 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Welcome to Ahkam SOS The show on the religious rulings on Islamic duties and practices by the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Sadik Shirazi May Allah prolong his life I'm your host, Mosul Shah and joining me, my co-host is Sheikh Ali Maash, salamu alaikum sheikhna Wa alaikum assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi And today's topic will be on the criteria of a jurist Sheikhna, last time we were discussing the concept of marja'iya taqleed, ijtihad is taqleed wajib or not the journey one takes to reach the level of ijtihad When it comes to marja'iya itself and following a marja we follow them in ahkamu can we actually follow a marja in anything else for example, a qa'id a sura deen, the principles of religion can we follow a marja in that? Let me mention one of the very first issue and a masalah in which you can find in every Islamic rulings and practice of them of the alim of every scholar that he mentions this specific rule he says it is mandatory that a muslim's belief in the fundamentals of religion and a sura deen be based on reasoning and proof in other words we're not allowed to actually follow the words of others even if he's a scholar just wouldn't spend years and years and how is that studying becoming mushtahid to follow him with regard to the beliefs because the beliefs is to do with reason the belief is to do with aqil and intellect so we have to ourselves prove that for example Allah swt does he exist or he doesn't exist for example and so forth because the sura deen is divided into five sections number one is the oneness of Allah swt tawheed number two is the adil the justice of Allah the almighty number three is the prophethood of all the prophets including the prophethood of our beloved prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family and the fourth one is the imamah the leadership of mankind the divinely leadership and the fifth is the ma'ad resurrection day the qiyama so to believe in these five main principles of religion we must believe with reason with evidence and we have to justify to ourselves that yes Allah swt does exist and he sent the prophets and the religions and so forth and to be able to bring ourselves out from the doubts to the certainty from the shek to yakeen and that's why we cannot follow the alem or anybody else or even our parents to follow them if they say to us for example no imam alaihi salam wasn't the first caliph and imam we can't we have to use our own intellect and reason at that stage in which we can prove to ourselves that who is the rightly guided caliph and vitrient of the prophet of Allah peace be upon him that's very important so we need to go back to our intellect to reason and that's why we see many people convert to Islam and specifically to those to convert to the following alem salam they use reason and intellect and research they just ignore their parents be it they are Christians or Jews or non-shia philosophers for example they would study and research and then they convert to this true path of Allah swt so basically what is needed in the principles of faith is to apply and implement our reason, our akil to reach that stage of being able to define our true religion and belief Asan sheikh na asan now last time we discussed what it takes for a marja to reach the level of itj de had or individual to reach the level of itj de had that we talked about what is the definition and academic journey that they take through hausa what are the other criterias of an individual to become a marja I mean does he even have to be a Muslim let's say if he is a Christian but he studied all Islamic texas the Quran, the hadith, everything he doesn't believe in it but he can still withdraw rulings from these sources can that person become a marja because he is qualified technically there are certain conditions for the one who wants to become a marja and lead people religiously certain conditions and rules I'm just going to mention them quickly the criteria of the jurisprudence of to be able to become a leader of the people so he would be able to issue fatwa the haram and the halal and so forth number one he must be a male of course not to be a female and that requires a specific and a special time to actually explain why Islam emphasized on the male more than the female on such issues and leadership for example so number one he must be a male number two adult so we cannot follow a child even if that child was very intellectual smart, reached the stage of ishtihad in his the age of teens for example twelve thirteen still he must be balig so we can actually follow that person number three to be sane and the fourth is to be free so we cannot follow a slave in the time of slavery of course so we follow the one who is free from slavery number five to be a Muslim and the follower of the twelve imams of Ahl al-Bait, very important to be a Shia of Ahl al-Bait because we are not allowed to follow those who took their knowledge and their fiqh from the enemies of Ahl al-Bait so we follow those who took their teachings from Ahl al-Bait peace be upon him so it's a very important criteria number six to be legitimate birth so somebody who was born in Halal that's very important as well number seven to be alive so we are not allowed to follow a dead person but you can actually ask the permission from the alive and existent Marja to follow your previous Marja who died just recently for example so you can remain on the for example on following the deceased Marja Alim and then for the new issue you refer back to the alive and the existent Marja so let's say Ayatul Akhu'i died before I was born can I can I follow when I reached the stage of Balouk Balik can I follow Ayatul Akhu'i of course you can't because he died years ago so you have to follow somebody who's alive to actually to start your taqleed from scratch from new you have to follow somebody who's alive if that alive Marja died then you can remain on his taqleed by the permission of the new Marja that you can follow the alive one otherwise we cannot follow the dead for example we're not allowed to follow Shaykh Al-Mufiil and Shaykh Al-Tawsi for example who died centuries ago the next condition is that he must be justice, justice jurist because to follow somebody who commits sins and wrongdoings we cannot actually follow and trust that person he must be a just person in all matters of life but surely he's fallible he'll make mistakes, maybe he might even sin here and there in private, is that okay or not even in private you know the sins which are how can I say continuously he does that sin let's say somebody who everyday listens to music for example something that is continuous always he does it so Adil is the one who usually doesn't commit these sins these sins of one or two here I mean our Ulema usually they avoids sins and some of them even avoids the makruh, the dislike so the