Hadith of the Ark ""perished whoever turned away from it"" also comes along." And in his another book, Al-Heithami indicates this hadith as authentic (sahih). According to Dahlan, the authenticity of this hadith is confirmed by different sources. The hadith implies the absolute priority of "Ahl al-Bayt" to all others, otherwise Muhammad would have forbidden to follow them. According to Shia scholars, the only path to salvation is by following the "Ahl al-Bayt", so they must be infallible ("Ma'sum"), otherwise they will mislead their followers. If they are infallible, they must be Imam definitely. According to this hadith, they are the criterion of distinguishing
Hadith of Golden Chain of that the hadith is called "golden chain". Because of that, this hadith was named Al-Silsilah al-Dhahab. Al-Silsilah al-Dhahab is Musnad. Twenty (or ten or thirty) thousands have narrated this event, but only fifty narrations are available. The chain of the narrators of the hadith reaches the Prophet of Islam through Ahl al-Bayt, hence called Hadith of Golden Chain. Hadith of Golden Chain Hadith al-Silsilah al-Dhahab () (Hadith of the Golden Chain) is a hadith narrated from Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Imam of the Shia. The "chain" is a reference to the continuity of spiritual authority which is passed down