because Allah and the Prophet are infallible in what they say and do, and clearly, obedience to the infallible conflicts with obedience to the fallible; given that a contradiction between what the fallible say and do and what the infallible say and do is probable and even inevitable to some extent. Therefore, the command to follow what the infallible say and do necessitates the prohibition of following what the fallible say and do. It is not possible that Allah would command both, and consequently, attributing such a command to Him—even if based on ahad and conjectural narrations[1]—is considered fabricating lies against Him, which is a grave sin; as He has said: ﴿انْظُرْ كَيْفَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ ۖ وَكَفَى بِهِ إِثْمًا مُبِينًا﴾[2]; “See how they fabricate lies against Allah, while this is sufficient as a manifest sin.”

To be fair, unquestioning obedience to those who may, willingly or unwillingly, command against the order of Allah and the Prophet is not rational and cannot be obligatory. This is one of the clear and essential issues in Islam, to the extent that it is not unlikely that one who believes in its obligation would be foolish and considered a ward, like children; especially considering that unquestioning obedience to a fallible person and giving him the authority of the infallible is usually the source of various tribulations and great evil consequences such as political tyranny, which is sufficient to avoid; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ إِلَّا تَفْعَلُوهُ تَكُنْ فِتْنَةٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَفَسَادٌ كَبِيرٌ﴾[3]; “And those who disbelieved—some of them are guardians of some others! If you do not do this, there will be a tribulation on the Earth and great corruption.” It is clear that the piety of such a person, as long as it does not reach the level of infallibility, will also not guarantee that he will not abuse his unrestricted and unsupervised power; because it has been frequently seen and heard that some pious individuals, upon rising to power, have transgressed the limits set by Allah and committed oppression.