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Assalamua alaykum all, I am under the impression that one must follow a marja, however I have heard that there are several “rules” for it, so I have some questions: 1) I have heard that one must follow a single marja’s rulings and no one else’s, why is this the case? 2) On another discussion around this topic a user stated that Imam Jafar as Sadiq (عليه السلام)“From among the Jurists (Fuqaha’) who protect themselves from sin, safeguard Deen, act against their own desires and are solely obedient to Allah are those whom Muslims should follow in Taqleed”, provided that this Hadith is authentic, how can we be sure that Marja such as Sistani and Khamenei fit this description, if we have never met these people? Following from my first point, this Hadith says that Muslims should follow ‘those’ which is a plural term, surely this means we can follow different rulings from different Marja? 3) The same user also mentioned that Imam Mahdi (عليه السلام) has narrated that “As far as newly occurring circumstances are concerned, you should turn (for guidance) to the narrators of our ahadith, for they are my proof over you just as I am Allah's proof." Provided that this Hadith is also authentic, how are Marja such as Sistani and Khamenei ‘narrators of hadith’ if they only produce rulings to their followers without showing any evidence of their sources from Hadith or The Holy Qur’an? Again following on from my first point, Imam Mahdi ( عليه السلام) clearly states to follow the ‘narrators’ , this is clearly a plural term, so why can’t we follow multiple marja’s rulings? 4) I have also heard that if you do not follow a Marja, you will go to hell. Is this true? May Allah( سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى‎ ) guide us all.

Is it shirk to follow what a marja says as in a way you are almost blindly following what they say without them giving any daleel (proof) of what they say.

I'm looking for a marja: 1. Who knows English and delivers public lectures. 2. Explains rationale/sources behind his fatawa to public when asked. 3. Who must have a good presence on social media. He must be conducting Q/A on live video stream at least once a month. 4. Besides dialogues with Sunnis, he must have penchant for interfaith dialogue (with Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics, etc). And he must be ready to answer any questions raised by adherents of these faiths/ideologies. If anybody knows a marja with some of above qualities, please do inform me via this thread. PS. All these things mentioned above are need of this modern globalised world. A good scholar should have all of these qualities.

I’ve heard that some Marja' and other people believe that Marja' have a higher rank than some Prophets (عليه السلام).They say that this is based on Ahadith from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم). Do you know something about This belief?

Salaam to all I was approached by someone about the matter of Hijab. I will not get into specifics for keeping it short but I want to know of Maraji which have mroe lenient laws regarding hijab By more lenient I mean they do not require covering of hair... etc

It happens each year without fail around this time that 1 or more threads are created for azadari bashing. I could go back on SC and pull out such threads like clockwork. They make rituals that are on periphery seem like the faith is based on it and then lament about the plight and misery of shias and how it is falling apart. I believe one of last year's topic or the year before was validity of spontaneous matam vs. organized matam. This year is crawling; next year might be criticizing "online" azadari Make no mistake that our marajae and azadari are what has ensured the survival of the shias for so long. Hence both of them are under attack constantly. While it may seem that threads are created to "save" azadari, its an attack on both - our ulema and azadari. Who cares if 10 guys crawl or 100 guys walk on coals or 1,000 do tatbir - 20m+ marching peacefully to the chants of Labaik Ya Hussain (عليه السلام) is the only story. The agenda of these threads is to reduce azadari to a shell and disparage our ulema for not doing enough to "save" azadari. You may have heard of "Make war in the name of peace". Agenda of these topics is "destroy azadari in the name of ulema" AND "destroy ulema in the name of azadari". Pit our 2 pillars against each other to destroy both. People will have you believe there is anarchy in the shia world. A peaceful gathering of 20m+ each year defies that belief. There is consensus amoung our ulema and also among historians that shia has never been as strong as it is today. Our system is designed to root out the bad ulema and bizarre rituals by itself so lets all be thankful to our marajae (may Allah lengthen their lives) and continue to commemorate azadari with the fervor it deserves. "There is a heat in the heart of our believers that will never subside".

