Verses of Reflection and Reasoning in Rulings

As mentioned, one of the arguments given for the prohibition of taqlid in beliefs is that God in the Qur'an calls people to reason and ponder, and this reasoning and pondering is for beliefs. The question is: do practical rulings not require reasoning and pondering? For example, Shaykh Tusi in al-Tibyan wrote:

"'What, do they not ponder the Qur'an? If it had been from other than God, they would have found in it much inconsistency.'
Meaning:
This verse indicates four things:
One — the invalidity of taqlid and the validity of reasoning in the faith fundamentals, because it urges and calls to pondering, which is only possible through thought and reflection."

The verse says: "Do they not ponder the Qur'an?" But the Qur'an is not limited to what they call the faith fundamentals; many rulings are also in the Qur'an. When the verse rebukes why you do not ponder the Qur'an, it refers to the entire Qur'an, including the verses of rulings. Besides this general rebuke, within the verses of rulings themselves, there are specific calls to ponder and reflect. In what follows, three categories of verses are reviewed:

  1. Verses that simultaneously express rulings and call for reasoning.
  2. Verses that state God's rulings are themselves "signs" (ayat) of Him.
  3. Verses that command reflection upon God's signs, which are not limited to discussions of tawhid, resurrection, and what are called the faith fundamentals.

Verses of Reflection in Rulings

This section presents verses in which rulings are stated and simultaneously call for reflection and reasoning.

  1. They will question you concerning wine and gambling. Say: 'In both is great sin, and also some uses for men, but the sin of them is greater than their usefulness.' And they will question you concerning what they should expend. Say: 'The Abundance.' So God makes clear the signs to you; haply you will reflect upon this world and the world to come. (2:219)
  1. Do not marry idolatresses, until they believe; a believing maid-servant is better than an idolatress, though you admire her. And do not marry idolaters, until they believe. A believing servant is better than an idolater, though you admire him. Those call to the Fire; and God calls to Paradise, and to forgiveness, by His leave; and He makes clear His signs to the people; haply they will remember. (2:221)
  1. There shall be for divorced women provision honourable — a duty for the godfearing. (2:241) So God makes clear His signs to you; haply you will understand. (242)
  1. O believers, take not as intimates those apart from you, who spare nothing to corrupt you; they long for you to suffer. Hatred has already shown itself of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is yet greater. We have made clear the signs to you, if you understand. (3:118)
  1. Say: 'Who has forbidden the adornment of God which He has brought forth for His servants, and the good things of His providing?' Say: 'These, on the Day of Resurrection, shall be exclusively for those who believed in this present life.' So We distinguish the signs for a people who know. (7:32)

Incidentally, a few verses before this, there was a condemnation of taqlid, partly explained in The Verse of Surah al-A'raf 28.

  1. There is no fault in the blind, and there is no fault in the lame, and there is no fault in the sick, neither in yourselves, that you eat in your houses, or the houses of your fathers, or the houses of your mothers, or the houses of your brothers, or the houses of your sisters, or the houses of your uncles, or the houses of your aunts, or the houses of your maternal uncles, or the houses of your maternal aunts, or such as you own the keys of, or the house of a friend of yours. There is no fault in you, whether you eat together or in secession. And when you enter houses, greet one another with a greeting from God, blessed and good. So God makes clear the signs to you; haply you will understand. (24:61)
  1. When you call to prayer, they take it in mockery and sport. That is because they are a people who do not understand. (5:58)

In this verse, the word "sign" is not used, but mocking prayer — one of the most important rulings of religion — is considered a sign of lack of understanding.

