May God's peace and benedictions be upon Amir al‑Mu'minin...

May God's peace and benedictions be upon Amir al‑Mu'minin, the Sayyid al‑Wasiyyin, who said: إن الله كلّف يسيراً ، ولم يُكلف عسيراً ، وأعطى على القليل كثيراً. God has assigned duties which are easy to fulfil not difficult to cope with; and He rewards much for little. Besides, we know that such kind of things happened during the era of the Infallible Imams (`a) and not one of them is known to have commanded the Shi`ah to repeat the Hajj.

It is on this basis that al‑Sayyid al‑Hakim, in Dalil al‑nasikin, says, "To fall in with the ruling of the non‑Imami qadi is permissible; this is in accordance with definitive practice from the times of the Imams (`a), which has been to follow them (i.e.

the non‑Imamis) in the halt (at `Arafat), and no other alternative has ever been suggested." However, al‑Sayyid al‑Shahrudi, in his Manasik al‑hajj, says, "It is permissible to follow, in regard to this question, the fatwa of the absolute mujtahid (al‑mujtahid al‑mutlaq) who considers it permissible." To tell the truth, to me this kind of thing is not digestible when coming from a mujtahid mutlaq, although I have read and heard such things from more than one mujtahid whom the common people follow.

Because, a mujtahid mutlaq in his fatwas should either take an affirmative or a negative stand, and if he doesn't, has no right to be a legal authority (for taqlid). Someone may say that it is not a condition for being mujtahid mutlaq that he should never abstain from giving a definitive fatwa or give up caution (ihtiyat) in some matter, for `caution is the path of salvation' (al‑'ihtiyat sabil al‑najat). In answer I would say, this is an obvious fallacy.

Because, ihtiyat in a matter is something, and giving a fatwa to consult someone else is another matter. In fact when the mujtahid sees the necessity of ihtiyat in a matter, he does not give a fatwa upon it‑‑as is the practice of legal authorities regarding several issues?

Here we affirm al‑Hakim's position, because we understand from the necessary grounds for taqiyyah that the 9th is a requirement for wuquf in 'Arafat when that requirement can be satisfied in presence of security and absence of any fear of harm.