However...

However, still justifying it with the same Hadith of ‘Amr ibn al-’As, see for example, M Muhammadi Rayshahri’ book, who has compiled over 8,000 Ahadith in 2009 has quoted Amr ibn al-’As’s Hadith in favour of Ijtihad [12] . Who is a Mujtahid?

The person who practices ‘Ijtihad’ in the derivation of a decree (Fatwa) is called the ‘Mujtahid’, the first one, as per the Hadith presented earlier, was the Iblis, who thought his speciation, which was made out of fire, was superior than that of Prophet Adam -as . Those who follow a Mujtahid are called the ‘Muqallideen’ or in the Taqleed of a Mujtahid. Now we move to our main topic ‘Taqleed’ which is obsereved by most of the Twelve Imami Shites, living today, all around the Globe.

The Twelve Imami Shias of Today: There are two major sects of 12 Imami Shites, (1) Those who are in taqleed of a Mujtahid (follow Fatwa of Mujtahid); (2) Those who follow the Ahadith of Masomeen -asws . Both 12 Imami sects are recognised with many names, i.e., (1) Unorthodox, rationalist, Usooli, (2) Orthodox, traditionalist, Akhbari.

Before the emegence of the (1), all Shias used to belong to Orthodox (2) group from the time of the Prophet -asws of Islam until the time of the minor Occultation of Imam-e-Zaman -ajfj but after the Grand Occultation, based on the new Shia definition of ‘Ijtihad’ a Shia version of Ijtihad was devised by some Shia scholars which gradually grew and developed to the Unorthodox sect (1) of present time.

An additional Hadith, which was used at that time or is still used to justify the ‘taqleed’ besides the one from Amr Bin Al Aas’s , is the ‘Khabar-e-Wahid’ (single source) as given below: قال الإمام ع فأما من كان من الفقهاء صائنا لنفسه، حافظا لدينه، مخالفا لهواه، مطيعا لأمر مولاه فللعوام أن يقلدوه.

و ذلك لا يكون إلا [في‏] بعض فقهاء الشيعة لا جميعه Imam Hassan al-Askari -asws said: Whoever from among the ‘al-Fuqaha’ safeguards himself, is protective of his religion, opposes his temptations, is obedient to his Master’s commands, then the common people must do his ‘taqleed’ (emulate), and this is only applicable to some of the Shia ‘Fuqaha’. [13] What Famous Mujtahids Say about this Hadith of taqleed?

Strangely enough, the above Hadith is not considered to be a proof of taqleed by most of the Mujtahids, including the two of the most famous Shia ‘Mujtahids’ of recent time, Agha Khui and Agha Khumanie, see Appendix III. What Traditionalists Say about the Above Hadith?