The very famous debate that Sheik Sadooq had was in the court of Rukn al Dawla who was the ruler of the territory of Deelam in Iraq. Rukn al Dawla had heard a lot about Sheik Sadooq’s erudition. Therefore he wrote a letter to him and invited him to Deelam. The Sheik went to his court. He was received there with great care and respect and was seated near the ruler in the court.
Sheik Sadooq had very useful discussions with Ruk al Dawla. The king was so much impressed that he said that” if there is any truth in a faith, it is in this Faith!”. The first question that the king asked Sheik Sadooq was that the Shias talk ill of some people and pass remarks against them while all the Muslims feel that there is no need to criticize others.
Sheik Sadooq replied, “O king! Do you know the way of Allah and His Sunnat that He doesn’t accept anything unless the opposite of it isn’t rejected! Unless one repudiates the false gods the true God (Allah) will not accept one’s belief in Him! Similarly one will not be firm in accepting the true Prophet unless he repudiates the false prophets like Maslima the Liar! Similarly when one professes faith in the True Imams (a.s) he has to reject those who have been claiming to be the imams of the Muslims! He will have to reject those who had usurped the position of the Imams (a.s).
Rukn al Dawla immediately asked the Sheik his opinion about the persons who sat in the place of the Imams (a.s). The Sheik replied referring to the Surat al Bara’at and he asked the king to remember the incident when the Prophet (s.a) asked one person to take the Sura, also known as Surat al Tauba, to Makkah and propagate it with the people there. As the person commenced his journey to Makkah, Gabriel came and communicated the order from Allah that the verse in question couldn’t be communicated to the people of Makkah by anyone other than the Prophet (s.a) or a person who is from him (the Prophet)! When Allah doesn’t trust any person propagating a single Verse, how could such a person be entrusted with the propagation and dissemination of Faith and the entire Book of Allah?!!
Rukn ad Dawla understood the argument but one of the courtiers stood up and said, “O Sheik! There is a tradition of the Prophet (s.a) saying that his Ummat will not congregate behind falsehood. He also said that if it had congregated behind one person, he certainly must be a righteous person.” The Sheik explained saying that the Prophet (s.a) didn’t categorize the entire Ummat in this tradition. The Ummat can mean as few as three individuals. In view of the Holy Quran even one person would form an Ummat
Sheik Sadooq further says that even a common intellect doesn’t accept this tradition quoted by the person. Then he asked Rukn ad Dawla, “ If we have two alternatives, either to accept the Prophet (s.a) as correct or the Ummat, which alternative would we accept?
Rukn al Dawla replied that we would certainly consider the Prophet (s.a) correct. The Sheik said that people believe that the Prophet (s.a) didn’t nominate his successor. If we do accept this contention, and if, certainly nominating a successor is necessary, and even then he didn’t nominate one, then wouldn’t he be termed at fault? (Our belief is that the Prophet (s.a) did nominate his successor!). If nomination of a successor was necessary, and the Prophet (s.a) didn’t nominate and the Ummat took it upon itself to select one, then the Ummat is at fault! Should we contend that nomination of a successor was not at all necessary and the Ummat, in its fault, selected one!!
After this discussion and debate, the conditions for the followers of the Progeny of the Prophet (s.a) became more congenial. In the heart of Rukn ad Dawla the love for the True Faith awakened.