Social media, a world of responsibility with enormous numbers of irresponsibles... Let's not just become a forwarding machine ... When we just forward: At least what we can do is to check the source of a matter popped up on our screens. There are number of appealing messages floating everywhere on social media but we do no good by just forwarding these, we fulfill the sole purpose of its sender by passing it on. Knowledge is always a result of the efforts of only the knowledgeable people, not just everyone. Therefore least we can do is to check out traceable source if mentioned in any message. Expensive researches, crafted work and hard yearned produced materials with efforts naturally have its owner/creator's name unlike otherwise. We will be held accountable: We should strive to build a culture of admiration of those who worked hard not those doing plagiarism, a clean atmosphere of accountability not just promoting brain malware and publishing tormented facts, building a sense of responsibility but not a hidden world of tarnishing characters and images of persons or entities. Another area of exercizing extreme care rests with the sender of any message. If he/she has understood it well and capable enough to respond to further questions of audience or at least able to refer the audience easily to the source. Extreme care is also needed to verify if the article, media clip or content would not be harmful to some or any recipient of the message. If there is a chance of misinterpretation that exists due to the level of audience or possibility of message carrying multiple meanings that cannot be achieved without active dialogues, then better hold it and don’t send it to the texting world. Refrain from sending it by exercising your self control. Else we might equally be responsible for any deviation of one's faith for a period of time or forever, which is far worst than taking one's physical life.!!! Acceptance of specialist only: Another area of extra care is a to let message be decoded, understood and sent only by the experts of that field e.g. debates of religion by scholars or least the students of that decipline, medical, engineering, technology or finanicial related matters by their respective specialists. Imagine if financial derivative market impacts during meltdown are explained by a medical doctor; ib contrary you can imagine what happens to poor specialist of medical sciences when someone says cancer or diabetes is a myth or can be cured merely by taking hot showers etc. Above mentioned careless attitude of us being master and responsible for all and everything has driven us to a verge where finding true specialist, truth itself and the respect of righteous people has been severely damaged by our both hands so that so now you can either find marajaeen (where everyone thinks as a mufti) in every corner of a street or the vision has got so blurred that many of us do not know who a Marje Alam is, hence the lack of respect to this highly respected position which is like aforementioned specialists is not a profession, instead a highly divine decreed station by deputy of Almighty. The evidence: Examples are simple and can easily be seen in our or every society by just observing messages being relayed on social media on per nano second rate. Let us change our daily attitude towards knowledge and show a consistent sense of responsibility successfully handed over to next generation. Media industry, a poison for all: Above all we know credibility of main stream media and the strings of social media lie in the hands of those opinion makers who have invested billions into it, who constantly manipulate it else it would have not existed. The basis and worth of the other half of the floated content is to make things viral. This attitude is far much poisonous, widely accepted and infected all societies more than the impact of Covid19 itself. Time to change: The change lies into our hands and how responsible we are. Blaming those giving statements against respected marajaeen uzaam, those not doing taqleed while at the same time we fall prey to same basic principle in our daily lives by overriding specialist is so commonly found in our societies. Its like a huge noise created by clueless people while the specialist in the very room are not consulted or even respected at all. It would remain a grave concern, a matter of collective attitude and a big question mark we all are answerable and ultimately accountable to. The message: This message is not meant for general distribution just simply share it with those who you can engage with over the topic or refer to myself for a constructive discussion. Thanks for reading till the end.

