Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: two disputing persons following different Maraji should resort to Ruler of Sharia on ruling related to both
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Wednesday, the 11th of Rabi al-Awwal. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed an issue regarding Taqlid, and said: “The author of Urwa al-Wuthqa believes that when there is a dispute between two people who follow different religious authorities, and the required ruling affects both, such as a husband and wife, a seller and a buyer, or two inheritors, each of them must follow the fatwa of their Marja.
His Eminence pointed out that in such a situation a man, for example, cannot oblige a woman to act in accordance with the fatwa of his Marja. He further explained: “But if in such cases, a conflict arises, in the sense that following the corresponding fatwa creates a hardship or problem which needs to be resolved, both of them should refer to the Ruler of Sharia, so that he can settle the difference between the two disputing persons.”
The Supreme Marja also went on to say: In regards to fulfilment of obligations, the opinion of the experts and the fatwa of the mujtahid is just a “valid conclusion”. So, if in some situation the mukallaf is sure that the opinion of the expert is not correct, for example, if a doctor says that fasting is harmful for you, but he himself is sure it is not, or if he achieves certainty, or comes to a conclusion where the mujtahid’s reasoning is not correct with regard to an issue, the certainty of the mukallaf is Hujjat for them.
