Understanding Taqlid by Mufti Muhammad Sajaad

understanding taqlīd
of following a madh-hab. He answered categorically that all four
schools are permissible to follow. Furthermore, he added, if a
person was a Shafi, or a follower of any of the other three schools,
and the people of his city or locality were on that school, then it is
“not permitted” (Lā Yajooz) for him as a layman to choose another
opinion contrary to the opinion of that school, as that is following
one’s desires. The non-madh-habists paint taqlīd and the following
of the four schools as something alien to Islam. Here Shaikh Al-
Sadlān, a highly respected and greatly learned authority, on the
contrary, states the same legal position we have (in this book), which
is the position of the majority of the Muslims. This requires each
of us to ask, is there any room left for non-madh-habism (Salafism/
“Jamāt Ahl-Al-Hadith”) to deny that taqlīd of the four schools is
a valid view, and moreover it is actually the orthodox position of
Sunni Islam? Is it not time that this minority group that has taken
a position against the majority of Muslims, reject this idea that
breeds division, confusion and reflects, to the wider non-Muslim
community, an image of the Muslim community as a disunited
community at odds with themselves, thereby enabling the enemies
of Islam to mock Islam as a false religion of sectarianism and hate?
They argue: “How can Islam unite mankind when you are so split
amongst yourselves?” How much strength will our Religion gain
and how pleased would Allah u and His Messenger a be, if this
unfortunate mistake was corrected and the community united?
VVIn one of the most authoritative juristic commentaries of
the Qur’an, Al-Jami‘ li-ahkam al-Qar’an, by the scholar Imam
Qurtubi, commenting on verse 7 in Sura Anbiya, he writes:
“The scholars did not disagree that it is obligatory for the
non-scholars (al-‘Āmah) to do taqlīd of their scholars and they
are meant in the verse: Ask the people of Remembrance if you do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZtNJcn3XgI&feature=related)
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