'There will come a time when the town of Qum and its people will be an authority (hujja) over the rest of people. This will be during the time of the occultation of our Qa?im (AS) until his reappearance. And if this was not so, the earth would swallow up its people. Verily, the angels guard Qum and its people from disasters, and no tyrant can aim towards it with evil intentions without being annihilated by Allah, the Annihilator of tyrants.?