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammed Shahroudi (Arabic: آيت الله العظمى سيد محمد حسينى شاهرودى) (December 1925[1] – 7 July 2019) was a senior Iraqi Twelver Shi'a Marja' in Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Hussaini_Shahroudi http://shahroudi.com/Portal.aspx?pid=71406&Cultcure=Persian http://fa.abna24.com/news/عکس-و-گزارش-تصويري/گزارش-تصویری-مراسم-تشییع-پیکر-آیت‌الله-حسینی-شاهرودی-در_754698.html# Grand Ayatollah Sistani hand writing in his remembrance http://fa.abna24.com/news/اخبار-مراجع-عظام-تقلید/پیام-تسلیت-آیت‌الله-سیستانی-در-پی-ارتحال-آیت‌الله-حسینی_754627.html Imam Khamenei offers condolences on passing of Ayatollah Hosseini Shahroudi http://en.abna24.com/news//Imam-Khamenei-offers-condolences-on-passing-of-ayatollah-hosseini-shahroudi_959312.html July 9, 2019 - 5:56 PM News Code : 959312 Source : IQNALink: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei extended his condolences over the passing of senior cleric Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Hosseini Shahroudi. In a message on Tuesday, the Leader offered condolences to the family of Ayatollah Shahroudi and the seminaries of Qom and Najaf the disciples and lovers of the cleric. Death of Haj sheikh Muhammad Lakzaei in Sistan & Baluchistan Iran http://fa.abna24.com/news/ابنای-شهرستان-ها/مراسم-روز-هفت-ابوالشهداء-حجت-الاسلام-والمسلمین-حاج-شیخ-مح_754689.html

http://www.hoseini.org/Esteftaat-English.htm I am curious about his proof/evidence for this claim, but alas I cannot read Farsi, and the English version of this particular book 'Modern Islam' is not available for download/viewing on his website. Only the Farsi version is available for download [see download link***]. Could somebody please translate the section on Apostasy from Farsi to English for all of us to read? Additionally, could the more learned individuals of this forum give their opinions/comments on his fatwa? Many Thanks. JazakAllah Khair. http://islamabc.org/ http://islamabc.org/modern.htm http://www.hoseini.org/booka.htm ***Modern Islam in Farsi: http://islamabc.org/q-55.pdf http://www.hoseini.org/q-55.pdf [same link] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Websites: http://www.hoseini.org/ [Select Language] http://islamabc.org/ http://darulaytam.org/ http://Imams.ca/ Links: http://www.hoseini.org/link1.htm English: http://www.hoseini.org/index.htm http://www.hoseini.org/resalah-english.htm http://www.hoseini.org/Esteftaat-English.htm Farsi: http://www.hoseini.org/index.asp http://www.hoseini.org/fat.htm http://www.hoseini.org/esteftaat-Farsi.htm Arabic: http://www.hoseini.org/arabip.htm http://www.hoseini.org/al-fat.htm http://www.hoseini.org/Esteftaat-arabi.htm Contact: info@hoseini.org h.nassab@gmail.com EDIT: This is what the English version should look like (if you happen to find it)...

If you click on any of the five choices, you are pretty unique! Congratulations! PLEASE NOTE: "Unique" has NO basis in fiqh. It is NOT a valid way of making taqlid. I am simply curious. I am weird, and this type of stuff interests me.

