Article on Taqleed
14. Why cant Layman Judge Evidence?
Some of our ghair muqallid brothers say that we can see the evidence provided by everyone and then judge which one is true. If after reading this piece from the start, a person still says such a thing then he has either not read anything or was not paying attention.
For one to be able to judge evidence, one has to know about the evidence. Let me give an example. If you are not a doctor and I come to you with a disease, will you be able to diagnose the disease and prescribe any medicine to me?
What really happens is that they take a book of one of their Imams and then read his side of the argument and accept the view because it “seems to be correct”. They do not bother to read the counter-arguments made by other scholars. Picking up one book and reading the “evidences” in it for a ruling does NOT in any way or form mean “judging” a matter. To judge, one has to be fluent in many sciences. Hence judges of courts in countries are chosen from people fluent in the field of law. A carpenter cannot be made a judge because he does not know the law.
In reality the ghair muqallideen just see the matter superficially and make taqleed to their imam’s opinion without questioning any of the usul (principles) which he adopted.
Mufti A.H. Elias in “Taqleed” writes:
“A common man cannot understand the finer details of the principles of Deen. Anything presented to him will be swallowed. This is because he cannot judge these things in the light of ‘ilm due to lack of it. This is how falsehood spreads among the Muslims.”
Some of our ghair muqallid brothers say that we can see the evidence provided by everyone and then judge which one is true. If after reading this piece from the start, a person still says such a thing then he has either not read anything or was not paying attention.
For one to be able to judge evidence, one has to know about the evidence. Let me give an example. If you are not a doctor and I come to you with a disease, will you be able to diagnose the disease and prescribe any medicine to me?
What really happens is that they take a book of one of their Imams and then read his side of the argument and accept the view because it “seems to be correct”. They do not bother to read the counter-arguments made by other scholars. Picking up one book and reading the “evidences” in it for a ruling does NOT in any way or form mean “judging” a matter. To judge, one has to be fluent in many sciences. Hence judges of courts in countries are chosen from people fluent in the field of law. A carpenter cannot be made a judge because he does not know the law.
In reality the ghair muqallideen just see the matter superficially and make taqleed to their imam’s opinion without questioning any of the usul (principles) which he adopted.
Mufti A.H. Elias in “Taqleed” writes:
“A common man cannot understand the finer details of the principles of Deen. Anything presented to him will be swallowed. This is because he cannot judge these things in the light of ‘ilm due to lack of it. This is how falsehood spreads among the Muslims.”
