where its guidance is clear to you, so follow it.
2.     A matter where its misguidance is clear to you, so avoid it.
3.     A matter where its guidance from misguidance is not clear to you, so refer it back.

The divisions of this principle are two:

1. The first category includes the two clear matters, where the obligation is to either follow or avoid, and it is essential to act upon this category due to the clarity of the matter; rejecting or neglecting it is not permissible.
    
2. The second category encompasses ambiguous matters, where it is not obligatory to act upon them, but they should be referred back. This referral is not in the sense of denial, but in the sense of submission, as stated by Imam Al-Sadiq, peace be upon him: "Refer it back to us, and do not deny us, because denial is a sign of disbelief." The first referral is submission, while the last is denial.

In this regard, he, peace be upon him, states: "What your hearts find agreeable, take it from where its clarity is established, and its validity is affirmed from them. And what your hearts find distasteful, refer it back due to its ambiguity."

We can express the first category as "the definitive" and the other as "the ambiguous", since it has been established that the words of the Ahlulbayt, peace be upon them, contain both definitive and ambiguous elements. It also includes what they have stated concerning obligatory beliefs and what they have stated under the principle of Taqiyyah (dissimulation).

Distinguishing between these two categories requires a precise understanding of their foundational principles as transmitted from them.

In this consistent methodology, the seeker is safeguarded from falling into doubts or denial concerning the guiding Imams.