Reason, Faith & Authority: a Shiite Perspective

• [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