Article on Taqleed
8. Why Do Taqleed Shakhsi?
In light of the evidence above, it has been established that absolute taqleed and taqleed of an individual i.e. taqleed shakhsi, both are proven from the Qur’an, Hadith, Sahabah رضی اللہ عنھم and Tabi’een رحمۃ اللہ علیھم.
We are prone to fall prey to our nafs - our desires. Islam is the submission to Allah سبحانه و تعالى by following and adhering to his laws. Without taqleed we can easily end up submitting to our nafs and not to Allah سبحانه و تعالى.
Now let’s take a practical example to see the dangers one faces if he or she does not make taqleed:
A person in wudhu starts to bleed. His wudhu becomes invalid according to the Hanafi Madhhab but according the Shafi’i it does not. In this case the person thinks “oh well according to the Shafi’i it does not become invalid so I can offer Salah.” Later on in the same day he touches a woman and now according to the Shafi’i his wudhu has become void but according to Hanafi it has not. Now he thinks “oh Hanafis say it’s not broken so my wudhu is intact.”
Here it can be seen how this person followed his nafs and not Allah سبحانه و تعالى. For such reasons scholars have agreed that this methodology is haram.
Another example is as follows:
A person visits another town and thus becomes a traveler. He visits it for 5 days. Now according to the Shafi’i view he is not a traveler if he wishes to stay for 4 days or more. According to the Hanafi view he is a traveler till 14 days. So he uses the Hanafi view and declares himself a traveler and then uses the Shafi’i opinion and combines prayers.
Again in this example it is clear that this person has fallen prey to his nafs and is not submitting to Allah سبحانه و تعالى.
Mufti Taqi Uthmani quotes various such opinions:
“So if absolute taqleed is allowed, people would choose the easiest and Shariah commands would become meaningless. For example,
1. Imam Shafi’i رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allows playing chess.
2. Abdullah ibn Ja’far رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allowed singing and flute. (Ithaf ab-Sadatul Mutqeen)
3. Qasim Ibn Muhammad رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allowed pictures without shadows. (Nawawi in Sharh Muslim)
4. A’mash رحمۃ اللہ علیہ held that fasting commenced from sunrise, not dawn. (Ruh al-Ma’ani under 2:187)
5. Ata ibn Abu Ribah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ held that if Eid fell on Friday then both the salah of Friday and Dhuhr are waived and there is no salah till Asr. (Tahzeeb al-Asma wal-Lughat)
6. Dawood Zahiri and Ibn Hazam رحمۃ اللہ علیھما have ruled that one who intends to marry a woman may see her in the nude. (Tuhfah al-Ahwazi; Fath al-Muhlim)
7. Ibn Sahnun رحمۃ اللہ علیہ and others are said to have allowed anal intercourse. (Talkhees ul-Jeer by Ibn Hajar)
So if Absolute Taqleed is allowed and everyone is permitted to do as he likes and choose a ruling that suits him then he would collect such sayings and prepare a religion with the help of his base self and the devil.”
Knowing the dangers of such, scholars have written against such behavior declaring it as unlawful. One such opinion is quoted by a person who is accepted by the ghair muqallideen.
Ibn Taymiyyah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ, in Fatawa al-Kubra has written:
“The people follow the imam who holds marriage (in a particular case) as void and later they follow an imam who holds it to be valid. This is because of following of one’s own desires. Doing this is unanimously unlawful in the eyes of the Ummah.”
Further on he writes:
“And if someone says he was not aware of the ruling of another Madhhab and now that he has become aware of it he adheres to it, even then his word is not acceptable because this is making the deen a toy.”
Thus it is important to do taqleed and adhere to that school of thought rather than jumping from one ruling to another. We cannot go fatwa shopping based on our desires.
During one of the best of times i.e. in the time of the Sahabah and Tabi’een, people still made Taqleed Shakhsi i.e. of an individual. But because people back then were very God-fearing and righteous, there was no fear in doing Absolute Taqleed.
Mufti Taqi Uthmani writes:
“When later jurists found that people were becoming unreliable, they gave the verdict that only taqleed of an individual was allowed. This was not a command of Shari’ah but an edict for administrative reasons.”
The jurists, for the benefit of the people and to secure and safeguard them from following their nafs, issued this ruling.
It was for the benefit of the ummah that taqleed shakhsi was made wajib and this happened in the 2nd century AH.
