Shia Muslims are often wrongly accused of stressing a whole lot about the divine guidance, the Imamat or the Wilayat. Perhaps the Shia Muslims are trying to tell you something that you are choosing to ignore, at your own peril and here's why To understand the Islamic concept of Imamat, first you will need to understand the purpose of creation. Everything that Allah (swt) has created in this universe is on the level of "ismat-e-sughra" meaning everything is sinless because everything is doing Allah's bidding , the complete obedience, the total robotic submission, the pure Adalah, the perfect balance - meaning doing exactly what Allah has intended. Among all the creations, you will find transgressors only among the 'free willed' Jinns and Humans. Incidentally the whole purpose of Jins and humans existence is to bring this complete Adalah in their full lives, all the while being bestowed with free will. The most critical purpose of Iamamt is to bring and keep 'free willed' Jinns and Humans on this perfect Adalah - the perfect tasleem of Allah. The whole reason of coming of Mahdi (as) is to bring this Adlaha and to prove it in action that Islam or total obedience can and does work for free willed creatures as well. Ever wonder why Allah was so proud when HE made humans and told to angels that this is my Khalifa on earth. Imamat (willaya) is THE most critical, almost pivotal part of the "system of Tawheed"; believing in this is which makes the righteous different from the non-righteous. Interestingly Ibless is more believer in Tawheed than you and I. But he doesn't believe in Nabuwat and Imamat. Why else was he stopping Ibrahim to pass the test of sacrifice. Becuase Ibrahim the prophet was supposed to be made Ibrahim the Imam after passing the test of sacrifice. Hence Allah made Muslims to hit Shaitan three times during Hajj, because these were the places where he tried to stop Ibrahim from being an Imam. Same goes for Christian and Jews. They believe in Tawheed and Nabuawat but not the last of the Prophets. Christians talking more about Jesus does not make them a better believer of Jesus. Muslims are better believers of Jesus than Christians are. It's part of basic Islam. Same goes for Sunnis, they believe in Tawheed and the last Nabuwat, but not the Imamat. Sunnis talking all day about Quran and Sunnah does not make them better believer than anybody. Becuase the Sunnah (hadith and why and when the Ayat of Quran were revealed) they got is distorted and comes from people who did not spend more than a few months with prophet throughout their lives. They all are LOST due to their lack of concept of divine guidance (Imamat, Wilayat, and in the physical absence of Imam, the wilayat of an Aadil Jurist). It's only the Shia who believe in the Tawheed as it should be and Nabuwat as it should be because they believe in Imamat as it should be, and by default Quran and Sunnah as it should be believed in.