Religious Roles & Titles
Marja
Also Known As Marja al-taqlid · source of emulation · plural maraji
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Origin 1800 to 1900
The most senior rank of Twelver Shia jurist: a mujtahid whose rulings a lay believer follows in all matters of practice. Every Twelver Shia Muslim who is not himself qualified is required to follow one, and to follow a living one, so that a marja's rulings lapse on his death and his followers must transfer to another.
The consequences are institutional and financial. A marja issues a practical manual of rulings covering worship, transactions, food, contracts and much else; he receives khums, the fifth of annual surplus income, from those who follow him, and his office spends it on seminaries, students, mosques and welfare. His standing is therefore measurable in followers and in revenue, and it is conferred by scholarly recognition and popular acceptance rather than by appointment. Several marjas normally hold the rank at once, in Najaf, Qom and elsewhere, and they do not always agree.
There is no equivalent in Sunni Islam. A Sunni Muslim follows a school of law rather than a living person, may consult any qualified scholar, and is not required to confine himself to one. Descriptions of Sunni religious authority that use the language of following a marja are importing a Shia institution.
The relation of the marjaiyya to political authority is contested within Twelver scholarship. Khomeini's doctrine of the guardianship of the jurist, which extends the jurist's authority to government, was and remains a minority position; the quietist tradition associated with Najaf holds that the jurist's authority does not extend to ruling.
Facts
Organisation
OrdinationConferred by a teacher's certification of learning 1Tradition: Shia (Twelver) Recognised by the seminaries and, in practice, by the following that emulates him Reach of Its AuthorityThose who choose to follow this person 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Origins
Origin Period Learn More
A Source of Emulation, Measured in Followers and in Money
The marja is the most senior rank of Twelver Shia jurist, and it is unusual among religious offices in that its standing is measurable, in followers and in revenue, and has no equivalent in Sunni Islam.
Following a living jurist
Every Twelver Shia Muslim who is not himself qualified is required to follow a marja, and to follow a living one, so that the rulings of a marja lapse on his death and his followers must transfer to another. A marja issues a practical manual of rulings covering worship, transactions and much else, and he receives khums, the fifth of annual surplus income, from those who follow him, which his office spends on seminaries, students, mosques and welfare. His standing is therefore conferred by scholarly recognition and popular acceptance rather than by appointment, and several marjas normally hold the rank at once, in Najaf, Qom and elsewhere, and do not always agree.
No Sunni equivalent
There is no counterpart in Sunni Islam. A Sunni Muslim follows a school of law rather than a living person and may consult any qualified scholar, and descriptions of Sunni authority that use the language of following a marja are importing a Shia institution. The independence of the marja rests on khums, which is why the financial question is inseparable from the question of authority: a marja funded by a state would not be the same office, and the quietist tradition of Najaf and the doctrine of clerical government developed by Khomeini divide precisely over how far that independent authority extends.
Choosing Whose Rulings to Follow
Twelver Shia doctrine requires an unqualified believer to identify and follow the most learned living marja available, a determination called taqlid, and manuals exist within the tradition describing how a lay Shia Muslim is meant to establish which candidate is most learned, generally by consulting the assessments of other qualified scholars rather than by personal judgement, since the ordinary believer is by definition not equipped to evaluate legal scholarship directly. Once a follower has chosen a marja, the practical relationship runs through that marja's risalah, a published manual of rulings covering prayer, fasting, transactions, family law and much else, which the follower consults for guidance on ordinary religious and legal questions.
The mechanics of this relationship have moved substantially online in recent decades, with the offices of major marjas, including those based in Najaf and Qom, maintaining websites and, more recently, mobile applications through which followers anywhere in the world can search rulings, submit questions and receive answers, extending a relationship that once depended on physical proximity to a teacher or a printed manual into an instantaneous global one, without changing the underlying religious requirement that the follower submit to a specific named, living authority rather than to a body of law in the abstract.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Marja al-taqlid, the source of emulation, is the most senior rank of Twelver Shia religious authority, whose rulings observant Shia Muslims choose to follow.
Element Of
The source of emulation is a living office with no Sunni counterpart: the most learned jurist of the age, whose rulings bind those who choose to follow him and who receives the khums directly.
A layman must follow a living marja in matters of practice, and the institution of the marjaiyya gives Twelver Shiism a functioning hierarchy of religious authority that Sunni Islam has no equivalent of.
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