An Investigation and Criticism of Clifford's View regarding Authority

Authority, in Clifford's view, means that beliefs are based on mere personal conventions. He has criticized authority, based on this definition, and claims that relying on authority results in lack of reasoning in beliefs; and since all beliefs should be based on reason and reason is the only criterion for distinguishing between correct and incorrect beliefs, thus any belief based on authority is incorrect because it lacks reasoning. He absolutely denies the authority of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and the principles of justification of religious beliefs in Islam because of an incorrect comparison between Islam's and Christianity's teachings. He tries to maximally rationalize beliefs and claims all religious beliefs are rationally indefensible. He is the first Western epistemologist who has talked of the justification of religious beliefs in Islam. Clifford condemns believing in something without enough evidence and reason and says any belief without enough reason is wrong and immoral and also says this is true for all beliefs, including religious and non-religious beliefs. I have tried to investigate and criticize Clifford's definition of authority and in consequence, his critique of the justification of religious beliefs in this article.