“We lived during the times of abu Ja‘far (a.s.). When he passed away we were left like sheep without shepherd. We met Salim ibn abu Hafs and he said to me, “O abu ‘Ubayda, who is your Imam?” I said, “My Imams are A’l (family) of Muhammad (s.a).” He said, “Did not I and you hear abu Ja‘far (a.s.) say, “Whoever would die without an Imam above him he has died as the death of the age ignorance.” I said, “Yes, that is very true. I can swear by my own life.” It was only about three days before my meeting with abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) in which meeting Allah granted to me the blessing of recognizing him as my Imam. I said to abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) that Salim said to me so and so.” The narrator has said that the Imam (a.s.) said, “O abu ‘Ubayda, no one of us passes away before appointing a successor that would act and behave just as the preceding Imam and call people to what the Imam before him did. O abu ‘Ubayda what was given to David did not bar Sulayman from receiving (Allah’s blessings).” Then he said, “O abu ‘Ubayda, when Al-Qa’im (the one who will rise with Divine Authority) will rise he will judge among people the way David and Sulayman had been judging among people. He will call any witness to testify in a case.”