The Stabiliser
كَانَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ( عليه السلام ) بَابَ اللَّهِ الَّذِي لَا يُؤْتَى إِلَّا مِنْهُ وَ سَبِيلَهُ الَّذِي مَنْ سَلَكَ بِغَيْرِهِ هَلَكَ وَ كَذَلِكَ يَجْرِي الْأَئِمَّةُ الْهُدَى وَاحِداً بَعْدَ وَاحِدٍ جَعَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَرْكَانَ الْأَرْضِ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِأَهْلِهَا وَ حُجَّتَهُ الْبَالِغَةَ عَلَى مَنْ فَوْقَ الْأَرْضِ وَ مَنْ تَحْتَ الثَّرَى
(In a lengthy Hadith, 6th Imam-asws says): ‘It was so that Amir Al-Momineen-asws was a Door of Allah-azwj which one cannot approach except through him-asws, and His-azwj Way which, if one were to travel with other than it, he would perish; and similar to that, it flows for the Imams-asws of the Guidance, the one after the other. Allah-azwj Made them-asws as ‘أَرْكَانَ’ the stabilisers of the earth, lest it shakes with its inhabitants, and His-azwj eloquent Divine Authorities upon the ones above the earth and the ones beneath the soil(an extract)’.[1]
[1] Al Kafi V 1 – The Book Of Divine Authority CH 14 H 1