Narrations That Have Prohibited Taqlid

  1. Imam al-Sadiq (p): "Beware of taqlid, for whoever practices taqlid in his religion is destroyed."

We have a total of three hadiths that contain the word "taqlid" and its derivatives. One is the hadith "fa-li'l-'awamm an yuqalliduhu" (the common people may imitate him), which recommends taqlid, but we explained it is both flawed in its chain and content. Another was the "taqlid of the Murji'ah" hadith, which appears in Usul al-Kafi by Shaykh Kulayni — one of the four main Shi'a books — and is content-wise neutral and perhaps even against taqlid. This third hadith is the one that explicitly rejects any kind of taqlid and equates it with destruction. In terms of its chain, it appears in Shaykh Mufid's book Tashih I'tiqadat al-Imamiyyah, and in terms of its indication, Shaykh Mufid has cited it along with other verses and narrations against taqlid, which we shall review. You may follow the translation:

"As for the discussion on His oneness, negating anthropomorphism from Him, declaring His transcendence and sanctity — it is commanded and encouraged, and many traditions and abundant reports have come about it. I have included a sufficient collection of them in my book al-Arkan fi Da'a'im al-Din, and in my book al-Kamil fi 'Ulum al-Din, I have included a chapter in which I have fully discussed their meanings. In 'Uqud al-Din, a collection of them suffices and makes other sources unnecessary. Whoever undertakes to invalidate reflection (al-nazar) bears witness against himself to the weakness of his opinion and makes clear his deficiency in knowledge and his descent from the ranks of the insightful. Reflection is not disputation. Prohibition of disputation may be valid for reasons of dissimulation (taqiyyah) and the like, but prohibition of reflection cannot be valid because turning away from it leads to taqlid, and taqlid is condemned by the consensus of scholars and the text of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
God Almighty, mentioning those who practice taqlid among the unbelievers and condemning them for their taqlid, said: 'We found our fathers upon a community, and we are following in their footsteps.' He said: 'What, even though I bring you a more guiding way than that you found your fathers upon?'
And Imam al-Sadiq (p) said: 'Whoever takes his religion from the mouths of men, men will displace him; and whoever takes his religion from the Book and the Sunnah, the mountains will pass away but he will not.'
And he (p) said: 'Beware of taqlid, for whoever practices taqlid in his religion is destroyed. God Almighty says: "They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah." By God, they did not pray to them or fast for them, but they made what was forbidden permissible for them and what was permissible forbidden, and they imitated them in that, and thus worshipped them without being aware.'
And he (p) said: 'Whoever answers a speaker has worshipped him; if the speaker speaks on behalf of God Almighty, he has worshipped God; and if the speaker speaks on behalf of Satan, he has worshipped Satan.'
(Chapter) If taqlid were valid and reflection invalid, then taqlid of one group would not be preferable to taqlid of another, and every misguided person through taqlid would be excused, and every imitator of an innovator would not be sinful — which no one claims. From what we have mentioned, it is known that reflection is the truth and disputation upon truth is valid, and that the reports narrated by Abu Ja'far (may God have mercy on him) have the meanings we mentioned, and the matter is not as he imagined in them. And God is the giver of success."

"Whoever undertakes to invalidate reflection (nazar) bears witness against himself to the weakness of his opinion and makes clear his deficiency in knowledge and his descent from the ranks of the insightful. 'Reflection' is not 'disputation.' Prohibition of disputation may be valid for reasons of dissimulation (taqiyyah) and the like, but prohibition of reflection is not valid, because turning away from it leads to taqlid, and taqlid is condemned by the consensus of scholars and the text of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
God Almighty mentions those who practice taqlid among the unbelievers and condemns them for their taqlid (citing the verse: 'We found our fathers upon a community...').
And Imam al-Sadiq (p) said: 'Whoever takes his religion from the mouths of men, men will displace him; and whoever takes his religion from the Book and the Sunnah, the mountains will pass away but he will not.'
And he (p) said: 'Beware of taqlid, for whoever practices taqlid in his religion is destroyed. God Almighty says: "They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah." By God, they did not pray to them or fast for them, but they made what was forbidden permissible for them and what was permissible forbidden, and people imitated them in that, and thus worshipped them without being aware.'
And he (p) said: 'Whoever accepts the words of a speaker has worshipped him; if the speaker speaks on behalf of God Almighty, he has worshipped God; and if the speaker speaks on behalf of Satan, he has worshipped Satan.'
If taqlid were valid and reflection invalid, then taqlid of one group would not be preferable to taqlid of another, and every misguided person through taqlid would be excused, and every imitator of an innovator would be considered sinless — which no one claims. From what we have mentioned, it is known that reflection is the truth and disputation upon truth is valid..."

