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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.

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

Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullah. I have seen many Muqallid's of Ayatullah al-Udhma Khamenei thinking that the only set of laws he has are in Leader.ir. So for those who do not know yet let me clarify this. Ayatullah al-Udhma Khamenei says to refer to Imam Khomeini's Tahrir ul Wasilah and then, on stuff that he disagrees with Imam Khomeini to refer to his Q&A. KhudaHafiz

Salam. Anyone who would like to bring forward some proofs for taqleed is welcome. A group Shias deny Taqleed calling it an innovation and Haram. Since you people do Taqleed, may i ask why you do taqleed of Ayatullah abc...?

Is there a Tauzeeh-ul-Masail of Ayatullah Khamenei (online or otherwise)? I have heard that he has not published or translated it???? The only thing I can find on the Net is Question and Answer books. How is someone to be a Muqallid of Aga Khamenei without an actual comprehensive Tauzeeh-ul-Masail, rather than these crummy Q&A books? This is the closest thing I've found so far: http://www.islam-pure.de/imam/fatwas/practical00.htm Thanks in Advance

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.

S. A, I have been having debate with akhbaris on the matter of taqleed, I need strong evidence to support my stand, please assist if someone knows?

What are your opinions on the Marja'eyah of Sayed Kamal al-Haydary? His resala came out recently in Arabic and I believe his office are working on translating it to a couple languages as well. Anyways here is his resala in Arabic http://home.alhaydari.com/uploads/2011/07/alfatawa.zip Walsalam.

I wanted to ask can a mujtahid give fatwa on killing someone? And if he can give command of performing jihad against evil forces or only imam(a.s) or rasool (s.a.w.s) can give this order

Assalaamualeikom, I found my mujtahid taqleed do not have (or at least do not give) fatwa nor do give a precaution on particular matters in certain issue, meanwhile other a'lam mujtahid has a fatwa on that specific matter because he indeed has more fatwas on his risala. Here are the examples: 1. In my mujtahid risala, he does not mention if a mohr sticks to the forehead, one must put it back to the ground, or another saying that may indicate that specific act must or do not have to be done regarding to that matter, must I follow that verdict even if I am not in taqleed to the mujtahid that release that mohr fatwa in issue of ritual prayer? 2. Something are described as recommended acts (also in prayer) by other mujtahid, meanwhile my mujtahid taqleed has no mention to those things. Are those things is considered mustahabb for me? I need your advice, thanks a lot. Assalaamualeikom

Salam! I would like to know, is it's necessary for a Marja to have a Tauzeeh ul Masail? Also, someone told me that Ayatullah Khamenei does not have his own Tauzeeh, hence he cannot be a Marja. These are not my words, It's just something I've heard. I would like to know if this piece of information is credible enough to be held true.

Salamu Alaykum. Can a Muqallid of Ayatullah Nasr Makarem Shirazi tell me why they consider him most knowledgeable? I have been thinking of changing my taqleed to him but I need verification of two knowledgeable and just persons that he is most knowledgeable. if you have nothing nice to say then dont say anything.

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/

Asalaam o Alaikum! Dear Brothers & Sisters: I need proper Guidance on Takleed? As i am already following Imam Khamenei but still need further clarifications in details. thanks.

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

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.

Salam, I want to ask a question, I follow (taqleed of) a marj'a. I ask him questions on email, but since long time there is never any single response. In the beginning I received replies few (may be 4-5) times, 10 years back, but after that no reply is ever received. No doubt, I have learned the religion from his various other/many passive resources (such as tozih and QnAs), though they don't answer all of my questions. Although I know, he would be extremely busy, but I am in doubt, is it killing the very idea of taqleed, when I have questions and the marj'a I am following is not responding or replying to my questions. Even I am having doubts in paying him khums from my hard earned money, instead of giving it to someone else (other marj'a) who would really help me in attaining/keeping on right path, and removing my doubts and confusions. The doubts have increased so much in my heart that it starts appearing to me that the marj'a system is only there to collect khums not to help us in religious affairs and understanding the Islam (I may be over generalizing it). Please help me here, it is getting very confusing. Thank you.

Salam, Can a person follow fatwas of two marji on same issue? Thanks!

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).

why and why not? how long have you been doing taqleed and which maraja have you been doing taqleed of? how has been your experience?

Just trying to get a feel of who's Taqleed the users of this forum follow. Also, what made you choose that particular Marja?

Ok Please Please do not hijack my post again with arguments, I think as shia we get enough bad press in the outside world without embarrassing our selves further with arguing about who follows who like teenage football fans. I am genuinely looking into this so if you have already answered I have read and noted the answers... so far mainly Sayyed sistani...But I want to know more. You may wonder why is a 30 year married woman and mother is suddenly asking about this... (*note to MOD I'm a lady not guy :P)... Well my baby is 5 months old, first I want to have chosen before she is old enough to start asking questions.... My two older sisters followed different people making Eid day a nightmare because we end up having it on different days, I being follower of "undecided" just celebrate twice. My parents have to keep changing because everytime they follow someone, said person dies (Khomeni, Khoie, then another one, then Fudhlula) and I'd like my guy to be alive! So has anyone actually looked into this, really weighed up options? who were the options? Are we all saying Sistani because the others aren't accessible in English? Please just limit responses to your personal experience/decision and why... lets not have another tit for tat... I am actually genuinely trying to learn here.

I am interested in knowing who people are following and why... I have yet to decide on my own, for years I have been following who ever my parents follow but time to consider my options. Thanks in advance for input.

Why do we need marja... Those who dont wish to follow one....

If i have a doubt i ask the alim of my local islamic center, if i cant find him then i ask the alim of a nearby center. If i am unable to get an answer, i ask someone knowledgeable or just search it online (al islam, SC, etc). So my point is, never in my life have i ever felt the need to consult a marja. So, do i really need to do anyones taqleed?