Imam Khamenei issued message of condolence on passing of Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi December 25, 2018 - 4:20 PM News Code : 922083 Source : Khamenei.irLink: The Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution—Imam Khamenei— issued a message, expressing condolences for the passing of the great faqih, the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi. Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi-- passed away on Monday, December 24, 2018. AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution—Imam Khamenei— issued a message, expressing condolences for the passing of the great faqih, the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi. Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi-- passed away on Monday, December 24, 2018. The following is the full text of the message: In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, "To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return" {Quran; 2:156} I received, with sorrow and grief, the news of the passing away of the great faqih, the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi (May God grant him paradise). This heartbreaking loss, after about a year of fighting with a hard and painful disease, distressed all those who understand his status in wisdom and knowledge, and his valuable services to the Islamic establishment and to the seminaries’ fiqh, principle, and law bodies. He was a great scholar in the seminary of Qom and a loyal official with the most important organizations of the Islamic Republic, an influential member of the Guardian Council, and a successful leader in the Expediency Discernment Council, and he left important scholarly works and blessings. Additionally, he was the brother of three martyrs, as well as a great friend, disciple and companion of the prominent and imminent martyr, Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Al-Sadr. On the passing of this prominent scholar, I would like to express condolences to his honored family, his respectable wife and children and his relatives, as well as the Qom Seminary and his pupils, colleagues and enthusiasts. I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow divine forgiveness and blessings on him and elevate his ranks [in the Heavens] to the highest. Sayyid Ali Khamenei December 25, 2018 http://en.abna24.com/news//imam-khamenei-issued-message-of-condolence-on-passing-of-ayatollah-hashemi-shahroudi_922083.html Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council passes away December 25, 2018 - 4:15 PM News Code : 922082 Source : FNALink: Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council (EC) Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi passed away at the age of 70. The prominent religious and political figure had suffered acute ill health for months and succumbed to renal and intestinal malfunctions at Khatam ol-Anbiya Hospital in Tehran on Monday. He was born in 1948 in the Iraqi city of Najaf, which has hosted many Muslim scholars. In Iraq, Ayatollah Shahroudi attended classes held by the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini. He fought against the dictatorial rule of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and was jailed and tortured by his forces. He was also one of the founders of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and was its chairman and spokesman for a while before late Seyed Baqer Hakim. Ayatollah Shahroudi traveled to Iran after the victory of the Islamic Revolution to serve as an intermediary between Imam Khomeini and Iraqi scholars and leaders. During his lifetime, Ayatollah Shahroudi served in many other crucial positions in the Islamic Republic. He took the helm of the Expediency Council in 2017 to succeed late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The Expediency Council is mainly responsible for arbitrating between the Iranian Parliament and the Guardian Council, which itself supervises the Parliament. Ayatollah Shahroudi also served as the head of Iran’s Judiciary for 10 years. His efforts to speed up due processes and establish close contact with the ordinary people were among the achievements the late cleric was credited for. Ayatollah Shahroudi also was a member and vice president of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which elects and oversees the performance of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. He had been a member of the Guardian Council for years as well. Ayatollah Shahroudi published numerous books and articles in various fields, including Islamic Jurisprudence and law. As a religious scholar and teacher, he was well-known for his precise reasoning and robust approaches. http://en.abna24.com/news//chairman-of-irans-expediency-council-passes-away_922082.html Photos: Presence of people, scholars at office of Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi in Qom http://en.abna24.com/news//photos-presence-of-people-scholars-at-office-of-ayatollah-hashemi-shahroudi-in-qom_922095.html December 25, 2018 - 5:58 PM News Code : 922095 Source : ABNA24Link: AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The scholrs and the people came to Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi's office in Qom to condolences his demise. Iran's government declares Wednesday public mourning http://en.abna24.com/news//irans-government-declares-wednesday-public-mourning_922126.html December 25, 2018 - 8:10 PM News Code : 922126 Source : IRNALink: Iranian government, in a message condoling the demise of late Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Shahrudi declared Wednesday, December 26th, as public mourning throughout the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Hashemi_Shahroudi http://www.hashemishahroudi.org/en

I know Redha Shirazi (RH) almost became a marja, but was killed. So, who is the next marja (of family Shirazi)?

