Hadiths Permitting Fatwa

Another category of narrations used to justify taqlid are those in which the word "fatwa" appears. In these narrations, either someone is commanded to give fatwas, or giving fatwas without knowledge is prohibited. The view of taqlid's proponents is that the mere issuance of permission to give fatwas implies permission for taqlid. However, none of these narrations say that people should follow the fatwas of those who give them without asking for evidence. Note that the message of this set is not that no one should give fatwas — no. The main subject of taqlid is that someone follows fatwas without asking for evidence, and we seek to determine whether the narrations below indicate or recommend such a thing.

Imam al-Sadiq (p): "Beware of two traits in which men are destroyed: that you practice religion based on your own opinion, or that you give fatwas to people without knowledge."
— Mufaddal ibn Yazid said: Imam al-Sadiq (p) said to me: "I forbid you from two traits that are the cause of people's destruction: that you practice religion based on your own opinion, or that you give fatwas to people about what you do not know and do not understand."

When the Imam says it is a cause of destruction for people, it means all people are addressed by this hadith, not just the class of scholars. When he says "beware of two things: practicing religion based on your own opinion, and giving fatwas to people without knowledge," he names two actions (practicing religion and giving fatwas) and two attributes (based on your own opinion / without knowledge). These two attributes are prohibited for each of those two actions. That is, it is not the case that "without knowledge" is only bad for giving fatwas and not bad for practicing religion. Why? Because if someone is obliged to give fatwas to others based on knowledge, then a fortiori (bi al-awlawiyyah) he cannot practice religion without knowledge for himself ^[1]. Therefore, from this hadith it follows that both practicing religion without knowledge and giving fatwas to others without knowledge are causes of destruction for anyone who does them. And in the definition of taqlid, it was stated that practicing religion without knowledge is precisely taqlid. Therefore, this hadith has prohibited taqlid. In simpler terms, this hadith prohibits practicing religion and giving fatwas based on non-knowledge and personal opinion. In both actions, the person must acquire knowledge. A similar narration in Usul al-Kafi prohibits the other combination of the two actions and two attributes — i.e., giving fatwas based on personal opinion and practicing religion without knowledge — which confirms the above argument ^[2].

Another argument: the hadith makes the condition of correct fatwa-giving based on knowledge. That is, the recipient of the fatwa, upon looking at this hadith, concludes that he must ask for evidence to ensure the fatwa is based on knowledge. Because it is highly unlikely — indeed, impossible — that a fatwa-giver would admit his fatwa is without knowledge! Everyone claims their fatwas are based on knowledge. What is the duty of the listener? To examine the evidence. From this perspective too, the above narration prohibits taqlid — i.e., following without examining the evidence. A similar argument has been made by some scholars who have rejected the indication of this narration for taqlid ^[3].

There are other similar narrations recommending fatwa-giving and prohibiting fatwa without knowledge, but to avoid prolonging this chapter, they have been omitted. All the above arguments apply to those narrations as well. If you find a narration of this type that is not refuted by the above arguments and in some way permits the recipient to accept the fatwa without examination, please share it with us.

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Parent page: We Have No Narration for Taqlid

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