In doing this...

In doing this, he not only pays attention to the general rules of Islam and the lofty aspirations of the religion, but also to the specific conditions that exist in that time. As long as those conditions exist, the order issued by him or his representative is binding.

Of course from the point of view of the law, the rules of Allah (SWT) and the edicts of the jurisprudent who has all the necessary qualifications are also binding, just like the rulings of the leader, but with this difference that the jurist’s rulings are binding on him and his followers only, while everyone must follow the orders of the leader. With this in mind we will now answer the first question, in other words the separation of the marjaiyyat and the leader.

According to the logic of the ‘leadership of the jurisprudent’ and its proofs, the jurisprudent takes upon himself the management of society and in accordance with the values of Islam, he takes on the responsibility of leadership. But marjaiyyat means simply to issue an edict and is a completely different matter. In order to understand marjaiyyat it is necessary to explain taqlid first. In the Persian language, taqlid means to follow someone without a proof.

Taqlid in the parlance of jurisprudence means that someone follows a specialist in a specific matter that is in line with his specialty. The first meaning is considered bad in the eyes of all sane people, but the second is totally sound and accepted by them. The most important proof as to the permissibility of taqlid lies in the fact that the person who is not a specialist in a particular field must refer to the specialist of that field.

All of the proofs that are contained in the traditions and verses of the Qur`an regarding taqlid point to this very fact.

Like for example the verse that says: وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ “We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men to whom We revealed—ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know.” [^2] With this explanation it becomes clear that the reason that the jurisprudent is an authority in matters of the law is because of his specialization in jurisprudence and his power to derive the rules of Allah (SWT) from their sources while the reason that a leader is what he is, is because aside from the aforementioned qualities, he has the ability to manage society according to the principles and values of Islam.

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