If they find a volunteer who has gained the degree of ijtihad ...

If they find a volunteer who has gained the degree of ijtihad , which cannot be gained except by those who have good fortune, and who is qualified enough to be followed by the others, they may then accept him as their religious authority and turn to him in getting knowledge of the laws of their religion.

If they fail to find one enjoying such a supreme degree of knowledge, then they are religiously required to attain the rank of ijtihad individually or to nominate one from among them to obtain this rank when it is impossible or unfeasible for all to devote themselves to gaining this rank. It is impermissible for them to act upon the verdicts of a deceased mujtahid . Ijtihad can be defined as the examination of the sources of the shari`ah (i.e.

the religious code of Islamic laws) to reach knowledge of the secondary laws which the Holy Prophet (s) has conveyed to his nation. Of course, these laws are unalterable and cannot be changed when times or conditions change. It has thus been declared: حَلاَلُ مُحَمَّدٍ حَلاَلٌ إلَى يَوْمِ القِيَامَةِ، وَحَرَامُهُ حَرَامٌ إلَى يَوْمِ القِيَامَةِ.

What Muhammad (`a) has made halal (legal) will be halal until the Day of Judgment, and what he has made haram (forbidden) will be haram until the Day of Judgment.”([^6]) The sources for religious laws are the Holy Qur’an, the Holy Sunnah (words, deeds, and confirmations of the Holy Prophet (s) and the Holy Imams (`a)), consensus ( ijma` ) and reasoning ( `aql ). Details of these sources are mentioned in the texts of usul al-fiqh (fundaments of jurisprudence).

To attain the position of a mujtahid requires many years of study and acquiring various branches of science that not everyone can attain except one who…

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