Rank
The title is currently granted to top Shia mujtahid, after completing sat'h and kharij studies in the hawza. By then the mujtahid would be able to issue his own edicts from the sources of Islamic religious laws: the Qur'an, the Sunnah, ijmāʻ, and 'aql ("intellect", rather than the Sunnī principle of qiyas). Most of the time this is attested by an issued certificate from his teachers. The ayatollah can then teach in hawzas (shia temples) according to his speciality, can act as a reference for their religious questions, and act as a judge. There is an important difference from Shi'a ayatollahs and "saints" in other religions and Sunni Islam: ayatollahs are not regarded as enlightened by God Himself, but by the Word of God.
Read more about this topic: Ayatollah
Famous quotes containing the word rank:
“ArchbishopA Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“I have not loved the world, nor the world me;
I have not flatterd its rank breath, nor bowd
To its idolatries a patient knee.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (17881824)
“Your rank is way down below his when you seek to establish the exceptions and he seeks to establish the rule.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)