Verses Denying the Transfer of Responsibility

One of the common yet entirely baseless beliefs in the tradition of taqlid is that "responsibility for the correctness or incorrectness of an action is transferred to the marja' of taqlid." This is not merely an oral belief among the people but has been written and promoted by scholars as well. For instance, Ayatollah Sistani, in explaining the meaning of taqlid on his website, wrote:

"Taqlid is acting according to the fatwa of a fully qualified jurist, even if one does not attribute it to his fatwa at the time of action. So if one acts according to what appears (to be correct) and abandons what must be abandoned without investigation, taqlid has been realized. It is as if he has hung the jurist's fatwa around his neck like a collar and placed the responsibility of the ruling before God upon him." (Source)

Here he has officially written that the responsibility of the ruling before God is removed from the muqallid and placed upon the marja'. Also, Ayatollah Rafi'i has said:

"Therefore, following the unreasonable and blind is wrong, not permissible, and has been condemned. But taqlid of a scholar, an expert, and knowledgeable following — its name is not taqlid; it is based on knowledge. And we call it taqlid because we throw the duty onto that person's neck." (Source)

Yet we do not have even a single verse or hadith that even implicitly or indirectly indicates that the responsibility of the muqallid's action falls on the marja' and the muqallid will not be answerable! On the contrary, numerous verses with various expressions prove that the responsibility lies with both the muqallid and the marja', and that claim is a great lie that has gradually appeared justified among people and scholars.

  1. The unbelievers say to the believers, 'Follow our path, and we will carry your sins.' Yet they will carry nothing of their sins; they are truly liars. (29:12) They will carry their loads and other loads along with their loads, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be questioned about what they were forging. (13)

Some people say: "This verse begins with 'the unbelievers say,' so it is about unbelievers and has nothing to do with Muslims or scholars." In response, several points are worth considering: First, the word "kufr" in the Qur'an has degrees and does not always mean denying God. Rather, in some cases, it is used for those who conceal the truth or deny a blessing. In the matter of claiming transfer of responsibility, those who know these verses and the following ones but do not convey them to people, and do not tell them that a marja' cannot carry the burden of their actions on the Day of Judgment, have concealed the truth and denied the blessing of knowledge — they could be examples of this verse.

Second, even if we take "al-ladhina kafaru" to mean godless people, we should note how a godless person with no faith in God and the Hereafter can have such confidence as to tell believers: "Follow our path and we will carry your sins"? And on the other hand, is it logical that a group of believers would be so naive as to believe such a claim from unbelievers, to the point that God has to send down a verse explicitly stating "they are certainly liars"? Does a believer need to be reminded that the promise of a person who does not believe in the Hereafter is not trustworthy?

Third, even if we accept that this claim was made by unbelievers, can we conclude that if a person like a marja' says "your sin is on us," it is acceptable? Is the message of the verse that such a claim is only rejected when the speaker is an unbeliever, but if another non-infallible person makes it, it would be acceptable? Obviously, this understanding contradicts the spirit and text of the following Quranic verses.

  1. Say: 'Shall I seek after a Lord other than God, who is the Lord of all things?' Every soul earns only to its own account, and no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord you will return, and He will tell you of what you differed. (6:164)
  1. And every man — We have fastened to him his bird of omen upon his neck; and on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring forth for him a book he shall find wide open. (17:13) 'Read your book! Your soul suffices you this day as a reckoner against you.' (14) Whosoever is guided, is guided only to his own gain, and whosoever goes astray, it is only to his own loss. No burdened soul shall bear the burden of another. And We never chastise, until We send forth a Messenger. (15)

These verses use the word "neck" (as in "around his collar") and remind that every person's deeds are upon his own neck, clearly contradicting what is promoted in taqlid. They continue by saying no one carries the burden of another.

  1. No burdened soul shall bear the burden of another; and if one heavy-laden calls for its load to be carried, nothing of it will be carried, even though he be a near kinsman. You only warn those who fear their Lord in the Unseen and perform the prayer; and whosoever purifies himself, he purifies himself only for his own soul; and to God is the homecoming. (35:18)
  1. If you disbelieve, God is independent of you; He is not pleased with unbelief for His servants; if you are thankful, He is pleased with you. No burdened soul shall bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord you shall return, and He will tell you what you have been doing. He knows what is in the breasts. (39:7)
  1. That no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another, (53:38) and that a man shall have to his account only as he has labored, (39) and that his labor shall surely be seen, (40) then he shall be recompensed for it the most full recompense. (41)

Interestingly, ten verses before this in the same sura are about taqlid, as explained in the section Verse 28 of Surah al-Najm.

  1. And fear a day when no soul shall compensate for another in anything, and no intercession shall be accepted from it, nor any ransom taken, neither shall they be helped. (2:48)
  1. Fear a day when no soul shall compensate for another in anything, and no ransom shall be accepted from it, nor any intercession benefit it, neither shall they be helped. (2:123)
  1. The day when a patron shall not avail a patron in anything, and they shall not be helped. (44:41)
  1. O mankind, fear your Lord and dread a day when no father shall avail his son, and no son shall avail his father anything. God's promise is surely true; so let not the present life delude you, and let not the Deluder delude you concerning God. (31:33)

On a day when even a father cannot avail his son, can a marja' take responsibility for our actions?! This serious warning comes 12 verses after Verse 21 of Surah Luqman, which condemned taqlid of both blood-related and non-blood-related fathers.

  1. All of them shall come to Him on the Day of Resurrection, every one alone. (19:95)

This verse says everyone in the heavens and the earth will come to God individually on the Day of Resurrection. If we accept what we have been told in taqlid, it would mean every believing muqallid would come before God accompanied by his marja'.

  1. Upon the day when a man shall flee from his brother, (80:34) and his mother, and his father, (35) and his consort, and his sons, (36) every man that day shall have a business to occupy him. (37)
  1. Now you have come to Us, every one alone, as We created you the first time, and you have left behind you all that We conferred upon you, and We do not see with you your intercessors, those you asserted were partners in you. Now the bond between you is broken, and that which you used to pretend has gone astray from you. (6:94)
  1. And whosoever has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it. (99:8)

We have all heard this verse many times, but have we thought: if through blind following of a marja' we perform a wrong action, according to this verse it is we ourselves who will see it. If it were not to be seen by us but by the marja', this would contradict the verse.

  1. Upon the day when no soul shall possess anything for another; and the command upon that day belongs to God. (82:19)

Verses with Implicit Negation

There are other verses that implicitly indicate the non-transfer of responsibility, including:

  1. On the day when every soul will come disputing in its own behalf, and every soul shall be paid in full for what it has done, and they shall not be wronged. (16:111)

This verse says the Day of Resurrection is when everyone will defend themselves and receive fully what they have done. If it were supposed that the marja' would defend us or that the wrong actions we performed according to his fatwa would not be given to us but to him, then the terms of this verse would be inaccurate.

The Hadith of Raf' Does Not Help the Lie of Transfer of Responsibility

When we bring up the above verses to defenders of taqlid, some refer to the "hadith of raf'" (removal) to provide an answer. This hadith, narrated from the Prophet (p), says that several things have been removed from his community, including responsibility for "what they do not know":

"Nine things have been removed from my community: error, forgetfulness, what they are compelled to do, what they do not know, what they cannot bear, what they are forced to do, envy, bad omens, and thinking about the whispers of creation as long as they are not uttered."

Thus they try to say that if the marja' makes an effort but cannot arrive at the correct ruling, and issues a fatwa out of ignorance, responsibility is removed from him.

However, we must note: first, the content of this hadith is not compatible with God's justice — if other nations were to be punished for forgetfulness or what they could not bear, while Muslims are exempt, this would be clear discrimination, unless we find an interpretation for the hadith. Second, assuming the hadith is authentic, in that case, responsibility is removed from the muqallids in the first place, and they could do whatever they want without referring to a specialist because they "don't know." Third, if authentic, the marja' would have no responsibility at all — it would be removed from him. But in taqlid, this is not the claim! In taqlid, they do not say the marja' has no responsibility and it is "removed"; rather, they say the responsibility exists but is "transferred" from the muqallid to the marja'. So the hadith of raf' does not indicate "transfer of responsibility."

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Parent page: The Qur'an Condemns Taqlid

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