Marja'

This article is about a Shia authority. For the town in Afghanistan, see Marja, Afghanistan. For people named Marja, see Marja (name). For mother of caliph Al-Ma'mun, see Marajil. For current Maraji, see List of current Maraji. For deceased Maraji, see List of deceased Maraji.

Marji' (Arabic: مرجع, transliteration: marjiʿ; plural: marājiʿ), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority given by a hawzah to make legal decisions within the confines of Islamic law for followers and lower-ranking clerics. The highest ranking marjiʿ is known as the marja al-mutlaq or marja al-taqlid al-mutlaq.

Sources differ as to when the institution of the marja˓ emerged, with Murtadha al-Ansari (d. 1864) and Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni (d. 940 or 941) both being called the first marja'.

Title

Currently, maraji' are accorded the title Grand Ayatollah (Arabic: آية ‌الله العظمی ʾĀyatullāh al-ʿUẓmā). Previously, the titles of Allamah (such as Allameh Tabatabaei, Allameh Majlesi, Allameh Hilli) and Imam (such as Imam Khomeini, Imam Rohani, Imam Shirazi and Imam Sadr) have also been used.

Someone who follows/imitates a marja' (who performs taqlid) is called a muqallid.

Role

From the perspective of Shia jurisprudence, during the occultation of the Mahdi, the highest ranking Shia hawzah clerics are bestowed with responsibility for understanding and explaining Islamic religious jurisprudence.

Shiite authorities in the history of Shi'ism have an important role in the religious, political and social thought of their communities. One example is the fatwa of Mirza Mohammed Hassan Husseini Shirazi imposing sanctions on the use of tobacco during Qajar rule, which led to the abolition of the tobacco concession.

First Marja'

Shiʿi "biographical compilations generally" consider Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni (d. 940 or 941), (one of the first compilers of Shiʿite hadith), to be "the first" post-occultation marja al-taqlid, according to Neguin Yavari and Eric Hooglund. According to Robert Gleave, the institution of the marja˓ emerged in the nineteenth century with the first universally recognized marja˓, "the influential mujtahid Murtadha al-Ansari (d. 1864)". When asked directly "Who was the first ever Marja-e-Taqleed?", only one of four mullahs at al-islam.org resented with the question replied (Mohammad Al-Musawi) and would only say, "from the time of the Prophet (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams, Muslims who lived in places far away from them, were ordered to refer in religious matters to the scholar in their area".

Authority

Ayatollahs

The title of an ayatollah transpires when he becomes a celebrated figure in the hawza and his students and followers trust him in answering their questions, and ask him to publish a juristic book, the risalah amaliyah—a manual of practical rulings arranged according to topics dealing with ritual purity, worship, social issues, business, and political affairs. The risalah contains an ayatollah's fatwas on different topics, according to his knowledge of the most authentic Islamic sources and their application to current life. Traditionally only the most renowned ayatollahs of the given time published a risalah. Today, however, many ayatollahs of varying degrees of illustriousness have published one, while some of the renowned ones have refused to do so.

Authority

Where a difference in opinion exists between the maraji', each of them provides their own opinion and the muqallid will follow their own marja's opinion on that subject. A mujtahid, i.e. someone who has completed advanced training (dars kharij) in the hawza and has acquired the license to engage in ijtihad (ʾijāz al-ʾijtihād) from one or several ayatollahs, is exempted from the requirement to follow a marja'. However ijtihad is not always comprehensive and so a mujtahid may be an expert in one particular area of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and exercise ijtihad therein, but follow a marja' in other areas of fiqh.

Several senior Grand Ayatollahs preside over hawzas, religious seminaries. The hawzas of Qom and Najaf are the preeminent seminary centers for the training of Shia clergymen. However, there are other smaller hawzas in many other cities around the world, the biggest ones being Karbala, Isfahan and Mashhad.

There are 85 Maraji living worldwide as of 2022, mostly residing in Najaf and Qom. The most prominent among them are Hossein Vahid Khorasani, Mousa Shubairi Zanjani, Sayyid Sadeq Rohani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi, Hossein Noori Hamedani and Abdollah Javadi-Amoli in Qom; Ali al-Sistani, Muhammad al-Fayadh, Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim and Bashir al-Najafi in Najaf.

Marja al-taqlid al-mutlaq.

In the early 1990s, Ali al-Sistani, "emerged" as the marja al-mutlaq or highest Marja' of the world of Shia Islam, according to Mohamad Bazzi, and al-Sistani's word "on religious matters carries the most weight" among Shia. In 1994, the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) declared [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei to be "the single marja˓ al-taqlid". After the death of Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei the IRI declared Khamenei to be the "undisputed marja˓".

According to Mohamad Bazzi, this was a bid "to displace" Ali Sistani, the true Marja al-taqlid al-mutlaq, "and his allies in Najaf", but it "failed" because Khamenei "had modest religious credentials (he was only elevated to the rank of ayatollah after Khomeini’s death, so he could assume the post of supreme leader). Faced with Baathist persecution and an Iranian power grab, Sistani was able to retain his position." Gleave does not mention al-Sistani but states that Khamenei's "position as the Marja˓ al-taqlid" has "remained a matter of dispute".

Conditions for a marja'

There is no official body resembling a council of ulama to designate someone a marja al-taqlid, nor any formalized specific process to do it, because reaching the position of marja al-taqlid "is entirely at the discretion of the believers themselves", (for example, being able to raise enough money "to finance the education of religious students" from donations from the believers, is one of the qualifications of a marja'). Nonetheless, there are "general principles" for their selection including several "conditions" which have been "accepted unanimously by Shiʿite theologians".

• maturity (bulugh),
• reasonableness (aql),
• being of the male sex (dhukurrat),
• faith (iman),
• justice (edalat), and
• legitimacy of birth.

See also

• Ijtihad
• Hawza
• Risalah (fiqh)
• Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom
• List of Ayatollahs
• List of deceased Maraji
• List of current Maraji

External links

• Slate Magazine's "So you want to be an Ayatollah", explaining how Shiite clerics earn the title