Islamic Question & Answer

Question 28: What Do the Shia Jurisprudents Use As Their Sources?

ANSWER:

The Shia, for the purpose of deducing the legal rules, abide by the divine book of Allah and the tradition of the Holy prophet (p) and basically benefit from the following four basic resources:

God's book

Prophet's tradition. Consensus. Reasoning.

Among the above-mentioned sources, The Quran and the tradition of the Holy prophet are the most fundamental sources for the Shia jurisprudents that we will briefly recount:

Quran, the divine book of Allah.

The followers of the Shia school of thought consider the Quran to be the most ideal and equitable source for deducing laws in jurisprudence and for the criterion of identification of the divine commandments, due the Shia leaders having introduced this heavenly book of Islam as the most eminent reference for achieving the jurisprudential judgments; such that if any theory was to be compared to the Holy Quran and it was in total concurrence with it, then only would it have been accepted, or else it would be rejected.

The sixth holy Imam Jaffer Sadiq (p) has stated in the light of this that:

"And every speech that in not in accordance with the Holy Quran is unfounded."

Imam Sadiq (p) has also narrated form the honorable Prophet that: "O people, any statement that is attributed to me, if it be in accordance with the Holy Quran, then it is considered mine and if it is in disagreement to it, then it is far form mine."

Regarding the above-mentioned Hadith, it is clearly evident that according to the Shia leaders, the heavenly book of the Muslims is considered the most credential source for the deduction of legal judgments.

Prophet's judgment:

The tradition of the holy prophet ascribed to his speech, behavior and his approval of the works, is the second considerable source for the Shia jurisprudents. The impeccable household of the Holy Prophet (the Imams) are known as the sole transmitters of the prophet's tradition and are the treasuries of his knowledge. Of course, if at all the prophet's speech was transmitted through other reliable methods of transmission, it can also be accepted by the Shia and can be counted as a relibale source for them.

Let us discuss the following dividing it into two fields:

Evidences in support of the adhearance to the prophet's tradition:

The Imams of the Shias, inferred from the divine book of Quran to their followers and alongside the prophet's tradition extolling both the Quran and the Tradition of the Prophet (p). Imam Sadiq (p) says in this regard that:

"When coming across a tradition, find the evidence for it referring to the Quran and the sunnah, then accept its authenticity or else the speech is only more suitable for the narrater himself."

Imam Muhammed Baqir (p) considered that a tradition must be traced down from the Holy prophet's for it to be fully qualified and says the following: "The real jurisprudent is one who is austere in this world, shows eagerness to the hereafter and the one who strictly adheres to the Prophet's tradition."

Further more, the beacons of light who are the impeccable household of the Prophet, consider it disagreeable a matter, that God's Book and the tradition of the prophet would ever be a cause of ambiguity.

Imam Sadiq (p) to this regard says:

"Whosoever has any disagreement with the Quran and the prophet's tradition is a non-believer."

Thus, it becomes clear that the Shia, more than any other Islamic group, hold the tradition of the Holy Prophet in great esteem and so the baselessness of the ones who accuse the Shias of alienating themselves from the Holy prophet's traditions is already verified.

The Validation regarding the Adherence to the Holy prophet's traditions.

In order to elucidate the perspective of the Shias regarding the tradition of the Holy prophet, we are obligated to explain the matter into two ways: