TAQLEED

Belief in the Islaam ic concept of Taqleed is essential for the protection of Imaan . Without Taqleed, one cannot obtain a true understanding of Imaan and Islam.

The concept of Taqleed (to follow a particular Math-hab) is an obligatory injunction of the Shari'ah which arises out of the following Command of Allah :

“Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know.”

After the Sahaabah, the most learned and knowledgeable persons in relation to the Shari'ah of Islaam were the Fuqahaa, the Aimmah-e-Mutjahideen, the foremost among whom were the illustrious Stars of Ilm, Imaam Abu Hanifah, Imaam Maalik, Imaam Shaafi and Imaam Ahmad Ibn Hambal (Rah). The Schools of Thought based on the Qur'aan and Hadith, remaining in our day, are the Math-habs of these four illustrious Imams. The Ahle Sunnah Wal Jama' (the group on the Path of Nabi-e-Kareem Sallalahu Alayhi Wasallam) is confirmed to these four Math-habs. Anyone searching for the Haqq, for guidance and for the Sunnah beyond the confines of these four Mathaa-hib is bound to plod the path of deviation at the peril of his Imaan .

In our day there exists the disease of flitting from Math-hab to Math-hab or even shunning Math-hab on the basis of personal opinion and fancy. Regarding this dangerous practice and attitude, the Shari'ah rules as follows:

“When a person switches from one Math-hab to another Math-hab, he shall be inflicted with Ta'zeer.”

[Durr-ul-Mukhtaar]

Ta'zeer refers to punishment meted out by an Islaam ic court. Such punishment may either be flogging or imprisonment. The following is recorded in Shami, the renowned Book of the Shari'ah:

“It is narrated that a man among the companions of Imaam Abu Hanifah (Rah) proposed marriage to the daughter of a man who belonged to the Ahle Hadeeth sect. This was during the time of Abu Bakr Al Jauzjaani. The girl's father refused the proposal, but agreed to allow the marriage to take place on condition that the man give up his Math-hab (and adopt the way of the Ahle Hadeeth). The man accepted the condition and married the woman. The Shaikh, when questioned about this incident, lowered his head, reflected for a while, and said:

‘The Nikah is valid. But, I fear that his Imaan will disappear at the time of his death because he has trifled with his Math-hab which he believes to be the Haqq, and because he has renounced the Haqq for the sake of decayed carrion.”

Shaami also records the following:

“It is evil and sinful from one Math-hab to another Math-hab for worldly reasons and motives of desire. Such action is a punishable offence since it is the commission of evil in the Deen and it amounts to trifling with one's Math-hab and Deen.”

Strict adherence to a particular Math-hab (i.e. anyone of the four official Math-habs of the Ahle Sunnah) is an essential requirement of the Shari'ah. Subjecting the Mathaa-hib to personal fancy and opinion and trifling therewith by flitting from one Math-hab to another spell the ultimate ruin of one's Imaan .

There is no gain saying that the four Math-habs are all the Haqq since they all spring from the Qur'aan and Sunnah. The four Math-habs are based on the Qur'aan and Hadith, personal and individual opinion having no share in their formulation. Their founders are men of the highest Islaam ic caliber. The Ustaads of some of the great Fuqahaa of Islaam were none other than the noble Sahaabah of Rasoolullah (SAW). The Ummah down the long corridor of Islaam 's history has borne testimony to the truth of the four Math-habs of the Ahle Sunnah Wal Jama'. Taqleed, is, therefore, no new concept. It is not an accretion to Islaam . It is a command of Islam. Without the guidance and expositions of the Shari'ah offered by the great learned doctors of Islaam , it is not possible to follow the teachings of Islaam . Taqleed is the way of the Sahaabah, the way which they handed to the Fuqaha, the way which was then transmitted authoritatively and authentically from generation to generation until it reached us. And, in this way will it be transmitted to the Day of Qiyaamah.

The whole superstructure of Islaam has been raised neatly and expertly on the foundations of the Qur'aan and Sunnah by the noble Fuqahaa of Islaam . About such Fuqahaa, Rasoolullah (SAW) said:

“A single Faqeeh is harder on shaitaan than a thousand Aabids.”

An aabid is a pious worshipper- one who spends the greater part of his time in ibaadat- who is aware of the necessary rules pertaining to his ibaadat and daily life. An aabid does not refer to an ignorant worshipper.

After the Sahaabah, the Fuqahaa are the first true Heirs and Representatives of Rasoolullah (SAW). Rasoolullah (SAW) said:

“The Ulama are the Heirs of the Ambiyaa.”

This conception stated in this hadith applies in the first instance and in the highest category to the Fuqahaa of Islam. Thus, the service rendered by the fuqahaa to the Ummah can never be compensated by the Ummah. No muslim can ever be independent of the Fuqahaa and the Mathaa-hib formulated by the Aimmah-e-Mujtahideen. One who attempts to stray from the Path of the Math-habs, deviates into destruction. In the words of Rasoolullah (SAW), “ he deviates into the Fire .”