Re: Part 1:The Imams from Ahlebayt whom Shia consider to be their divinely appointed
Neither “majority” nor “minority” are valid grounds to say that a philosophy is the truth.
Quite obviously one can not just follow the majority thinking that they have the numbers so they must be right. From global perspective there are 2B Christians, but are they right according to us? From Islamic perspective, 72 in Karbala stood along Imam Hussain (as) against the Muslim army of thousands yet the truth was with the minority. Quran condones “majority” in many verses and calls them “astray”, “ungrateful”, and “followers of conjecture”. From my understanding of the Holy Quran I take that the number of true, sincere believers is small (regardless of what tags people attach to themselves be it Sunni, Shia, Christian, Jew et. al).
As for the criteria to become one and building ground for unity unity. The fundamental point is that we must force ourselves in believing that everybody who utters the shahada is a Muslim. Very simple notion that is taught by the Quran, Prophet (saww) and his Ahlul Bayt (as) themselves.