  1. Say: 'Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you: that you associate nothing with Him, and to be good to your parents, and not to slay your children because of poverty — We will provide for you and them — and not to approach indecencies, whether outward or inward, and not to slay the soul God has forbidden, except by right. That He has charged you with; haply you will understand. (6:151)
  1. God has not appointed anything such as Bahirah, Sa'ibah, Wasilah, or Ham; but the unbelievers forge against God falsehood, and most of them do not understand. (5:103)

Rulings Are Also Signs of God

  1. It is permitted to you, on the night of the Fast, to go in to your wives; they are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. God knows that you have been betraying yourselves, and He has turned to you and pardoned you. So now lie with them, and seek what God has prescribed for you, and eat and drink, until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn; then complete the Fast until the night. And do not lie with them while you are cleaving to the mosques. Those are God's bounds; keep away from them. So God makes clear His signs to the people; haply they will be godfearing. (2:187)
  1. God will not take you to task for a slip in your oaths; but He will take you to task for the oaths you have sworn carefully. The expiation thereof is the feeding of ten needy persons with the average of that you feed your own families, or the clothing of them, or the freeing of a slave; but if any finds not the means, let him fast three days. That is the expiation of your oaths when you swear. And keep your oaths. So God makes clear His signs to you; haply you will be thankful. (5:89)
  1. O believers, let those your right hands own, and those of you who have not reached puberty, ask leave of you three times — before the dawn prayer, and when you put off your garments at noon, and after the evening prayer — three times of nakedness for you. There is no fault in you or them, after these, if you go about one to the other. So God makes clear to you the signs; and God is All-knowing, All-wise. (24:58)
  1. And when the children among you reach puberty, let them ask leave, as those before them asked leave. So God makes clear to you His signs; and God is All-knowing, All-wise. (24:59)

Generally, Surah al-Nur is known for containing many verses of rulings, and the opening verse of this sura is interesting in line with our discussion:

  1. A sura that We have sent down and appointed; and We have sent down in it signs, clear signs, that haply you will remember. (24:1)

Command to Reflect on God's Signs

  1. Would any of you wish to have a garden of palms and vines, with rivers flowing beneath it, where he has all manner of fruit, then old age smites him, and he has seed, but weak; then a whirlwind with fire smites it, and it is consumed? So God makes clear the signs to you; haply you will reflect. (2:266)
  1. With clear signs and the Psalms; and We have sent down to you the Remembrance, that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them; and so that haply they may reflect. (16:44)

We have reviewed sixteen verses above that, in various ways, call the general public to reflect on verses related to rulings. Together with the verse on pondering mentioned by Shaykh Tusi, that makes seventeen. Is it not unjust to close our eyes to all of these and say: "God has called to reflection and pondering only in beliefs and theories, so the invalidity of taqlid is only established in the faith fundamentals, not in rulings and actions"? Consider these two additional verses:

We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an; haply you will understand. (12:2)

We have made it an Arabic Qur'an; haply you will understand. (43:3)

Did God say in the above verses: only reflect in the belief-related parts of the Qur'an, but leave the reflection on the rulings parts to the marja's, and We will ask the marja's about your actions on the Day of Judgment? Is this "haply you" addressed only to marja's — that only you, the special group of marja's, should reflect on this Qur'an, while others, lacking Arabic literacy, should only read it for reward, vows, relief from troubles, forgiveness of the deceased, and the like — which require no reflection? Is it not oppression and abandonment of the Qur'an to close our eyes to all the above verses and confine a book that should be the source of guidance and decision-making for every individual Muslim in the field of action and life to beliefs, mental concepts, and the above-mentioned uses? God says in Surah al-Furqan:

And We shall advance upon what work they have done, and make it as scattered dust. (25:23) ... And the day the evildoer shall bite his hands, saying, 'Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger! (27) Alas, would that I had not taken so-and- so for a friend! (28) He led me astray from the Remembrance after it had come to me; and Satan is ever a forsaker of man.' (29) And the Messenger says, 'O my Lord, my people have taken this Qur'an as a thing to be shunned.' (30)

Would it not be shameful to say on the Day of Judgment in response to this call of the Prophet (p): "No, we did not abandon the Qur'an; we held Qur'an recitation ceremonies, read it for protection from calamities for ourselves and the deceased, passed under it when traveling, etc." — and then the Prophet (p) would say: "And for those actions that are now scattered dust, what did you do? Did you also refer to the Qur'an to determine your personal and social duties?" And we answer: "No, that was not our job; we did not understand the Qur'an! The result of our reflection on the Qur'an was that we cannot reflect!" Truly, we should ask God to grant us all a good end.

Parent page: Religion Cannot Be Divided into Fundamentals and Derivations

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