Shah Waliullah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in al-Insaaf writes:
“It was during the second century of Islam that following a particular Madhhab became common and there was scarcely any who did not do so. This was wajib.”
For the same benefits today we need to do taqleed shakhsi.
Imam Nawawi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ writes in al-Majmoo’ Sharah al-Muhazzib:
“The reason taqleed of an individual has been made binding is that if man was allowed to follow whichever school of thought he liked then he would seek ease in every school of thought and act according to his base desires. People will get authority over the lawful and unlawful, the permitted and forbidden. The restrictions of Shari’ah will be removed finally. In earlier days, the schools of thought were not arranged completely and well-known. (Now that they are compiled and known) it is essential for everyone to select one of them and follow it specifically.”
In Fatawa Rahimiyyah, Shaami رحمۃ اللہ علیہ is quoted as reporting the following incident:
“A faqih wished to marry the daughter of a certain Muhaddith. The Muhaddith however stipulated that he would allow the marriage only if the faqih conformed to the practices of ‘Raf’ul Yadain’ and ‘Aameen bil Jahar’. The faqih accepted and the couple was married. When the incident was mentioned to a saint of the time, he lowered his head and after a while said, “I fear for his Imaan because he compromised what he was doing as a Sunnah for worldly gain.”
An Issue of Fiqh
To prevent the ummah from falling into misguidance the ‘ulema time and again recommend that which is good and tell people to abstain from that which could bring about potential damage. A related example is quoted below.
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in Jawahir ul Fiqh writes:
“An example similar to this matter is that of the seven qira’at which are from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by mutawattir traditions. It has always been normal to recite the Qur’an in them. However, Allamah Halbi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ stated that these are the times of ignorance and thus it is better to recite only in that qira’at which is practiced in one’s country. Any other qira’at should not be used so that the people do not fall into the confusion that there is ikhtilaf (difference) in the words of the Qur’an.”
Keeping all this in mind, absolute taqleed was “abolished” by the ‘ulema and taqleed shakhsi was made an obligation. In light of the above example and that of Uthman رضی اللہ عنہ given earlier, this action cannot be termed as ‘bid’ah’.
In light of the evidence above, it has been established that absolute taqleed and taqleed of an individual i.e. taqleed shakhsi, both are proven from the Qur’an, Hadith, Sahabah رضی اللہ عنھم and Tabi’een رحمۃ اللہ علیھم.
We are prone to fall prey to our nafs - our desires. Islam is the submission to Allah سبحانه و تعالى by following and adhering to his laws. Without taqleed we can easily end up submitting to our nafs and not to Allah سبحانه و تعالى.
Now let’s take a practical example to see the dangers one faces if he or she does not make taqleed:
A person in wudhu starts to bleed. His wudhu becomes invalid according to the Hanafi Madhhab but according the Shafi’i it does not. In this case the person thinks “oh well according to the Shafi’i it does not become invalid so I can offer Salah.” Later on in the same day he touches a woman and now according to the Shafi’i his wudhu has become void but according to Hanafi it has not. Now he thinks “oh Hanafis say it’s not broken so my wudhu is intact.”
Here it can be seen how this person followed his nafs and not Allah سبحانه و تعالى. For such reasons scholars have agreed that this methodology is haram.
Another example is as follows:
A person visits another town and thus becomes a traveler. He visits it for 5 days. Now according to the Shafi’i view he is not a traveler if he wishes to stay for 4 days or more. According to the Hanafi view he is a traveler till 14 days. So he uses the Hanafi view and declares himself a traveler and then uses the Shafi’i opinion and combines prayers.
Again in this example it is clear that this person has fallen prey to his nafs and is not submitting to Allah سبحانه و تعالى.
