Based on recent ethnographic fieldwork in Kuwait this presentation seeks to challenge two tendencies in the study of religious authority among Shia Muslims. The first tendency is to focus these studies on the religious authorities themselves, on their teachings, profiles and positions within the clergy. In line with the overall theme of this panel, this presentation will contribute to an understanding of the meaning, place and role of religious authorities ‘from below’, among the muqallidun who emulate a marja’ (source of emulation). The second tendency is to regard the marja’iyya as a question of political identity, ideology and difference. In this regard the presentation will argue that following a religious authority is first and foremost a moral and a spiritual question, and in Kuwait most Shia hold that marja’iyya has little to do with politics. According to this widespread view, politics is not the place of religious authorities. Kuwait is, I suggest, a particularly interesting place for the study of the place and role of marja’iyya religious authority among lay Shia: First of all because not much research has examined notions of religious authority among the Kuwaiti Shia so far and how these may differ from such notions among the Shia of Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Bahrain, secondly because the place and role of marja’iyya is an issue of great concern for many Kuwaiti Shia, thirdly because the competition for believers among the marja’s is seemingly less politically charged in Kuwait than it is in Iran and Iraq, and finally because Kuwaiti Shia choose from a number of different marja’s, all very present in the Kuwaiti Shia imaginary, some thought of as local to Kuwait (such as the Shaykhi and the Shirazi marjas) and some internationally reputed marja’s (such as Sistani and Khamenei). As I will argue, differences within the Shia sect are therefore often just as important as are differences between sects, even if the latter is a greater concern to both scholarship and politics today. However, and not least when studied ‘from below’, the question of following a particular marja’ is – at least in Kuwait – not so much a question of political ideologies and differences as it is a question of moral and existential concerns for the individual Shia to lead a proper life.