Answer:
Firstly, this claim, like the previous one, aims to absolve its proponent
of responsibility. It is a flight to nowhere. We say to him: Suppose we
today are not upon the school of Imam Zaid and the Household (peace
be upon them). Would that excuse you from searching for their
statements, examining their books, following them, and pledging
allegiance to them? For what Allah and His Messenger commanded
you to follow is the truth that cannot become extinct or be absent from
any era. It must exist and have representatives until the Day of
Resurrection. So, if Zaidis today are not the true Zaidis, and the
Household are not the true Household, then where are they? The
Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) told you: “Indeed, the
Subtle, the All-Aware informed me that the two (the Quran and the
Progeny) shall never separate until they meet me at the [Hawd] Pool.”
Secondly: Al-Jarud ibn al-Mundhir was one of those who pledged
allegiance to Imam Zaid (peace be upon him) and was among his
students. It is not known that he held positions contradicting or
conforming to Imam Zaid, nor did a distinct, independent school with
students attributing themselves to him appear. We have not found any
scholar explicitly declaring himself a “Jarudi.” Rather, we find claims
that he founded a school only in the books of the opponents of
Zaidiyyah. They attribute the statements of the Household and their
Zaidi followers to him so they can more easily brand them as
innovation without the discomfort of directly confronting the
Household themselves and to escape the charge of bigotry (nasb),
which would apply to them in either case. For if they truly believed
that Zaidis do not follow the Household, the obligation upon them
would be to hasten to follow the Household themselves, to side with
them, to be loyal to them and hostile to their enemies, and to examine
the evidences for their statements in both fundamentals and
jurisprudence in order to worship Allah accordingly, thus being among
the saved and successful.