Mufti Taqi Uthmani quotes various such opinions:
“So if absolute taqleed is allowed, people would choose the easiest and Shariah commands would become meaningless. For example,
1. Imam Shafi’i رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allows playing chess.
2. Abdullah ibn Ja’far رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allowed singing and flute. (Ithaf ab-Sadatul Mutqeen)
3. Qasim Ibn Muhammad رحمۃ اللہ علیہ allowed pictures without shadows. (Nawawi in Sharh Muslim)
4. A’mash رحمۃ اللہ علیہ held that fasting commenced from sunrise, not dawn. (Ruh al-Ma’ani under 2:187)
5. Ata ibn Abu Ribah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ held that if Eid fell on Friday then both the salah of Friday and Dhuhr are waived and there is no salah till Asr. (Tahzeeb al-Asma wal-Lughat)
6. Dawood Zahiri and Ibn Hazam رحمۃ اللہ علیھما have ruled that one who intends to marry a woman may see her in the nude. (Tuhfah al-Ahwazi; Fath al-Muhlim)
7. Ibn Sahnun رحمۃ اللہ علیہ and others are said to have allowed anal intercourse. (Talkhees ul-Jeer by Ibn Hajar)
So if Absolute Taqleed is allowed and everyone is permitted to do as he likes and choose a ruling that suits him then he would collect such sayings and prepare a religion with the help of his base self and the devil.”
Knowing the dangers of such, scholars have written against such behavior declaring it as unlawful. One such opinion is quoted by a person who is accepted by the ghair muqallideen.
Ibn Taymiyyah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ, in Fatawa al-Kubra has written:
“The people follow the imam who holds marriage (in a particular case) as void and later they follow an imam who holds it to be valid. This is because of following of one’s own desires. Doing this is unanimously unlawful in the eyes of the Ummah.”
Further on he writes:
“And if someone says he was not aware of the ruling of another Madhhab and now that he has become aware of it he adheres to it, even then his word is not acceptable because this is making the deen a toy.”
Thus it is important to do taqleed and adhere to that school of thought rather than jumping from one ruling to another. We cannot go fatwa shopping based on our desires.
During one of the best of times i.e. in the time of the Sahabah and Tabi’een, people still made Taqleed Shakhsi i.e. of an individual. But because people back then were very God-fearing and righteous, there was no fear in doing Absolute Taqleed.
Mufti Taqi Uthmani writes:
“When later jurists found that people were becoming unreliable, they gave the verdict that only taqleed of an individual was allowed. This was not a command of Shari’ah but an edict for administrative reasons.”
The jurists, for the benefit of the people and to secure and safeguard them from following their nafs, issued this ruling.
It was for the benefit of the ummah that taqleed shakhsi was made wajib and this happened in the 2nd century AH.
Shah Waliullah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in al-Insaaf writes:
“It was during the second century of Islam that following a particular Madhhab became common and there was scarcely any who did not do so. This was wajib.”
For the same benefits today we need to do taqleed shakhsi.
Imam Nawawi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ writes in al-Majmoo’ Sharah al-Muhazzib:
“The reason taqleed of an individual has been made binding is that if man was allowed to follow whichever school of thought he liked then he would seek ease in every school of thought and act according to his base desires. People will get authority over the lawful and unlawful, the permitted and forbidden. The restrictions of Shari’ah will be removed finally. In earlier days, the schools of thought were not arranged completely and well-known. (Now that they are compiled and known) it is essential for everyone to select one of them and follow it specifically.”
In Fatawa Rahimiyyah, Shaami رحمۃ اللہ علیہ is quoted as reporting the following incident:
“A faqih wished to marry the daughter of a certain Muhaddith. The Muhaddith however stipulated that he would allow the marriage only if the faqih conformed to the practices of ‘Raf’ul Yadain’ and ‘Aameen bil Jahar’. The faqih accepted and the couple was married. When the incident was mentioned to a saint of the time, he lowered his head and after a while said, “I fear for his Imaan because he compromised what he was doing as a Sunnah for worldly gain.”
An Issue of Fiqh
To prevent the ummah from falling into misguidance the ‘ulema time and again recommend that which is good and tell people to abstain from that which could bring about potential damage. A related example is quoted below.
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in Jawahir ul Fiqh writes:
“An example similar to this matter is that of the seven qira’at which are from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by mutawattir traditions. It has always been normal to recite the Qur’an in them. However, Allamah Halbi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ stated that these are the times of ignorance and thus it is better to recite only in that qira’at which is practiced in one’s country. Any other qira’at should not be used so that the people do not fall into the confusion that there is ikhtilaf (difference) in the words of the Qur’an.”
Keeping all this in mind, absolute taqleed was “abolished” by the ‘ulema and taqleed shakhsi was made an obligation. In light of the above example and that of Uthman رضی اللہ عنہ given earlier, this action cannot be termed as ‘bid’ah’.
