Marja? Al-Taqlid
MARJA? AL-TAQLID
Marja? al-taqlid (Persian Marja?-e taqlid) literally means "the source of imitation." Marja? al-taqlid is a title given to the highest-ranking cleric within Twelver Shi?ism. The conception of a single leading scholar who both directs and leads the ulema was not absent in Shi?ism, but the marja? institution did not emerge until the nineteenth century. The first universally recognized marja? was the influential mujtahid Murtada al-Ansari (d. 1864). He was followed by a series of scholars whose level of support as marja? varied, and a number of scholars at the same time could be put forward as "sources" (maraji?) simultaneously. There is no formal means whereby a marja? is selected: it seems he emerges as the "most learned" (a?lamiyya). There is also much dispute of the level of his authority (as a spokesperson, or as an authority to be obeyed by other scholars and the community). In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini led a revolution in Iran arguing that a single "supreme jurist" should control both the religious and the political affairs of the Shi a. His success changed the institution of marja?al-taqlid, politicizing it and making disobeying the orders of the supreme jurist similar to treason. After Khomeini died in 1989, there were political and religious disputes among the Shi?a over the role of the marja?al-taqlid. This dispute contributed to the declaration by the Iranian government, in 1994, that Ayatollah ?Sayyed Ali Khamane?i (a former close associate of Khomeini) was the single marja? al-taqlid when the then undisputed marja? Ayatollah Khu?i died. This move was undoubtedly linked to the need to establish the position of "leader of the revolution" (rahbar) in Iran. Ayatollah Khamene?i's position as the Marja? al-taqlid has, however, remained a matter of dispute.
See alsoShi?a: Imami (Twelver) ; Taqlid ; Ulema .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amanat, A. "In Between the Madrasa and the Marketplace: The Designations of Clerical Leadership in Modern Shi?ism." In Authority and Political Culture in Shi?ism. Edited by S. A. Arjomand. Albany: State University of NewYork Press, 1988.
Lambton, A. K. S. "A Reconsideration of the Position of the Marja? Taqlid and the Religious Institution." Studia Islamica 20 (1964): 115–135.
Robert Gleave