43 The Sunnis have differed in opinion regarding the identity of the People of Knowledge whom God commanded believers to consult, and concerning the Ones in Authority whom God commanded the believers to obey. One group of them said that they are the jurists, meaning their colleagues. One should respond to them: Those whom you have indicated differ concerning that about which they are asked, and some of them consider lawful what others of them consider forbidden. So is it permissible, in your view, that God might command that those who are known to differ in opinion be consulted? If they are asked and then issue differing opinions in response, whose opinion among them should be accepted by the petitioner as correct? Is it permissible that the truth lie in all their opinions, or only in the opinions of some of them? Regarding this point a lengthy discussion is required, and this chapter is not the place to treat it exhaustively. God willing, we will present as much of it as is appropriate in the refutation of those who espouse the use of legal interpretation. We have already mentioned above the words of God in which He censured and prohibited difference of opinion, so how could He possibly command His worshipers to accept opinions from those who differ concerning His religion, when He faults them in His Book?
44 Others said: «The Ones in Authority» whom God ordered be obeyed are the commanders of military expeditions.82 One should respond to them: Obedience to commanders of military expeditions is necessary if they are appointed by someone to whom obedience is obligatory. An order that commanders must be obeyed issued by the one who appoints them commanders over their men actually applies only to the men over whom they were appointed; it should not go beyond them to apply to anyone else who does not belong to the military expedition. This statement by God, however, is generally applicable to all the believers. God said: «O ye who believe! Obey God and obey the Messenger and the Ones in Authority among you.»83 He included all the believers in the command to obey the Ones in Authority, so how could He possibly have meant this command to apply only to some of them—the commanders of military expeditions—as you have claimed? Would not obedience to the Imam who sends out the military expedition and appoints a commander over it be more fitting and appropriate than obedience to the commander whom he appointed? Indeed, one may only call the Ones in Authority those who actually possess authority, and the commander of the military expedition has only that authority which the Imam delegates to him.
45 The argument for the validity of the Imamate goes beyond the scope of this book, but in this chapter we have merely sought to set forth the doctrine of the People of the Truth concerning the Sunnis’ disputes over what to do when they do not find an explicit statement concerning something in the plain text of the Qurʾan or the Practice of the Messenger. The People of the Truth say, concerning this, “We refer the matter to the Ones in Authority, as God commanded in that regard, and we ask the People of Knowledge about it,” while the Sunnis say, “We deduce it on our own.” We have shown that in adopting this view they contradict the Book of God and the Practice of His Messenger, and we have explained that God perfected His religion and included all things that He imposed as religious obligations on His creatures in His Book. Whoever knows this, knows it, and whoever does not, does not.
AGAINST ARBITRARY SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY
46 In the preceding chapters of this book, we have already cited the word of God in the Qurʾan conveying His command to follow His Book and the Practice of His Messenger, and to refer to the Ones in Authority and to consult the People of Knowledge. If we were to repeat the quotations of the Qurʾan in this and the following chapters whenever there is need to cite such evidence as an argument, the book would grow too long, so let what has been mentioned above concerning this point suffice as effective proof and delivery of the message for readers endowed with perception.
47 God commanded that, after the passing of His Messenger, no one be regarded as an ultimate authority or accepted as a point of reference by the ignorant with regard to their ignorance except the Ones in Authority, whom He established after the Messenger to be heeded and obeyed in his place, and whom He appointed, one after the other, in every age and epoch, to explain the obligations and rulings of His faith that perplex the members of the nation, to undertake their leadership, and to act as a witness among them. Whoever refers matters to someone whom God did not command be consulted as a reference, and whoever accepts as an authority someone whom God did not permit to be accepted as such, following him, professing his opinions, holding them to be part of his faith, and claiming that they are the truth which God commanded, has adopted a god other than Him and attributed a partner to God the Exalted. For God said, «They adopted their rabbis and their monks as lords instead of God!»84 They have related that ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim recounted, “When I converted to Islam, I came before the Prophet, God bless him, and he saw a cross of gold on my neck. He said to me, ‘Cast off that idol from your neck.’ Then he began reciting the Sūrah of the Ultimatum85 and continued until he reached God’s word, «They adopted their rabbis and their monks as lords instead of God.»86 I broke in, ‘O Messenger of God, we did not worship them.’ He posed the question, ‘Did they not declare things permitted for you or forbidden to you, and did you not consider what they had permitted or forbidden to be so?’ ‘Yes, certainly,’ I responded. ‘So that was worshiping them,’ he said.”87 Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, God’s blessings be upon him, recited this verse, then said, “The Jews and Christians did not pray to them, nor did they fast for them, but the rabbis and monks made forbidden things lawful for them, and they considered them lawful, and made lawful things forbidden for them, and they considered them forbidden, so that, in this way, they became their lords.” Among such reports, and similar to them, is the statement of the Prophet, “Indeed you will tread the path of the nations before you, as much as one horseshose resembles its mate, or an arrow-feather its match. Even if they entered a lizard’s lair, likewise you too would enter it.” It has been related from ʿAlī, God’s blessings upon him, that he said, “The least thing by which a man may be a polytheist is that he adopt something as his faith and claim that God commanded it, when God did not command it, but rather another besides God commanded it. He would then be worshiping the one who claims that God commanded this, who is other than God and thus would be attributing a partner to God.” Then ʿAlī, peace be upon him, said, “Polytheism can be even harder to see than a black speck on a black surface on a dark night,” and he recited God’s word, «Most of them do not believe in God without attributing partners to Him.»88
48 In more than one passage of His Book and utterance of His Messenger, God explicitly condemned the adoption as an authority of anyone other than those to whom He imposed obedience, commanding that their rulings be adopted and their opinions be accepted. God said, «When they are told: Come to what God revealed and to the Messenger, they say, “Enough for us are the ways we found our forefathers following”»;89 «He who is guided is guided for his own soul, and he who goes astray goes astray on account of his own soul. No soul may bear another’s burden»;90 «On a day when the oppressor will bite his hand and say, “Would that I had followed the path with the Messenger. Woe is me! Would that I had not adopted So-and-so as a companion. He led me astray from the Message after it came to me”»;91 and «When those who were followed disavow those who followed them and see the torment, and the ties between them