Imam Muhammad ibn Hasan [a]
2 sayings
Each saying is shown with the book and page it is taken from. The English rendering came with the collection, and the Centre cannot name who made it. The collection carries no grading. Where a saying matters for practice, check it with the alim.
Look carefully at those people who relate our traditions with deliberation upon our permitted and prohibited things, and know our precepts and commandments. Select one of them for adjudication, since I have appointed such a person for the said task. If his verdict is rejected then it is as if the command of Allah is deemed light and our ordinance refuted. Certainly the one who refutes our ordinance has refuted the ordinance of Allah. Verily such a person has stepped into the boundary of Shirk (Polytheism)."
Greater Sins Vol 1, Part 3, page 68; Al-Kafi · permalink
Im?m al-M?hd? (a.s.), when Sa'd b. 'Abdillah al-Qummi asked him the reason why people cannot elect an Imam for themselves, replied, 'Would he be a righteous man or a corrupt man?' I said, 'Righteous.' He said, 'Is it possible that the selected individual be actually corrupt, for no one really knows what passes through another's mind, in terms of their righteousness or corruption?' I said, 'Yes'. He said, 'That is the reason why.'
Nur al-Thaqalayn, v. 2, p. 76, no. 283; Mizan ul Hikmah, page No. 545 · permalink