If they say: What should someone do if they need to ask a question? It is said to them: The same as what was done when the Prophet ﷺ was in the cave, whoever wished to submit or learn from him would go to him. If that was acceptable in divine wisdom then, it is equally acceptable now.

And among the clearest proofs for Imamate is that Allah, the Mighty and Glorious, made one of the Prophet’s ﷺ signs his knowledge of the stories of past prophets and his bringing of teachings from the Torah, the Gospel, and the Psalms, even though he outwardly could not write and had not met with Christians or Jews. That was among the greatest of his signs. When al-Husayn b. Ali was killed, he left behind Ali b. al-Husayn , who was close in age and under twenty years old. He then withdrew from the people and did not meet with anyone except a few close companions. He was in a state of extreme devotion, and only a little knowledge was passed on from him due to the harshness of the times and the injustice of Banu Umayyah.

Then his son, Muhammad b. Ali, known as al-Baqir , emerged and opened the gate of knowledge. He brought forth great matters from the sciences of religion, the Book, the Sunnah, history, and military expeditions. Then came Ja'far b. Muhammad , who extracted from that a vast amount that became manifest and widespread, until there remained no field of knowledge without his abundant contributions. He interpreted the Quran and the traditions, and reports of military expeditions and stories of the prophets were transmitted from him—despite the fact that neither he, nor his father Muhammad b. Ali, nor Ali b. al-Husayn were ever seen by any narrator or jurist from the general public learning any of it from them. This is the strongest evidence that they received that knowledge from the Prophet ﷺ, then from Ali , then from each successive Imam. And likewise the group of Imams : this is their way in knowledge. They were asked about the lawful and unlawful, and they responded with consistent answers, without having learned that from anyone. So what proof is clearer than this for their Imamate—that the Prophet ﷺ appointed them, taught them, and entrusted them with his knowledge and the knowledge of the prophets before him? And have we ever seen, by custom, anything like what appeared from Muhammad b. Ali and Ja'far b. Muhammad , without them having learned it from anyone?