Authority, religious - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Afsaruddin, Asma
Leiden
Brill
(2,967 words)
Religious authority in Islamic thought, both Sunnī and Shīʿī, is based primarily on the possession of ʿilm (knowledge) of religious matters, and, to a certain extent, knowledge of relevant worldly affairs, combined with irreproachable personal piety. The authority of the prophet Muḥammad, as well as that of other prophets, was based on the divinely transmitted knowledge they received as God's emissaries, knowledge that is not available to ordinary human beings. The term waḥy ("divine revelation") denotes the infallible knowledge of divine provenance conferred only upon God's elect messengers