Reflection upon Authority of Authentic Tradition

Authority of authentic tradition (non-Imami valid tradition) is one of the most important issues in Legal Theory and hadith sciences; for, among Shii hadiths, there are many hadiths which are considered as authentic and their authority (or their being not authoritative) is of great influence in inferring religious judgments. There are many opinions concerning this issue from among of which the following two are more important:"absolute authority" which is in particular during recent centuries ascribed to the opinion dominant among elder ones; and "non-authority" which is ascribed by Shahid Thani again to the opinion dominant among elder ones. Arguments for authority of authentic traditions are, in addition to some traditions, based on states of wise people; and on the other hand, opponents of authority of authentic tradition refer to some verses such as"O ye who believe! If an evil-liver bring you tidings, verify it, lest ye smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what ye did" (49: 6) and " And incline not toward those who do wrong lest the Fire touch you, and ye have no protecting friends against Allah, and afterward ye would not be helped" (11: 113) as well as many hadiths suggesting that the Holy Legislator is not satisfied by "authentic tradition"; and in this way, they have provided replies for arguments posed by proponents (which arebased on traditions or states of wise people). The present article introduces arguments posed by two sides, and chooses the opinion that arguments posed by proponents are preferred; and given opposing traditions, at least, one cannot infer consensus of theLegislator from states of wise people.