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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Shi'ah are the real Ahlul-Sunnah Taqlid and Islamic Authorities According to Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`ah If we research the topic of taqlid (religious following) and marji`iyya (high religious authority) according to “Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`a,” we will be quite confused while trying to find any link between them and the Messenger of Allah.

We all know that “Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`a” refer in their religious following to the four Imams, namely Abu Hanifah, Malik, al-Shafi`i, and Ibn Hanbal, and all these men never knew the Messenger of Allah, nor were they among his companions. After the demise of the Prophet, Shi`as made taqlid to Ali ibn Abu Talib, peace be upon him, who never parted with the Prophet as long as he lived.

Then, after Ali's martyrdom, they followed the Two Masters of the Youths of Paradise: Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husayn, grandsons of the Prophet. Then they followed Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn Zaynul-Abidin then his son Imam al-Baqir then his grandson Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon all of them. During that time, “Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`a” did not have any cohesive ideological existence.

History does not tell us which Imam they followed, if any, and to whom they referred with regard to the injunctions of the Shari`a from the time of the Prophet's death and till the appearance of their four sects. It was only after that time did the four sects start appearing on the stage one after another separated by variable periods of time depending on the desires of the Abbaside rulers as we have already indicated.

Then a bloc appeared combining all four sects under a shiny banner which stole people's minds called “Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`a.” All those who were antagonistic to Ali and the pure Progeny of the Prophet, and who supported the first three caliphs and all Umayyad and Abbaside rulers, rallied around that banner.

People embraced those sects willingly or unwillingly because the rulers went to lengths in promoting them through either enticing or terrorizing others to follow them, and people usually follow the creed of their rulers. Then we find “Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama`a,” after the death of all their four Imams, closing the door of ijtihad in the face of their own scholars, prohibiting them from doing anything other than following those Imams who had already died...