Salam
وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته
One of the most emphasized teachings in Quran, is for a people who become certain, the signs that God shows them is enough. They grow in the certainty of course, but signs that should make them have faith, do so, and signs that should make them certain do so.
Agree wholeheartedly.
As for your first point, I am not saying Imammate is not clear in Quran nor that it can't be proven directly from it, but that why is not designated in the same way.
I'm not really sure you have properly responded to my first point. My first point is that I claim I'm the Mehdi and that the Qur'an testifies to this, it even says my name in several places. The reason it wasn't stated outright was because *insert your OP*.
The point I'm making is ANYTHING can be justified this way. I personally believe ayah (40:46) is speaking about the Punishment of the Grave. Let's say you deny it, can I truly now say you are misguided because "signs in the Qur'an should be enough?" It's not a convincing argument, rather, merely a cop out. That's an ambiguous verse because multiple interpretation can made of it; either I a) support my argument with a clear Qur'anic verse, or b) convince you that the ahadeeth I'm using to interpret these verses are accurate. Since we disagree on b), we should then stick to a); especially if the goal is to follow the "themes" of the Qur'an.
As for your second point, I think you misunderstand the issue of clear firm signs and unclear. Nothing in Quran is ambiguous in itself, somethings unclear to person A maybe unclear to person B while somethings to person B maybe clear but unclear to person A.
Incorrect, when we have a disagreement on the meaning of a verse, that makes it ambiguous and requires a clear verse to explain it. What's even more problematic, is that, for the exception of (42:23), I don't believe any of the ayat Shi'as bring as evidence for Imamah are even possible to interpret as such. As for (42:23), the only problematic issues is that there are some Companions who understood that verse as "loving my family." Personally, I don't think the Arabic helps that interpretations, but that's another time and place.
Imammate is certainly a deep subject with many layers of understanding, but at least, people should disbelieve in Taghut and believe in the Authority of God designated to his chosen ones.
My copy of the Qur'an says we should disbelieve in Taghut and believe in Allah, and whoever does so "then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break."
The issue of succession in chosen families of the founders has been emphasized in a clear decisive manner.
My statement is not that it's not clear or manifest, it is more on the lines explaining the reason why it's not explicit in the sense Sunnis want it to be.
It's not explicit in the sense ANY non-Shi'i would want it to be. I would argue, that there is NO way a person who does not already believe in Shi'asm could read the Qur'an and come away with ANY sort of understanding of Imamah, any emphasis on the the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's family (except maybe his wives), that there are infallible non-Prophets, nor would they understand that the Muslim Ummah must be ruled by an infallible leader.
And in that sense going back to the first point, disbelievers are never sastified with the proofs presented. They always raise the bar. So whatever clarity there is, it would only cause more disbelief and more severe level of it.
I'm not a disbeliever بارك الله فيك. I am sincere seeker of truth who loves Allah, His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and the believer that's proceeded me in faith. The fact that you always resort to this line of reasoning, as well as accusing anyone you're debating with of being possessed, shows just how weak your line or reasoning is.
That is because what is sufficient proof should suffice the truth seeker provided he truly is seeking the truth. And there is ample evidence for Ali and Imams both in Quran and Sunnah.
Don't agree, that's why we are having this discussing, and that's why you opened up this thread. There isn't explicit evidence by your own admission, therefore, you can't use ambiguous verses to prove your belief; especially if this is an issue of Usool al-Din, since the clear verses are the "umm" or the "usool" or the "foundations" for the ambiguous verses.