Salam, Sistani (may Allah bless him) is a true representation of how a true and pious muslim should act. Sistani's love for ahlulbayt (as) reflects through his personality and words. I have been following him and he seems like a very peaceful and a very wise man. I just went through his statement on Shia Sunni unity and it is truly amazing knowing how loving he is towards our Sunni brothers/sisters. I wish more Sunni scholars had let go of their egos and put aside the differences and consider us shias as muslims (not these kafir labels). Sistani is a huge Shia figure and for him to say the following words, shows how less of an ego he has. Most scholars today unfortunately love to attack other sects and label them "kafir". This is nothing but ignorance by imposing your own views. I have realised that this is why Shia Sunni unity can't happen because many sunni scholars aren't willing to associate with us Shias. Name me a Sunni scholar(a very big figure) who would be so open-minded for a Sunni to pray in a Shia mosque. The following are some of his statements: - "There is no real difference between Shiite and Sunni beliefs, and I am the servant of all Iraqis [either Sunni or Shiite],” he emphasizes. “I love everyone, and this religion [Islam] is the religion of love,”. - "We should attend Sunnis’ Friday prayers more than Shiite’s. We do not discriminate between Arabs and Kurds, and Islam has collected all of us" - "This kind of conferences are highly important, since they help Shiites and Sunnis find out that there is no real difference between their beliefs, and the difference simply is on legal (Fiqh) issues" I don't mean to attack my Sunni brothers and sisters but It hurts me when we are labelled 'Kafir' by Sunnis. Why can't we all put our fiqh issues aside and be one unit. Going to a sunni mosque in my university and praying in our Shia way leaves such a "frightened look" in so many sunnis faces.

Salam Alaykom brothers and sisters! Can somebody please help me? I´ve heard that you have to be chosen a marja, if not, all of your dids will be void? And how do I choose? What is the difference between them and what if someone is wrong about something? Do I have to be careful with who I´m choosing? Many questions, sorry about that. But I want to make it right, because you can´t change your marja once you´ve chosen one? Wassalam!

Is it allowed to blindly follow Ayatullah or Marja or jurists, Scholars? التقليد: هو العمل مطابقاً لفتوى الفقيه الجامع للشرائط وإن لم تستند اليها حين العمل، فتفعل ما انتهى رأيه الى فعله، وتترك ما انتهى رأيه الى تركه، من دون تمحيص منك، فكأنك وضعت عملك في رقبته كالقلادة، محمّلاً إياه مسؤولية عملك أمام الله. ويشترط في الفقيه المقلّد فيما يشترط فيه، أن يكون أعلم أهل زمانه، وأقدرهم على استخراج الحكم الشرعي من مصادره المقررة Taqleed is to mimic the opinions (fatwas) of the qualified Faqih, you do what he thinks should be done and you leave what he thinks should be avoided, you do not research or verify anything, it is as if you place your deeds in the neck of the Faqih like a necklace, you make him take responsibility for your actions in front of Allah. The Faqih must be the most knowledgeable of his time and most capable of extracting rulings from the designated sources. http://www.sistani.org/arabic/book/17/952/

Has any Marja ever replied to a question on islamic fiqh presented to him with the answer "I don't know"? If so could you please provide me with the question and the name of the Marja.

Salam, There is this Marja that I would like to follow but he has passed away. Can I Do Taqlid to a Marja that is dead? **I'm planning to follow Ayatollah Sistani on new issues**

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu I used to follow Sistani, then Sadiq Shirazi. My question is, who is the strictest majra? Ya Ali Madad Haqq

Salam, I am curious if there is any Marja that permits the eating of Lobster and Crab. Maraja that classify Lobster and Crab as Makhrooh are mentionable as well. I know Ayatollah Sistani and Khamenai say Lobster and Crab is haram. I am looking for Maraja that say otherwise.

