The Earth is Never Devoid of a Divine Authority

Saʿd, from Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā b. ʿUbayd, from Muḥammad b. Sinān, Ṣafwān b. Yaḥyā, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mughīra and ʿAlī b. al-Nuʿmān, altogether from ʿAbd Allāh b. Muskān, from Abī Baṣīr, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh عليه السلام, who said: “Allāh has not left the Earth be without a Scholar residing upon it, who knows about (unauthorised) additions and omissions (in religion). So, were the believers to add anything, he would reorient them (to what is correct), and if they were to fall short, he would complete it for them, saying: “Take it completely.” Were it not for that, the affairs of the believers would become disordered, and it would not be possible to differentiate between truth and falsehood.”