Article on Taqleed
13. Those who say ‘No Taqleed’, in reality make Taqleed
Firstly let me begin by mentioning that a person makes taqleed in many areas of life. Where a person has no area of knowledge, he makes taqleed. For example, if your child is ill, do you approach medical textbooks in order to diagnose the disease and then recommend medicines for cure? Obviously not, you take him to see a doctor. When the doctor diagnoses the disease and prescribes medicines, do you then ask the doctor to explain what virus caused this and the pathology behind the disease and explain to you the indications, contra-indications, adverse effects etc of the medicine? You don’t even ask for the generic name of a medicine let alone ask for such details. The doctor will end up throwing you out of the clinic and tell you to go attend a medical school.
There are some brothers and sisters who claim they do not make taqleed and follow the Qur’an and Hadith. The reality of this matter is that they make taqleed themselves. There is no way around it - It’s unavoidable.
I will begin by a basic example. These people state that Bukhari is the most authentic book after Qur’an.
Which statement of the Prophet ﷺ or which Qur’anic verse says Sahih Bukhari is the book after Qur’an?
Have they studied all the ahadith in this book and their isnad and scrutinized every single hadith for verification? No they have not. They rely on the opinions of the scholars blindly.
The same people accept the criticisms and objections on the narrators of hadith as stated in the books of ‘Asmaa al-Rijaal’ which are many times without any solid proof. Is this taqleed or not?
These people take rulings from their own ‘ulema. To follow the rulings of one set of fiqh-ha rules is termed Taqleed Shakhsi. For example, if a Maliki takes rulings from different Maliki scholars, he still is doing taqleed shakhsi. If a salafi takes rulings from different salafi scholars then he still is doing taqleed shakhsi.
Moreover, when the ghair muqallideen rely only on the classification of ahadith of their ‘ulema, this again is a clear example of taqleed shakhsi.
There are many such examples which prove that people who claim they do not make taqleed, in reality make taqleed.
Abdul Wahhab Najdi whom the ghair muqallideen profess to follow, is quoted in the book “Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab” by Allama Ahmad Abdul Ghafoor, to have said:
“By the grace of Allah سبحانه و تعالى, we follow our pious predecessors and are not perpetrators of Bid’ah. We follow the Madhhab of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal.”
Firstly let me begin by mentioning that a person makes taqleed in many areas of life. Where a person has no area of knowledge, he makes taqleed. For example, if your child is ill, do you approach medical textbooks in order to diagnose the disease and then recommend medicines for cure? Obviously not, you take him to see a doctor. When the doctor diagnoses the disease and prescribes medicines, do you then ask the doctor to explain what virus caused this and the pathology behind the disease and explain to you the indications, contra-indications, adverse effects etc of the medicine? You don’t even ask for the generic name of a medicine let alone ask for such details. The doctor will end up throwing you out of the clinic and tell you to go attend a medical school.
There are some brothers and sisters who claim they do not make taqleed and follow the Qur’an and Hadith. The reality of this matter is that they make taqleed themselves. There is no way around it - It’s unavoidable.
I will begin by a basic example. These people state that Bukhari is the most authentic book after Qur’an.
Which statement of the Prophet ﷺ or which Qur’anic verse says Sahih Bukhari is the book after Qur’an?
Have they studied all the ahadith in this book and their isnad and scrutinized every single hadith for verification? No they have not. They rely on the opinions of the scholars blindly.
The same people accept the criticisms and objections on the narrators of hadith as stated in the books of ‘Asmaa al-Rijaal’ which are many times without any solid proof. Is this taqleed or not?
These people take rulings from their own ‘ulema. To follow the rulings of one set of fiqh-ha rules is termed Taqleed Shakhsi. For example, if a Maliki takes rulings from different Maliki scholars, he still is doing taqleed shakhsi. If a salafi takes rulings from different salafi scholars then he still is doing taqleed shakhsi.
Moreover, when the ghair muqallideen rely only on the classification of ahadith of their ‘ulema, this again is a clear example of taqleed shakhsi.
There are many such examples which prove that people who claim they do not make taqleed, in reality make taqleed.
Abdul Wahhab Najdi whom the ghair muqallideen profess to follow, is quoted in the book “Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab” by Allama Ahmad Abdul Ghafoor, to have said:
“By the grace of Allah سبحانه و تعالى, we follow our pious predecessors and are not perpetrators of Bid’ah. We follow the Madhhab of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal.”
