It is for this reason that it is the obligation of every...

It is for this reason that it is the obligation of every Muslim to refrain from submission to a dictate until he is convinced with certainty that what he is accepting is legitimate and in complete accord with revealed truth.[^5]This is the teaching of Shī'ism as taught during the time of the Prophet and further developed on the authority of the Imāms as part of their prophetic supplement.

Regardless of their efforts and actions, ordinary human beings do not deserve the rank of absolute authority over others. Even the greatest of human efforts cannot be compared to the divine gift of prophecy and the grace of wilāyah . The authority of the Prophet was the result of revelation. The Prophet passed his supreme status and the mandate of his mission, the spread of revealed truth, to his cousin and son-in-law Imām 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib.

This divine authority was passed on to his descendants and successors who are the definitive authorities of Islām whose obligation was to amplify it and actualize it.

The human efforts of the Imāms would be of little or no benefit were it not for the fact that their external words and actions were accompanied by the rays of light which flow within them, the Muhammadan truth [ al-haqīqah al-muhammadiyyah ], the gnostic or esoteric reality, the divine presence in their hearts which are the true depositories of eternal wisdom. It is for this reason that they receive the titles of “legatees” and “executors” of the revelation.

As can be appreciated in light of the above, ijmā' is an intellectual assent of divinely revealed truth, assent which does not exclude trust. Whenever infallible divine authority is absent, human life loses its direction and ceases to be oriented towards God as a final destination. Although God calls all human beings to obedience and the straight path, not all are reached.

And not all of those who are reached by His call respond to it, because not all are chosen, obey and submit to His authority.[^6] The Prophet and the Imāms are the most obedient and submissive to God's authority. This is because they are the Chosen Ones, the purest souls on earth. They are epiphanies [ mazhar , lit. “appearance” or “manifestation”], theophanies [ tajalliyāt , lit. “illuminations” or “revelations”], and signs [ āyāt ] of the infallible divine authority.

Such authority cannot be claimed by just anyone. Rather, it must be considered as a gift or grace from God.