Answer:
What gives the Zaidis the assurance that they have attained the truth is that all Muslims, regardless of their affiliations today, bear witness to this—whether they intend to or not, and even if not explicitly, then implicitly.
Among the factors that give them this assurance are several points, including:
The Zaidis – praise be to Allah – believe in Allah in accordance with what Muslims have unanimously agreed is correct, as will become clear, and they have adhered to this without going beyond it, unlike others who have done so.
The foundations of their religion are either conclusive rational proof, or a clear Qur’anic verse whose meaning is beyond doubt, or a mutawatir hadith whose authenticity is undisputed.
Consequently, their beliefs are sound, clear, free from artificiality and arbitrariness; no doubts surround them, nor do they repel people’s nature. Look at others and you will see a clear difference, for they have made the rejection of reason as a basis of their faith, and relying on solitary hadiths which, at best, yield nothing but conjecture regarding the knowledge of Allah. They made the ambiguous verses of the Qur’an take precedence over the clear ones, so they applied the ambiguous to the clear, and interpreted the clear in a manner consistent with the ambiguous. Yet the opposite is the correct approach, in accordance with the words of the Exalted: (Among them are clear verses; these are the foundation of the Book; and others are ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow the ambiguous parts of it, seeking discord and seeking to interpret it, yet none knows its interpretation except Allah. Those firmly grounded in knowledge say: ‘We believe in it; all is from our Lord.’ And none will take heed except those of understanding {7} ) [Al-Imran], so the meaning of the statement of those firmly grounded in knowledge: ‘All is from our Lord’ is that it encompasses both the clear and the ambiguous, and none of it contradicts the other, for He, the Exalted, says: (And if it had been from other than Allah, they would certainly have found therein much contradiction {82} ) [An-Nisa’], but we must understand the ambiguous verses in accordance with the clear ones, for they are the Mother of the Book. The meaning of ‘Mother of the Book’ is the reference to which one must refer in the event of disagreement, just as the references of books are called the ‘Mothers of Books’, and the great town to which the rest of the towns refer is called the ‘Mother of Towns’. Thus, the definitive is the Mother of the Book; for it is the reference to which one must refer in the event of a difference in the interpretation of the verses of the Book.
The Zaidis did not go to extremes regarding Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them; nor did they ascribe to them the attributes of the Creator, Glorious and Exalted; nor did they take them as lords besides Allah, such that their followers would enter Paradise even if they were enemies of Allah, committing abominations and grave sins; nor did the Zaidis claim that Ahl al-Bayt knew the unseen, or that they were better than the angels and prophets, may Allah’s prayers be upon them; Rather, they placed them where Allah and His Messenger placed them: as guides to His religion and bearers of His Prophet’s Sharia after him. Those among them who were scholars of the Book of Allah, preservers of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, practising both, and exalting their status.
Nothing has appeared among the Zaidis, neither in matters of fundamentals (usul) nor in matters of branches (fu’ro), that the mind finds repugnant or that human nature abhors; thus, they do not hold the view that mutah (temporary marriage) is permissible, nor do they engage in self-flagellation or the shedding of blood out of remorse and weeping for al-Husayn, peace be upon him.
What we have said is summarised by the words of Imam Yahya ibn Hamza, peace be upon him, in the context of demonstrating the legitimacy of the Zaydi school: ‘The third approach: the noble qualities with which Allah, the Exalted, has endowed them in knowledge, piety and righteousness. As for their doctrines concerning the divine, they adhere to the truth regarding the existence of Allah, the Exalted, and His intrinsic attributes, and they follow the correct method in the rulings of Allah, the Exalted. The same applies to their subsidiary matters of jurisprudential interpretation, and their views on legal matters do not contradict their fundamentals and branches; they turn away from foreign schools of thought and adhere to what is established in the Sharia. None of them has strayed in his understanding of rational issues, nor has any of them adopted a strange perspective on matters of dispute; rather, Allah Almighty has guided them to the clearest path and the most righteous, just, and upright of religions, the one most firmly grounded in truth and the clearest.”.
Likewise, the words of Al-Hafiz Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al-Wazir in his statement: ‘ Look with an impartial eye at the Imams of the pure Progeny and the shining stars of knowledge: how their knowledge was free from all blemish and free from all defect; their compilations were not tainted by the teachings of the theologians, nor was the status of their devout followers diminished by the innovations of the Sufis, nor did their evidence for their doctrines reveal any of the affectation of the fanatics, nor have they been led astray from the straight path by the likeness of the anthropomorphists. They are free from the extremism of the ignorant Imamiyyah, the blindness of the misguided Nasibis, and the errors of the people of Hadith and the Mu’tazilah; they are the middle path, the ship of salvation, and the protection from whims after their father (the Prophet), the Chosen One, peace and blessings be upon him and upon them all.”.
This is Al Hafiz who is considered one of the greatest among those attributed with deviating from the way of his forefathers ((Ahlal-Bayt), to the extent that those who oppose us circulated his books and writings and studied them in their schools; they are like the testimony of an opponent against his opponent, and praise be to Allah.