Those Vested with Authority

Qur’an 4:59 · Al-Nisāʾ · With other exegetes

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ ۖ فَإِن تَنَـٰزَعْتُمْ فِى شَىْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا

O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more favorable in outcome. (4:59)

The question

Who are “those vested with authority among you” (ulū al-amr), whom the believers must obey as they obey God and the Messenger?

Views answered: Fakhr al-Rāzī and the exegetes who take them as rulers, scholars or the decision-making elite · Muḥammad Jawād Mughniyya · With: al-Ṭūsī, al-Ṭabrisī

Jawādī Āmulī’s argument

Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī agrees with al-Ṭūsī and al-Ṭabrisī. Obedience to those vested with authority is joined to obedience to the Messenger, so it is unconditional; unconditional obedience is only due to someone protected from sin and error; and only God can make known who is infallible, which He did for the Prophet’s Household in the verse of purification (33:33). He answers Fakhr al-Rāzī’s three objections one by one, showing that each would also strike Rāzī’s own view, and rejects the idea that the consensus of a decision-making elite is infallible: an abstract body with no existence of its own cannot be infallible, and opinions are only true or false. Against Mughniyya he adds that infallibility is not impossible for others, though it can only be known through God’s declaration.

Views compared

The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them, with the works its notes cite. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.

Who they are Read →

al-Ṭūsī and al-Ṭabrisī; other exegetes

Three readings: rulers, scholars, or the Imams of the Prophet’s family, the first two refuted. Others add the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, military leaders, or the decision-making elite.

Jawādī Āmulī

With al-Ṭūsī: unconditional obedience can only be owed to the infallible, which rulers and scholars are not; the verse of purification (33:33) names the infallible.

Obedience before knowing them Read →

Fakhr al-Rāzī, first objection

We cannot obey Imams before we know them, and obedience conditional on knowing them is not the unconditional obedience the verse commands.

Jawādī Āmulī

Knowing who they are is a condition to be learned, as with knowing who the Messenger is; it does not make the command conditional. And the objection would strike Rāzī’s own decision-making elite too.

A plural for one Imam at a time Read →

Fakhr al-Rāzī, second objection

The verse says “those” in the plural, but the Shia Imams never rule together.

Jawādī Āmulī

The phrase is not bound to one era: obeying the Imam of one’s time is obeying all his predecessors too, as the Sunnah is followed after the Prophet.

Not named in disputes Read →

Fakhr al-Rāzī, third objection

Disputes are referred only to God and the Messenger; if the Imam were meant, they would be referred to him.

Jawādī Āmulī

The first dispute after the Prophet was over who holds authority, which can only be referred to a source all accept. Once the Imams’ authority is proven, they too are a reference (4:83); and the objection strikes Rāzī’s elite as well.

An infallible elite Read →

Fakhr al-Rāzī

Those vested with authority are the decision-making elite, whose consensus is infallible though none of them is. In al-Mizan ↗

Jawādī Āmulī

An abstract body with no existence of its own cannot be infallible, and opinions are only true or false; consensus may give a strong assumption, but not grounds for unconditional obedience.

How infallibility is known Read →

Muḥammad Jawād Mughniyya

Infallibility is a divine gift; it can only be known through revelation, and the Qur’an and Sunnah attest it for the Prophet’s Household.

Jawādī Āmulī

He agrees it is known only through God’s declaration, but adds that infallibility is not impossible for others: its lower degrees are open to the devoted.

Reading guide

Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.

1. The readings of al-Ṭūsī and al-Ṭabrisī
2. Three premises from the Qur’an
3. Fakhr al-Rāzī’s three objections and the replies
4. Mughniyya on infallibility
5. The infallibility of the decision-making elite
6. Five readings and how the dispute is resolved

The whole commentary on 4:59 → · The same verse in al-Mizan’s Key Debates ↗