Following (Taqlid) the Religious Maraja (Mujtahid) Question: There are among us such people also who do not think that doing Taqlid in Islamic law is obligatory. They argue that it is incumbent on all to derive the laws of the Shariah from the Holy Quran and other sources. Because: 1. The Holy Quran is opposed to any kind of following (Taqlid) and it is absolutely against blindly following anyone. 2. Taqlid is to follow without question, and reason and wisdom do not like this type of following. 3. Taqlid is the cause of disunity among the Muslims because there are usually more than one Maraja and their legal rulings are not the same. Answer: We think that the source of all these objections is one. It is that there are two meanings of the word ‘Taqlid’. One of them is a general meaning which is the usual connotation. It has another literary meaning with which discussions are initiated in the books of Jurisprudence and principles. The previous and the present objections are regarding the first meaning while there is no connection between the first meaning and the second meaning. The explanation of this is usually Taqlid is used for improper actions in everyday life which people usually do by initiation without any proper thought or justification. To imitate foolish people is certainly a greater foolishness. It is neither sanctioned by reason nor by Islamic law. And no sane person is ready to follow any other person blindly. It is the same Taqlid with which the idolaters used to justify their idolatry. They used to say that their ancestors used to follow that custom and they were not prepared to forgo the customs of their ancestors. The Holy Quran has mentioned their argument in the following verses: Surely we found our fathers on a course, and surely we are followers of their footsteps.[113] They used to justify their foolish custom (of worshipping wooden and stone idols) by saying that their ancestors also did that. They used to blindly follow their customs. It is that same type of Taqlid that is responsible for the spread of social evils like racing, fashion and sexual perversion. Maulana Rumi has indicated this same type of Taqlid: “Their foolish Taqlid has destroyed the people”. As mentioned above most of the objection with regard to Taqlid are there due considering the first meaning of Taqlid which is used in general sense. However, the second meaning of Taqlid, used in religious terminology is completely different. It can be expressed in one sentence: “Following the specialists by non-specialists people in some matters.” That is, those who are not having the knowledge of religious problems, which require specialization and years of study they have to compulsorily follow the religious Mujtahid and act upon their rulings. In this sense is the meaning applicable for Taqlid—that is the following of a learned person by a less learned person. It is the basis of human life in all the fields, be they agriculture, manufacturing or medicine. If at any time this is taken out from human life, that is a patient does not visit a doctor, or people do not consult lawyers for legal advice, one does not consult the engineers and architects, one does not use the services of artisans, mechanics and experts of other fields, the social structure of the world would be endangered and every field will become extinct. The religious problems are not exempted from this system. Without any doubts, in the principles of faith like Tauheed, Adl, Nubuwwat, Imamat and Qiyamat, everyone has to do proper research themselves and their justification is nothing difficult and complicated also. Every person can do this according to his or her understanding capacity. However, for the Islamic practical laws: Worship acts, business transactions and politics like Prayer, fasting, holy war, penalties and punishments, relations and blood money marriage and divorce and thousands of other day-to-day matters. Everyone cannot obtain the knowledge of all these laws individually. Neither can they derive any benefit from the sources of Islamic law, like the Holy Quran, traditions, Reason and Consensus. Therefore people have no option but to follow the religious scholar for these problems. The scholars who have put in years of study and have gained deep knowledge of the book of Allah, the practice of the Prophet, and the sayings and writings of the Imams of Ahle Bayt (‘a). From this discussion we conclude that following a Mujtahid is not blind following without justification. This Taqlid has the logical and reasonable proof as follows: The view of a scholar, a wise man and specialist and that also that it is harmless; it is usually nearest to the truth and generally it is not away from the truth. And even if there is a mistake in it the error is limited while a non-learned person tries to act on his own he will do most of things in a wrong way. For example when a sick person goes to a doctor he usually takes a prescription and it is possible that the doctor might commit an error in it. However, his error will not have very serious repercussions in the prescription. (Here doctor denotes a knowledge and learned person). However, if man stops following the advice of doctors and whenever he is sick he takes whichever medicine he likes, then indeed he would be performing a risky thing. He has put his life into danger. The result of this discussion is that the layman following a specialist is logical and reasonable proposition. This is also established that this type of following and seeking benefits is not a sign of helplessness of man, it is rather a proof of his capability. Because we know that the sphere of knowledge is so vast that every field has hundreds of specialized branches and even if a person has the age of Nuh (‘a) and the brain of Avicenna he cannot even specialize in 1/100 of the sciences. Thus there is no other option but that he follows the specialists in the fields in which he himself is not an expert. For example if an engineer falls sick, he goes to a doctor and when a doctor wants to construct a house he goes to his favorite architect so that he may construct a plan for him. And when these two have some problem with their cars they go to an automobile mechanic. Also, those who are not specialists in Islamic law they follow the Mujtahids. Now the point remains that when people refer to the religious scholars and one dispensed appropriate advice why are they not allowed to ask questions? It is like saying that: What is the problem in the patient asking for explanation and justification of all the medicines that the doctor has prescribed for him. Is it possible for the doctor to explain all the prescriptions to his patients? Even if we presume that the doctor agrees to do so, but what use would it be for a person who is neither an expert in biology nor pharmacology and how would he accept all this to be true? Those who utter such things are indeed ignorant of the vastness of Islamic sciences. They don’t know that to understand the Holy Quran and hundreds of thousands of traditional writings is not a job of a layman. Years of study is required to understand the verses of Holy Quran, the traditions, the narrators of traditions and the system of knowing whether a particular tradition is correct or not; the interpretation of the sayings of the Prophets. All this requires specialization. Sometimes it also happens that to find the solution to a problem related to marriage, divorce or rearing of children one has to see many verses of Quran and refer to tens of traditions. Then one has to closely study the accounts of tens of narrators of traditions in the books of Ilme Rijal. Can everyone really have this much expertise? Does it not mean that everybody should leave their work and get busy in studying religious law? While we do not even know if all the people have the ability to reach to the level of Ijtehad or not. Whether they have the capacity to derive the laws of the Shariah or not. It is possible that in most of the people have different abilities. And to say that following different Mujtahids causes disunity, is indeed a strange allegation! 1. In every period there is only one or a few Maraja who are well known to all. But if all the Muslims express their views regarding the Islamic law there would be chaos in the community. 2. There is difference of opinion among the scholars in only the third or fourth level problems. There is no controversy regarding the basic laws and principles. That is why you see people who follow different Mujtahids standing together in the same row during congregational prayers. The partial difference in laws does not prevent their coming together of Jamat Prayers. All of them go for Hajj in the same days and perform the Hajj rituals and the difference in religious decree (Fatwa) does not inconvenience a single man of the caravan. All these things indicate that the differences in religious decree are only in the matters that do not affect Communal unity. Notes: [113] Surah Zukhruf 43:23 http://www.al-islam.org/falsafa/103.htm

