Our stance on taqlid shakhsi

Discussion in 'Usul al-Fiqh' started by Juwayni, Aug 8, 2018.

Draft saved Draft deleted
  1. Juwayni

    Juwayni Veteran

    Here are some of my notes from Ibn Rajab Hanbali's risalah in refutation of those [non-mujtahids] who don't follow the four schools.

    "Preserving the Legal Judgments: Early on, there were many exercising independent juridical judgment (ijtihad) however this did not persist into the later generations. The people came to rely on scholars of vast understanding for rulings. Those that came after outlined their juridical methodology, provided details and connected these back to the principles of the school.

    If this had not been the case, then fools with high opinions of themselves might make mischief among the public.

    In a similar manner to making the community recite from one mode of recitation (during the Caliphate of Sayyidunā 'Uthmān (Radī Allāhu 'Anhu)) to avoid dispute and confusion in the public, the schools of jurisprudence were the established for the best interests of the public.

    The reason we don’t go outside the four schools is that someone could invent a position and attribute it to an earlier scholar. Unlike the system of checks we have in the four schools, ensuring an authentic transmission back to the scholar in question would be difficult – even if they twist the position to suit their whims.

    Moreover, even if a person is trying to follow a school outside of the four, we don’t know if the school they follow has been corrected or if a person misinterprets an Imām’s statement."
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
    Unbeknown likes this.
  2. Aqdas

    Aqdas Staff Member

    Can brothers add/edit this so that at least Sunnis know what our precise stance is.

    Once finished editing, we can share it so that Sunnis aren't duped into incorrect positions.
     
  3. Aqdas

    Aqdas Staff Member

    - taqlid is wajib
    - it is necessary to choose any one of the four imams and stick to his school
    - it is not permitted to choose rulings from a school other than the one adopted, i.e. a person must confine himself to only one school
    - only in the case of necessity will choosing a ruling from any of the three other schools be allowed, and that too, with strict conditions
    - if a person goes against the mufta bihi of his adopted school, he can be called a fasiq even if what he's doing is permitted in any of the three other schools
    - e.g. if an act is considered a sin in the hanafi school but not a sin in the shafiyi school; a person who has adopted the hanafi school will be deemed a fasiq for committing that act
    - disclaimer: we consider all four schools to be valid Sunni schools but that a person must confine himself to one school completely and not pick and mix
    - the danger with picking and mixing rulings from more than one school is people following their nafs and practicing rulings according to personal taste and not according to what they consider more correct
     
    Nabeela, Ghulam Ali and Unbeknown like this.

Share This Page