Twelver Shi Ite Essay

It is assumed that globalization affects traditional authority structures but Robert Gleave argues that the Twelver- Shi’ite community in Iraq has maintained its traditional authority despite modernity. He discusses how the minority of the Muslims, dissociation of the scholars from political power, poverty and isolation of the Muslims from modernizing power, propagation of scholarly authority and their economic independence as a result of the collection of Islamic taxes, rise in the notion of obedience to the scholars in the form of taqlid (imitation), and the association of Shi’ite scholars with political power in Iran are all factors that enabled the Shi’ite community to maintain their authority structure despite globalization. He bases his article on the intellectual grounds of Iraqi Shi’ite authority structures from the viewpoints of three scholars: Sistani, Ha’iri and, Baqir al-Hakim. …show more content…
Ijtihad was a major factor in the maintenance of the Shi’ite scholarly authority. Despite the spread of liberal notions and democracy, all three scholars agree with marja’iyyah (that individuals who don’t do ijtihad (juristic effort) are obliged to imitate the most learned mujtahid and not follow their own opinion). However, their methodologies of determining who to follow is different. Sistani gives preference to the scholar’s opinions regarding who the most learned mujtahid and the mujtahids are. Whereas, Baqir al-Hakim gives more preference to personal conviction in order to identify the mujtahid. Baqir al-Hakim states that the most learned scholar has to determine religious rulings, be a guardian and a