when he reaches that level of piousness and ishtihad he would of course refrain himself even from the makruh as well the next condition that he should be A'lam most learned most knowledgeable and of course it's difficult to define such A'lam but in overall the A'lam and the most knowledgeable you can define him when he actually extracts and deducts the rule and the hukum from its sources in a specific way intelligent way that others can't basically do that so you're saying basically once he's qualified and has adapted and developed a skill of create, not really creating but by issuing you know a ruling or a fatwa based on hadith and Quran and aqa and ijmah if necessary once they can do that very well that's one of the conditions yes basically having that skillfulness in extracting that hukum from these sources and being able to issue that fatwa then that's one of the criteria of being the A'lam that the best and the most knowledgeable of those who can actually extract these aqam from its sources and issue it and of course A'lam and the most learned or the most knowledgeable is not something easy to define but the way to define it is to ask those experts those other jurists around who can actually define to you and find out by reading the books of that a'lam and the commentary on the the classic text of that of other a'lam for example and to define exactly how strong is this a'lam when he interprets the hadith, when he interprets the verse and the Holy Quran and be able to produce for the public that fatwa and that hukum that he would say I'm pleased with this hukum because this is what I've tried, my best I made my all attempts to extract this hukum from this hadith from this verse and in regards to following one marjah we have to follow one is this wajib that you have to follow one marjah or can you follow let's say two or three marjah well you have to follow basically one marjah one skola and if that particular skola had in some in his verdicts let's say ihtiyat wujubi or precautionary in some specific fatwa or these verdicts you can go back to others but you have to remain with one you have to stick with one marjah you follow him and you take the rulings from him you cannot actually go to others randomly and choose whoever gives easier or easier verdicts and hukum you stick with one of them and in some of the masal as I mentioned which says the marjah is precaution then you can go to the most a'lam after him and for that specific rule you can follow others with this regard awesome sheikhna we this program is in accompanying with the rulings of say sadik sharazi now say sadik sharazi can you tell us a little bit about how he studied where he studied and a little bit of how we are comfortable and confident that he is the marjah that we should follow I told us a sadik sharazi studied in Iraq and Iran for the past 40 years he's been studying and teaching and nurturing dozens of students and disciples in both countries he was for a few years in Kuwait as well he also taught and nurtured students in Kuwait for some time he wrote many books in regard to the islamic fiqh and usul and he became proficient in this field and he wrote also books in ethics politics in other segments of the sharia and by now he has over 80 books published by the sayid and he's now teaching in Qom and he has many students in this field and according to our experts the ulamah that we have that he's currently the alam and the most learned of the ulamah there is some bad media bad publicity around sayid sardik sharazi there's a lot of rumours can you clarify that these rumours are false and how do we know that these rumours are false for instance the houses themselves or the other marajah have they actually agreed and commented on sayid sardik and these rumours basically the history of the holy prophet of islam and his pure family proved to us that from the very first days of their da'wah and call for islam for the belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in religion in piousness in ethics and moral they all had enemies and rumours around them in a way that the prophet of islam peace be upon him and his pure family was called magician was called laia and all those who were also being attacked and insulted by the enemies of al-albaid so this is something we've witnessed when we read the history of the prophet and his pure family that's how the enemies of satan embodied in some of the human beings fought against the right path, fought against the true word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to nowadays we can also witness that how people attack some of the scholars the pious scholars the knowledgeable scholars who represents al-albaid alaykum al-salaam in their in their behavior in their teachings in their writings you won't be able to find something that is against for example the sharia in the works of atollah shirazi for example and the best thing for us is to go back to his books, his lectures listen to it, read the books if we can actually visit the saint himself in qom we go and visit him, talk to him and clarify a lot of misconceptions and issues which were spread by the rumors and I think we have to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from spreading these issues because that is against the teachings of Islam also the fact that no office has openly disregarded or attacked al-sadaq shirazi and his office and his campaign and that he is not some sort of person that is bringing a bad image towards Islam this surely is a proof as well that they support and acknowledge his status of course many of the scholars wrote acknowledgement for the piousness and the moral and ethical aspects of the Sayyid as well as his knowledge, his deep knowledge in Islam, in fiqh, in shari'a and I think that's what we need we don't want to go further and listen to those who have no knowledge because the Quran says ask those who know so we try to stick with those who know, we try to listen to those who acknowledge those pious scholars those individuals who serve the shari'a for 40-50 years who sacrificed who saw all those calamities and difficulties and suppression from the tyrants for example the past regime in Iraq for example so I think we try to stick with those who appreciate the scholars and appreciate knowledge and knowledge and we try to avoid the rumors and what we hear from here and there or what is written here and there and we stick with the verse which says if the ignorance said something to them they would say peace and ignore them that's the best solution for being able to go forward and continue our message and to convey it to the upcoming generation so the viewers thank you for joining us on this episode of Haqqam SOS and if you have a question in regards to Haqqam please send them to the contact details provided and insha'Allah that Sheikh will be addressing those questions in the next time. Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you.