The Shaykh’s remarks on the third chapter, which is taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) and making it a religion.
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The Shaykh : The third chapter: taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) and adopting it as a school of thought and a religion.
It is not hidden from the brothers present that the term taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) in language is derived from the necklace (qaladah) with which one adorns another, and from this comes the adorning of the sacrificial animals (hady). Thus, the one who follows (muqallid) makes the ruling in which he followed the independent legal reasoner (mujtahid) like a necklace around the neck of the one he followed, and… acting upon the statement of another without evidence is… acting upon the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and acting upon scholarly consensus (ijma'), and the layperson’s recourse to the mufti, and the judge’s recourse to the testimony of the righteous, for the evidence has been established in that.
This jurisprudential text has yielded two important matters: first, that taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) is not beneficial knowledge, and second, that it is the function of the ignorant layperson. It is necessary to clarify the reality of these two matters, to pause briefly at them, and to look at each of them in the light of the Book and the Sunnah, citing the statements of the Imams as evidence for that. This is followed by looking into the statements of those who claim to follow them, and the extent of the correctness of their following of their statements.
It is not hidden from the brothers present that the term taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) in language is derived from the necklace (qaladah) with which one adorns another, and from this comes the adorning of the sacrificial animals (hady). Thus, the one who follows (muqallid) makes the ruling in which he followed the independent legal reasoner (mujtahid) like a necklace around the neck of the one he followed, and… acting upon the statement of another without evidence is… acting upon the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and acting upon scholarly consensus (ijma'), and the layperson’s recourse to the mufti, and the judge’s recourse to the testimony of the righteous, for the evidence has been established in that.
This jurisprudential text has yielded two important matters: first, that taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) is not beneficial knowledge, and second, that it is the function of the ignorant layperson. It is necessary to clarify the reality of these two matters, to pause briefly at them, and to look at each of them in the light of the Book and the Sunnah, citing the statements of the Imams as evidence for that. This is followed by looking into the statements of those who claim to follow them, and the extent of the correctness of their following of their statements.