وَ بِهَذَا الْإِسْنَادِ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مَهْزِيَارَ عَنْ فَضَالَةَ عَنْ أَبَانِ بْنِ عُثْمَانَ عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام هَلْ تَكُونُ الْأَرْضُ إِلَّا وَ فِيهَا إِمَامٌ قَالَ لَا تَكُونُ إِلَّا وَ فِيهَا إِمَامٌ عَالِمٌ بِحَلَالِهِمْ وَ حَرَامِهِمْ وَ مَا يَحْتَاجُونَ إِلَيْهِ.
And from the same chain of narrators from Ali bin Mahziyar from Faddala from Aban bin Uthman from Hasan bin Ziyad that he said: I asked Abu Abdullah : “Can the earth be such that there is no Imam in it?” He replied: “It can never be so, except that there is an Imam in it who is aware of the lawful and the prohibited and what the people are needful of.”
