[Introduction]

The status of reason

Different roles of reason

Role of Reason in understanding Moral Values

Faith & Reason

The Nature of Faith

Faith requires reason

Faith supports and strengthens reason

Authority

Principle One: Obedience belongs only to God

Principle Two: Human freedom

Principle Three: Delegation of obedience

Principle Four: Authority of the Prophet

First: Delivering Divine Message

Second: Judgement

Third: Rule

Principle Five: Delegation of the Prophet’s Authority to Imam Ali and successive Imams

Principle Six: Delegation of the authority of Imams to the jurists

Who is a faqih?

The role of jurists in the time of minor occultation

Bibliography

Reason, Faith & Authority: a Shiite Perspective

Who is a faqih?
===============

A faqih or mujtahid or Ayatollah is the one who has the quality of
ijtihad. Technically, ijtihad means 'the process of deriving religious
rulings from their religious sources'. For example, it is the role of
such person to discover Islamic view on banking or politics or
international relations. Of course, the procedure is very
sophisticated.32 Sometimes for one single*fatwa* (edict) to be issued,
ijtihad might involve weeks of enquiry and investigation of religious
sources. Obviously ijtihad must be based on revelation and reason.33


