Understanding Taqlid by Mufti Muhammad Sajaad

2: The Evolution Of Taqlīd
answers to the people except these two Imams,’ and none of the
scholars of the successors objected to the Khalīf or to the people
for this strict adherence.”
It would be fair to say that up to the second century, two kinds
of taqlīd were common in the umma: the non-specific (taqlīd ghayr
shakhṣī) and specific taqlīd (taqlīd shakhṣī). The first type i.e. nonspecific
is when Muslims wanting to know the Islamic ruling on an
issue would simply go to any reputable scholar in the community
who was accepted as an authority. This was the type of taqlīd which
was prevalent in the early days. However, examples such as those
cited above also show that Muslims also did specific taqlīd (taqlīd
shakhṣī) of a particular Companion or Follower exclusively. This
also proves that there is nothing essentially blameworthy with
someone being a Ḥanafī or Mālikī, for there were people who
were Mas‘ūdīs (followers of the opinions of Ibn Mas‘ud), Mu‘ādhīs,
‘Abbāsīs, etc. except that they did not go by these names.
One of the factors in the consolidation of Taqlīd Shakhṣī and the
phasing out of the other kind of taqlīd was the emergence of four
scholars who gained such recognition for their learning and piety
that students and even other scholars flocked around them. All
four were blessed with long lives such that they could encompass
each and every chapter of legal rulings and importantly were
undisputed Mujtahids. A mujtahid is a master scholar who has
reached the highest and most difficult level of ijtihād (Independent
juridical reasoning). There are many kinds of scholars of lower
categories; however the one who is permitted to exercise his ijtihād
in elaborating rulings is he who has spent many years acquiring
the skills and primary religious sciences enabling him to soundly
interpret the Holy Texts and thus deserving of being considered
an authority in the important matters of the Deen. To give just one
practical example of the high standards required to be considered
worthy of deriving laws, is encapsulate in the famous saying of
Imam Ahmad that a person cannot be considered a Mujtahid (one
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