The Comparative Study of the Status and Role of Tradition in the Shi’a and the Roman Catholic Church

Tradition is recognized as the second source of religious knowledge from the Islamic scholars’ point of view. What does tradition mean in the view of the Shiites? And what are their cases? Where does it apply in the case of the proof of validity of tradition? Tradition literally means the method and manner. In terms of the Shiites, it means words and deeds and the report of Ma’soum. Tradition is composed the types: Verbal tradition, Practical tradition and report tradition. One of the applications of the tradition is explanation and interpretation of Qur’an.  Many issues in the Holy Qur’an are expressed generally and are not in detail and it is the tradition’s duty to explain the particularities. One of the applications of the tradition is also to express commandments and laws that are not in the Qur’an. What is the meaning of tradition in the Roman Catholic Church? And what are their cases? Where does it apply in the case of the proof of validity of tradition? Tradition basically means a thing to be deliverd to a person and also to deliver something. In Christianity it means all the training and practices of the church from the advent of Christianity to the present that includes: the tradition of the Fathers of the Church, the Creeds of Church Councils that are formed of Pope and the Convention of Christian Bishops.