Interestingly, up to this point in the lessons on ijtihad and taqlid that the author has reviewed, no reference to this hadith has been found, and no analysis has been provided for it. This is a challenge for dear readers: if anywhere, a scholar in the process of proving taqlid has referred to this hadith and somehow considered it outside the topic, please inform us so we can include and discuss their reasons in our material.

Nevertheless, neither the above hadith nor its peripheral explanations mention anything about fundamentals and derivations of faith, to say it applies only to the faith fundamentals; nor do they mention anything about capable and incapable, to say it was said for the literate; nor do they mention anything about recommended and disliked, to say it considered taqlid merely disapproved but not forbidden! The only justification heard in private discussions was that "the meaning of taqlid in those times was different from its current meaning" — which is one of those astonishing answers! When they want to defend taqlid, they bring the hadith "fa-li'l-'awamm an yuqalliduhu" from a book without chain, and there the meaning of taqlid is the same as today's taqlid. But when we present this hadith from a more reliable book before them, they say taqlid has a different meaning! Very well, what meaning does taqlid have here, and what evidence do you have that these two hadiths refer to two different meanings?!

Other Hadiths Prohibiting Taqlid

In the above quotation from Shaykh Mufid, two other hadiths were also mentioned (one: "Whoever takes his religion from the mouths of men..." and the other: "Whoever accepts the words of a speaker..."), which we skip repeating. But besides them, there are several other hadiths that indicate the prohibition of taqlid:

  1. Imam al-Sadiq (p) said to one of his companions: "Do not be an imma'ah, saying, 'I am with the people, I am like one of the people.'"

A similar hadith is narrated from the Prophet (p) with more explanation:

"Do not be an imma'ah, saying: if people do good, we do good; and if they do wrong, we do wrong. Rather, make up your minds: if people do good, you do good; and if they do evil, do not do wrong." (al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, 3/341/23)

  1. Imam al-Sadiq (p) was asked about the meaning of God's words "To God belongs the conclusive argument." He said: "God Almighty will say to the servant on the Day of Resurrection: 'My servant, were you knowledgeable?' If he says yes, He will say: 'Why did you not act according to what you knew?' And if he says he was ignorant, He will say: 'Why did you not learn so that you could act?'"

This hadith is for all of God's servants, not just for jurists. It divides all servants from God's perspective into only two categories: knowledgeable and student. This invalidates what is written in the treatises: "Every Muslim must either be a mujtahid, practice precaution, or practice taqlid." According to the order given by the Imam, God first expects His servant to be knowledgeable about his duty, and if not, then he should be in the process of learning. Some raise the objection: does this mean God wants all humans to have no other occupation and all become scholars? Certainly not; this hadith only speaks of knowledge for the sake of action — that is, everyone should learn the rulings they personally need. Not that someone researches all rulings for all people in all conditions and issues fatwas, which is clearly impossible even for marja's. The fact that the hadith begins with "To God belongs the conclusive argument" is a point often overlooked. It says God's argument has clearly reached people and is conclusive against them. That is, no one has an excuse before this question and answer; everyone, to the extent of their ability, is obliged to take steps toward acquiring knowledge about their actions.

  1. Imam Ali (p): "No one who perishes will have an excuse for deliberately pursuing misguidance thinking it is guidance, or for abandoning the truth thinking it is misguidance." (Bihar al-Anwar, 5/305/23)

If someone wants to learn from this hadith and not pursue misguidance thinking it is guidance, or not abandon a true action thinking it is misguidance, what should he do? Should he ask the one who claims a guiding fatwa for more academic credentials? Count the number of books he has authored and classes he has taught? Pay more attention to the number of his followers? If he finds more experts all testifying to the a'lamiyyah of the fatwa-issuer, does he get more reassurance? We know that none of these are reliable evidence that a person has not erred in a particular fatwa. (See the section Choosing the Most Learned is Impossible).

Thus, there is no choice but to investigate, to the extent of our ability, the evidence behind the fatwa, to weigh between different marja's if another has more understandable and reliable evidence, so that if on the Day of Judgment it becomes clear we were wrong, we have an excuse: instead of locking onto a specific person and transferring responsibility to him without any guarantee, we listened to various experts and, to the best of our understanding, accepted the one closer to the truth — and did not stop there, but continued to use every opportunity for greater understanding throughout our lives. What more could we have done? Would it have been better to listen only to one marja's reasons and ignore everyone else?

