The 'uIama say that the guilt lies with the people and their ignorance.

The 'uIama say that the guilt lies with the people and their ignorance. They are so ignorant, ill-informed and un-worthy that they only deserve to be fed with such nonsense. They do not deserve to know the truth and the facts. I heard it from the marhum Ayatullah Sadr, may God elevate his station, that Taj Nayshaburi would say absurd things from the minbar. Someone objected to him, saying, "What are these things that you say?

You receive such big audiences, why don't you say some sensible things?" He replied that the people did not deserve it. Then he produced, so to speak, a 'proof' to substantiate his assertion. The common people, the masses, also have an argument against the 'ulama and the clerics which they often use. They say, "When a fish begins to rot, the rotting begins at the head.

The scholars are like the head of the fish and we its tail." However, the fact is that in this case the responsibility and the guilt lies both upon the 'ulama as well as the laity. One should know that the common people too share a responsibility in such cases. In cases such as this, it is the people who let the truth to be obliterated and spread superstitious nonsense. There is a well-known tradition which is considered reliable by scholars.

A man asked Imam Sadiq (a) concerning the Qur'anic verse: And among them are the illiterate folks who know not the Book but only vain hopes and nothing but conjectures. (2:78) Here God is critical of the common people from among the Jews. Although He refers to them as having been uneducated, unlettered and illiterate, nevertheless He considers them blameworthy.

The questioner, while admitting that the 'ulama' of the Jews' were indeed responsible, asks the Imam as to why the common people among them were held guilty. Was it not a valid excuse that they were illiterate commoners? The tradition is an elaborate one. The Imam replies that such is not the case. He answers that there are certain matters that do require learning and which can only be understood by the learned and which illiterate people do not comprehend.

Concerning such issues one may say that the common people are not responsible as they have not acquired learning in religious subjects. True, at times they may be held responsible for not having acquired education, and this could be an argument against them. However, if there are cases where they have no responsibility, that is in issues which require the study of books and proper instruction under teachers.