if his infallibility is not proven how can he be trusted? we said the source of your error is your assumption that we need the imam to benefit from him in knowledge and believe him in it but that is not the case. the knowledge is divided into rational and auditory. as for the rational it is divided into definitive and conjectural. each of the definitive and conjectural has a path that leads to it and indicates it. learning that from someone who teaches it even from the most immoral of creation is possible because there is no imitation in it but rather what is followed is the face of the evidence. as for the auditory its chain of transmission is either mutawatir or ahad. the mutawatir is understood by all and there is no difference between the imam and the other than that and the individuals do not benefit except conjecture whether the one to whom the message is conveyed or the one conveyed is the imam or someone else and acting on conjecture in what is related to operations is a legal obligation and reaching knowledge in it is not a condition and therefore it is obligatory for them to believe the preachers spread throughout the regions of the earth even though they are not infallible at all and so were the governors of the messenger of god may god bless him and grant him peace in his time. so if there is no need for the infallibility of the imam then all share in acquiring knowledge and the imam is not he is born a scholar but no revelation comes to him but he is a learner and the way he learns is like his own with no difference.
فإن لم تثبت عصمته فكيف يوثق به قلنا مثار غلطكم ظنكم أنا نحتاج الى الإمام لنستفيد منه العلوم ونصدقه فيها وليس كذلك فإن العلوم منقسمة الى عقلية وسمعية أما العقلية فتنقسم ألى قطعية وظنية ولكل واحد من القطع والظن مسلك يفضي اليه ويدل عليه وتعلم ذلك ممن يعلمه ولو من افسق الخلق ممكن فانه لا تقليد فيه وانما المتبع وجه الدليل وأما السمعيات فمسندها سماع اما متواتر وإما آحاد والمتواتر تشترك الكافة في دركه ولا فرق بين الإمام وبين غيره والآحاد لا تفيد إلا ظنا سواء كان المبلغ إليه او المبلغ الإمام أو غيره والعمل بالظن فيما يتعلق بالعمليات واجب شرعا والوصول الى العلم فيه ليس بشرط ولذلك يجب عندهم تصديق الدعاة المنتشرين في أقطار الأرض مع أنه لا عصمة لهم أصلا وكذلك كان ولاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في زمانه فإذا لا حاجة إلى عصمة الإمام فإن العلوم يشترك في تحصيلها الكل والإمام لا يولد عالما ولا يوحي اليه ولكنه متعلم وطريق تعلم غيره كتعلمه من غير فرق