son of Mary, the Spirit of God. If asked concerning this, he conveys their states and their differing degrees of excellence, for he is a messenger among them.
(The Inheriting Poles)
We have no access to that. Our discourse therefore concerns the Poles of communities who inherit from their prophets and messengers, and the Poles of this later Muhammadan community, described as possessing excellence over all former communities, believers and unbelievers. Its unbeliever is worse than the unbelievers of other communities, and its believer better than their believers.
They have precedence, as the report says of Quraysh that they take precedence over all tribes in good and evil. He placed the imamate among them, whether they act justly or unjustly.
If they act justly, it is for their subjects and for them; if unjustly, for their subjects and against them—meaning what they have neglected of God’s rights and the rights of those God has entrusted to their care. The Poles of this chosen community precede the former Poles of past communities: I mean the inheriting Poles who follow their messengers’ traces.
(The Poles of Directions and Stations)
We then return and say that the Poles of this Muhammadan community are of different kinds. I do not mean the Poles of whom there is only one in each age; we shall mention that among the twelve Poles in the following chapter.
Among the Muhammadan Poles I mention everyone around whom the affairs of a group[2] of people revolve in a region or direction, such as the Substitutes
Notlar
[2]
(The author here broadens the name Pole to encompass someone around whom the affairs of a group or a station revolve. He then reserves the next chapter for the Poles of the Time.)
