ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Imamate and Leadership Who Are Those Capable of Interpreting Divine Law? ( 149 ) Lesson Sixteen The laws that scholars have laboriously elaborated and compiled over the ages to meet the needs of different societies have always stood in need of intelligent and alert interpreters when it came to implementation. The laws of Islam although they rest on revealed norms and divine guidance are no exception to this rule.

Certain verses of the Qur'an which is the fundamental and primary source for deducing anything related to Islam are not entirely clear in their purport and signification for they do not yield a single categorical sense. Recourse to exegesis in order to clarify points of ambiguity is therefore necessary.

Furthermore the Noble Qur'an sets forth the main lines and general principles of the programs of action Islam proposes in various spheres; it does not go into the details of every law and prescript. If therefore someone wishes to obtain comprehensive knowledge of those programs in their entirety he cannot content himself simply with the text of the Qur'an.

The differences of opinion and approach that have arisen with respect to the meaning of certain verses as well as traditions of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him and his family have played a large part in the distortion and transformation of some of the original concepts of Islam.

Interested parties and people tied to the ruling establishment have succeeded in putting forward interpretations that correspond to the interests of the rulers a phenomenon that ( 150 ) happened repeatedly during the Umayyad and 'Abbasid caliphates. In such a whirlpool of confusion what needs to be done to prevent the truth from remaining unknown?

Does it not appear necessary that recourse should be had to a single learned authority on jurisprudence one divinely protected against sin a man of independent opinion having a comprehensive knowledge of the Book the heir to the knowledge of the Prophet in order for him to acquaint us with the original meaning and purpose of the Qur'an? An authority who implements the various commands of the Qur'an in a practical and visible way and who serves as an indisputable marker of the right and the wrong?