The real guardian is he who does not relent to anyone by...

The real guardian is he who does not relent to anyone by taking bribes or because of friendship or because that person is strong or for other reasons, nor does he become a captive or false imitations nor feels greed for what people possess. In the exegesis related to Imam al-Askari (as): “whoever from among the jurists protects himself, maintains his religion, goes against his desires and obeys the command of his Master, then the general public must obey him.

These are only some of the Shi’a jurists not all of them.” [^16] If the one who follows desires and who chases after this world cannot be followed when it comes to his rulings, then by precedence he cannot have authority over the lives and wealth of people. g) Masculinity Based on the fact that judgment is one of the roles included within guardianship as was discussed, then saying that masculinity is a condition for judgment makes it a condition for guardianship by precedence.

h) Legitimate birth It is unanimously agreed upon among our scholars that this is a condition for the judge and the issuer of edicts.

The following authentic narration of Ibn Muslim from Abu Abdullah (as) indicates that it is a condition for the judge, the issuer of edicts and the guardian jurist: “the testimony of an illegitimately born person is invalid” [^17] , as well as the narrations that indicate that this is a condition for the leader of the congregational prayer, such as the authentic narration of Abu Baseer from Abu Abdullah (as): “Five types of people should not lead the prayer in any situation and among them he counted the insane and the illegitimately born person” [^18] Is the Jurist Chosen for the position of guardianship by Appointment or by Election?

It is obvious that the supportive textual evidence mentioned in the previous chapter regarding the guardianship of the jurist indicates only that the jurist is appointed by the infallible Imam (as), and this goes back to his being appointed by Allah, the Exalted.