Chapter Three: On the Obligation of Establishing the Outward and Exhorting Toward It

I have desired to recite an account of the sayings transmitted regarding the necessity of establishing the Outward (Al-Zahir) and the exhortation and diligence toward it, just as I recited to you, O seeker, the previous account concerning its rejection; so that the truth may be established and falsehood may perish, if Allah wills.

And here is what the Sayyid, the Jurist, the Scholar, the Eminent Abu Sa'id Maymun bin al-Qasim al-Tabarani (Q) provided in the twentieth chapter of the book Al-Ma'arif (The Knowledges), regarding what was narrated concerning Dissimulation (Al-Taqiya) and the establishment of the Outward, saying:

It was narrated by Ali bin Abd Allah on the authority of Muhammad bin Sinan, who said: My Master Abu Abdillah [Imam al-Sadiq]—peace be from him—said:

"Whoever recognizes the Inward (Al-Batin) and stands by it, and does not neglect the rights of his brothers, is a free man who has emerged from the bondage of servitude, and from whom the fetters and shackles have fallen. Thus, you must uphold the Outward and establish it in the presence of the commonality (Al-'Amma), lest you become captives in their hands; if they wish, they grant you safety, and if they wish, they do not.