Assalam u Alaikum to all brothers and sisters. So I have a question which i consider is very serious. As we all know that Muttah marriage is declared permitted by all of our Ayatollahs and scholar. None of them i guess consider muttah haram. But how can they declare muttah permissible when it was declared haram by our Imams. There are just few narrations in which muttah is considered permissible, and it is not stated clearly from those narrations that it is really permissible. Here is the link where you can find dozens of narrations proving muttah haram(forbidden) : http://mullaandmutah.weebly.com/wikipedia.html Here are some most clear narrations declaring muttah forbidden: 1)Another hadith narrated from Imam Jafar Ul Sadaq[A.S] Narrated by A'maar: Abu Abdullah[Imam Jafar Sadaq]said to me and to Suliman Bin Khaled: "I made Mut'ah Haram on you".AL Kafi Pp 467.V5.Wiasal Shia Pp22.V21. Shiekh Saduq classified it as Saheeh[AUTHENTIC] in his Minhaj Saduq Pp304.V7. Sheikh Sadra Hassan[With Good Chain of Narration] in his Commentry on AL Kafi.Pp461.V4. 2) Narrator says that he heard ibn Abi Umair who narrated from Ali bin Yaqtin saying: 'I asked Aba al-Hassan (a.s) about the Mutah and He (a.s) replied: 'What do you have to do with this, when Allah has made this unnecessary for you.' I said: 'I just wanted to know about it'. He (a.s) replied: 'It is Prohibated. Al- Kafi, Volume 5 page 442. Al Astibasar Pp459,V12. Shiekh Amali and Shiekh Abu Hassan decleared it Saheeh in their Commentries on AL Kafi[pp35,V4 and Pp109.V10] and Hasan by AL Majlisi in his Maratul Uqool Pp59.V34. NOW HOW CAN ALL OF OUR MARJAS, AND SCHOLARS DECLARE IT PERMISSIBLE WHEN IT IS PROVED THAT IT IS PROHIBITED ACCORDING TO OUR IMAMS ??

