ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Kashaf-ul-haqaiq CHAPTER 10: TAQLEED I have now come to the topic which is the main reason for the production of this book. As I have explained before, in every age there have been people who have called others to themselves and there has never been a shortage of people who heeded their calls and followed them. Imam Ali (a.s.) have condemned people of this type who act like a flock of sheep and placed them at the bottom rung of the ladder of humanity.

I have already quoted a hadeeth about this before and there is no need to do it again. What he (a.s.) said that the one who heeds every call is not a believer. A believer is one who is surrounded by the light of his intelligence by which he achieves guidance, safeguards his faith and stops him from going astray. In actual fact people did not understand intelligence and so got entangled and ended up with differences.

The logician defines intellect in one way while the man of ethics defines it differently. The businessman understands it differently to the politician. This is the reason why every person considers himself to be clever and takes others to be as idiots. But Allah (s.w.t.), the One Who created intellect in the first place also has the right to define intellect and so the ‘Speech of Allah (s.w.t.)’, Imam Ali (a.s.) has defined it as: ‘Intellect is that which makes a person recognise his Guide.

That much intellect is sufficient for a man that enables him to recognise his Guide’. Now that intellect has been defined thus, there is no need to give any evidence to prove that the purpose of intellect is not to interfere in religious ordinances but to recognise them. Now, every part wishes to associate itself with the whole and be with it, in the same way our partial intellect also desires to be with the total intellect and when it does so, then its work is done.

It then only has to follow the orders of the total intellect without any questions or doubts. This is because the partial intellect has already been through that stage and so if the total intellect orders the partial intellect to jump in a well then it should do so as the matter of knowledge, wisdom and infallibility is proven for the total intellect. All mistakes, faltering and delusions are its opposites and necessarily do not exist in the total intellect.

It therefore follows that blind following of total intellect is the correct use of intellect and this is Taqleed.