What is your opinion on dividing people in terms of receiving knowledge into mujtahids, followers, and those who follow without knowledge?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh! Some scholars divide people in terms of receiving knowledge into three levels:
The level of independent legal reasoning, which is the scholars; the level of following, which is the students of knowledge; and the level of following a scholar without knowing his evidence, which is the common people. What is your opinion, O Shaykh, of this division?
The Shaykh : It is no doubt that people differ. Some reach the level of independent legal reasoning, and some are below that. Some are a scholar qualified to derive rulings in a specific issue, investigating it, researching it, and knowing the truth in it without others. And some people know nothing. The common people’s school of jurisprudence is the school of their scholars. Therefore, if someone from Najd were to say to us now, “I, meaning myself, smoke, because in other Islamic countries there are those who say it is permissible, and I have the freedom to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence!”
We would say: This is not permissible for you, because your obligation is to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence, and the most deserving of your following are your scholars. If you followed someone outside your country, that would lead to chaos in a matter that has no evidence in Islamic sacred law.
And if he said, “I shave,” or if he said he would shave his beard because some scholars of the cities said there is nothing wrong with it, we would say: It is not possible. Your obligation is to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence. Do not contradict your scholars.
And if he said, “I want to circumambulate the graves, the graves of the righteous, because some scholars of the cities said there is nothing wrong with it,” or if he said, “I want to seek nearness to Allah through them,” or something similar!
We would say: This is not possible. The common person must follow the scholars of his country in whom he has trust.
Our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him), mentioned this and said: The common people cannot follow scholars outside their country because this leads to chaos and dispute.
And if he said, “I do not perform the ablution for prayer after eating camel meat because some scholars of the cities say it is not obligatory to perform the ablution for prayer from it,” we would say: It is not possible. It is obligatory for you to perform the ablution for prayer. Do you understand?
The level of independent legal reasoning, which is the scholars; the level of following, which is the students of knowledge; and the level of following a scholar without knowing his evidence, which is the common people. What is your opinion, O Shaykh, of this division?
The Shaykh : It is no doubt that people differ. Some reach the level of independent legal reasoning, and some are below that. Some are a scholar qualified to derive rulings in a specific issue, investigating it, researching it, and knowing the truth in it without others. And some people know nothing. The common people’s school of jurisprudence is the school of their scholars. Therefore, if someone from Najd were to say to us now, “I, meaning myself, smoke, because in other Islamic countries there are those who say it is permissible, and I have the freedom to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence!”
We would say: This is not permissible for you, because your obligation is to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence, and the most deserving of your following are your scholars. If you followed someone outside your country, that would lead to chaos in a matter that has no evidence in Islamic sacred law.
And if he said, “I shave,” or if he said he would shave his beard because some scholars of the cities said there is nothing wrong with it, we would say: It is not possible. Your obligation is to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence. Do not contradict your scholars.
And if he said, “I want to circumambulate the graves, the graves of the righteous, because some scholars of the cities said there is nothing wrong with it,” or if he said, “I want to seek nearness to Allah through them,” or something similar!
We would say: This is not possible. The common person must follow the scholars of his country in whom he has trust.
Our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him), mentioned this and said: The common people cannot follow scholars outside their country because this leads to chaos and dispute.
And if he said, “I do not perform the ablution for prayer after eating camel meat because some scholars of the cities say it is not obligatory to perform the ablution for prayer from it,” we would say: It is not possible. It is obligatory for you to perform the ablution for prayer. Do you understand?