Hence, to turn towards the Holy Imams (‘a) in order to...

Hence, to turn towards the Holy Imams (‘a) in order to obtain knowledge is not similar to turning to narrators or well-versed scholars whose tasks are restricted to transmitting traditions and issuing verdicts ( fatwa ). People resort to scholars to learn certain religious laws by means of transmission of traditions and issuing of verdicts.

Such individuals are not divinely designated leaders of the nation and they cannot enact any religious law in question that is not present in the Islamic code of religious law; rather, they only issue verdicts according to their knowledge of traditions and fundamentals of the set laws of Islam. Authentic traditions relegate the knowledge of the laws of Islam to well-qualified scholars under certain conditions.