Have you guys seen this documentary? I am currently watching it, will leave my opinions afterwards. I didn't know that Sayed Sistani was higher than Sayed Khamanaei, I thought they were both equally Marja'a. I checked it out on Google though, and apparently Sayed Sistani is higher thank Sayed Khamanaei.

Hi everyone, My name is Hassan and i'm a 19 year old entrepreneur. I need your guys help on finding me a Marja to follow. I want to get your opinion on which one to follow. I'll also write a list of the core values and beliefs which I believe in. And thank you in advance. 1.) Strong passion for business and success 2.) Believer in self-development (I'm a big fan of Tony Robbins, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Richard Branson) 3.) I'm a strong believer in keeping an open and diverse mindset. 4.) I don't just hang around with people JUST from religious background. (Shia and Sunni Muslims, Druze, Christians, Jews.) Preferably I want somebody that has equal views to all religious groups in the world. 5.) Doesn't have such a strong opinion around what women should or should not do.

Asalamalekum, We hear that if a marja is expert in a particular field, one must follow them and that issue. But i have never heard of any such mujtahid. I think they all have to take same courses, in able to become a marja. Therefore, there is always a confusion on who is the most learned, because non of them are studying one field.

I hope you are all in the best of health and in the best of Imaan. Also, Ramadhan Mubarak to you all. So, I'm interested in understanding the extent of the political authority of a marja. We all know that according to usooli belief it is incumbent upon an individual to do the taqleed of a marja and waajib upon him to abide by the laws of fiqh as set down by the marja. We also have a famous saying that taqleed is in fiqh, not aqaid (beliefs). So, those limits are pretty clear but what is often not clear is the political authority a marja commands. Now, part of answering this question goes back to the raging debates we've had over the years on Wilayatul Faqih and Iran and, if possible, I'd like to avoid those. Instead, I'd like you to answer three simple questions:1. Can a marja ask me to kill someone? Is it incumbent upon me to obey him - even if I don't necessarily agree with him on the reasoning or if he actually doesn't even give one? We have the opinion by many scholars that the hudud cannot be implemented or an offensive war cannot be initiated except in the presence of a ma'soom. Will the murder of a single individual, then, follow in the same vein (as a war is basically killing people in the plural and in this case you're killing just one person?) Also, I know that someone do hold the belief that this is not necessary so I'm only interested in the opinion of those scholars who do deem the presence of ma'soom necessary in the above two situations. 2. If a marja endorses someone in an election, for example, is it wajib for me to vote for them?3. How much political authority do they command in general? In particular, I'm interested in the famous tobacco fatwa of Iran, where a marja banned tobacco for what seemed to be purely political reasons. Was he allowed to do that? Is there a difference of opinion on this? Also, let's assume that the above hypotheticals involve a marja who is not the head of a Islamic government under which you live (so, someone like Ayatollah Seestani and not Ayatollah Khamenaei as the existence of an Islamic government and the stature of the individual ruling as the haakim would muddle the discussion. Now, I also know that some believe that the authority of an Islamic government, like the one established in Iran, is not restricted to those living within the physical borders of the country - and thus any command from Ayatollah Khamenaei, for example, is incumbent upon all Shi'as, and not just those who do his taqlid or those living in Iran and, again, this is a whole topic on its own so I'd like to assume, for the purpose of this discussion, that that is not the case. PS: Once again, I'd like to remind you that while it's obvious that discussion of the theory of wilayatul faqih will inevitably be required in answering my question, I would prefer it if we didn't make this thread just about the theory, or about Iran and its implementation of the idea. Also, while I have singled out Ayatollah Seestani as I am his muqallid and wants to know what he believes is obligatory for me, I do want to know the variety of opinions that are out there, including those of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenaei (just with the assumptions I have put forth - so, in a hypothetical world where they were not the heads of states of an Islamic government in Iran).