  1. Imam Ali (p) — in poetry attributed to him — said: "When difficult and obscure matters confront me, I uncover their realities through reflection. If in the imagination of the right path, they appear like lightning, invisible to weak eyes, veiled in the hiddenness of matters, I place correct thought upon them. I am not an imitator of men, asking this one and that one: what news? Rather, I train the two small organs (tongue and heart) and, by looking at the past, illuminate the future."
  1. Regarding the verse "They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah," Imam al-Sadiq (p) said: "By God, they did not call them to worship themselves. If they had called them to worship themselves, they would not have responded. But they made what was forbidden permissible for them and what was permissible forbidden, and thus they worshipped them without being aware."

Defenders of taqlid, to say this hadith has nothing to do with Shi'a marja's, justify it by saying: "The hadith says the Jewish scholars made the forbidden permissible and the permissible forbidden — that's why they should not have been imitated. But if Shi'a scholars keep the permissible permissible and the forbidden forbidden, there is no problem in imitating them." Several responses can be given: First, a similar hadith is narrated from the Prophet (p) with a different wording that makes this interpretation impossible (see The Verse of Surah Al 'Imran 64).

Second, if people do not ask for the evidence of rulings and do not think, how will they know what is permissible and forbidden so that they can check whether the marja's are maintaining them? As long as people take the permissible and forbidden from the marja's themselves, this cannot be a verifiable condition. Third, the hadith says people worshipped them "min haythu la yash'urun" (without being aware) — the main problem was this: people worshipped and served the scholars without understanding. Fourth, the content of the hadith does not suggest that the Jewish people were so oblivious that they noticed nothing good or bad and the forbidden became permissible without them caring. No, the hadith says: "If they had called them to worship themselves, they would not have responded" — showing they were also somewhat attentive, like us. But the Imam does not consider this sufficient and still considers following without understanding as equivalent to polytheism.

  1. Also narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (p) regarding the verse "They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah": "They did not actually take them as lords, but they came under their obedience, and thus became like those who take them as lords."

This is another narration confirming that taqlid is polytheism in obedience. This narration appears in Wasa'il al-Shi'ah by Shaykh Hurr al-Amili in a chapter titled "The impermissibility of imitating the non-infallible" along with 32 other narrations, two of which are also in the interpretation of the same verse but with different wordings.

  1. Narrated from Abu Hamzah al-Thumali: Imam al-Sadiq (p) said: "Beware of seeking leadership, and beware of following in the footsteps of men." I said: "May I be your ransom, I understand about seeking leadership. But as for following in the footsteps of men, two-thirds of what I possess (of hadith and knowledge) is from following in the footsteps of men!" He said: "That is not what I mean. Beware of setting up a man without proof as a standard and believing everything he says."
  1. Imam al-Sadiq (p) said: "O Sufyan, beware of seeking leadership, for no one seeks it but is destroyed." I said: "May I be your ransom, we are all destroyed then, for there is none of us who does not like to be mentioned, sought after, and have knowledge taken from him!" He said: "That is not what you think. What I mean is setting up a man without proof as a standard, believing everything he says, and inviting people to his words."
  1. In al-Nihayah, it is narrated: "Be a scholar or a student, and do not be an imma'ah." Al-imma'ah — with a kasra on the hamza and tashdid on the mim — is one who has no opinion of his own and follows everyone's opinion. The 'h' is for exaggeration. Some say it is one who says to everyone: "I am with you." From this is the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud: "Let none of you be an imma'ah." It was said: "What is imma'ah?" He said: "One who says: I am with the people (and follow the crowd)." (al-Nihayah, 1/67)
  1. "Whoever enters faith with knowledge remains firm in it, and his faith benefits him; and whoever enters it without knowledge leaves it just as he entered." (Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 7)

Shaykh Kulayni cites the above hadith along with this one in condemnation of taqlid: "Whoever does not recognize our matter from the Qur'an will not escape trials."

  1. "Whoever acts without knowledge corrupts more than he rectifies." (Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 44)
  1. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (p) was asked: "What is God's right over His servants?" He said: "That they say only what they know, and stop at what they do not know." (Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 43)

If taqlid were permissible, the Imam would have said: when people do not know, they should practice taqlid! Not only is this permission not given, but they are also forbidden from saying what they do not know. Is it not the case that muqallids, without having any knowledge about God's rulings, say: "God wants us to do this"? And when asked where God said such a thing, they say: "We don't know; the expert marja' said so." According to this hadith, this behavior violates God's right.

  1. "One who acts without insight is like one who walks off the road; the faster he goes, the farther he gets." (Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 44)

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Parent page: Taqlid Is Negated in Narrations

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