section_path: Caliphate/Administrative policies/Religious authority
section_name: Religious authority
paragraph_text: Religious authority
  
  As evident from his public speeches, Ali viewed himself not only as the temporal leader of the Muslim community but also as its exclusive religious authority. He thus laid claim to the religious authority to interpret the Quran and Sunna. Some supporters of Ali indeed held him as their divinely-guided leader who deserved the same type of loyalty that Muhammad did. They felt an absolute and all-encompassing bond of spiritual loyalty (walaya) to Ali that transcended politics. For instance, many of them publicly offered Ali their unconditional support circa 658. They justified their absolute loyalty to Ali on the basis of his merits, precedent in Islam, his kinship with Muhammad, and also the announcement by the latter at the Ghadir Khumm. Many of these supporters also viewed Ali as the rightful successor to Muhammad after his death, as evidenced in the poetry from that period, for instance.