Abdaal, on 07 February 2011 - 02:56 PM, said:
Look at this paragraph.
However, Zavd's special emphasis on accepting the caliphates of Abu Bakr and 'Umar and his popularity on this ground among moderate circles show, on the one hand, that the question of the caliphates of the first two caliphs had already been under serious discussion in some Shi'i circles at that time, and on the other hand, that Zayd's success by adopting this stand created an embarrassing and complicated situation for
Al-Baqir. Zayn al-'Abidin himself never spoke against the first two caliphs, but during Al-Baqir's lifetime some of the extremists who sided themselves with him started asking this question among the legitimist section of the Shi'a. Al-Baqir was thus asked time and again what he thought of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, but he did not publicly discredit them and rather confirmed that they were caliphs.60 Yet certain Shi'is of Kufa asserted that he disavowed the first two caliphs and only concealed his real opinion by resorting to the principle of dissimulation.61 This propaganda on the part of some of the Kufan followers of Al-Baqir no doubt earned him the sympathy of many extremist and semi-extremist circles, but on the other hand it discouraged those who wanted an active and more practical movement to bring the Ahl al-Bayt to power, and were already disappointed with Al-Baqir's quiescent policy. These moderates therefore preferred to range themselves on the side of Zayd,62 who in order to secure certain advantages became more emphatic in his acceptance of the first two caliphs, at the same time rejecting the principle of Taqiya. Al-Baqir was infuriated by the attitude of these Kufan Shi'is and said, "Even if the Butrites formed one battle-line from east to west, God would not grant glory to the world through them."63
http://www.al-shia.o...ia-islam/25.htm
thanks for the ill-intended contribution but that was neither called for nor requested by me.you can save that for the more gullible sunnis to feel happy about while reading your contribution and the link you provided.
after reading what you contributed and going through the link you presented to a large extent,i can simply discredit your link by describing the statements made therein as over simplified assumptions intended to discredit the imamate in itself.in other words you are diverting the topic.as a sunni,you have more to worry about whether or not Imam Ali was truly appointed by the Prophet (with the volumes of evidence that exist to support that) and you are refusing to accept the truth of a divine and prophetic matter.
whatever may have happened in the lives of the imams cannot be be used to discredit the imamate as a divine institution commissioned by the Prophet himself,whom you claim to obey.the site you presented (with many assumptions it present and using the term “shia” to deceive the unsuspecting) seem to coin or using words like "legitimist" instead of using "legitimate" (which is more often used) and with a sweet flow of english with a persuasive tone.if at all,all the narrations with a sweet flow of english trying to discredit imamate as a religious institution only enforced the idea and the reality that indeed in the times of the imams,people did recognize the presence of an Ahlul-Bayt leadership.that recognition is not bore out of simple sympathy towards the Household but tangible facts and knowledge they knew of.this sunni approach (hypothesizing to discredit a fact) reminds me of the christians who present so many ideas to counter the validity of the Quran as a divinely inspired book.they pile up so many ideas (from copying to borrowing to satanic inspiration to denying the Prophet was unlettered) to the extent that at the end of the day you are only left to be amazed by how wonderful the Quran is as a book that is attracting so much attention and so many ideas to be speculated.sunnis usually deny us the connection to our imams and make it look that our imams are innocent of our beliefs and practices.in contrast the link you presented,mostly tries to discredit the imamate of Imam Al-Baqer

.
to cut things short,no matter what happened and that is altogether for a separate discussion (and you can start a topic on that in the shia/sunni section on imamate),i am not discussing here the issue of imamate as a reality or the legitimacy of the imams or their sucession.i am discussing an issue that can be clarified on why Zaid alleged refused to curse the "shaykhain".for my part i know from observation that Zaid

never claimed imamate for himself.he did led an uprising which was brutally supressed.but he never claimed imamate.that is evident enough from the zaidi doctrine which simply accepts any Alawi who leads an uprising to be an imam.that is far from the reality of divine appointment which was started by the Prophet

.
Edited by mehdi soldier, 07 February 2011 - 08:04 PM.