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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Jurisprudence Made Easy Dialogue on Taqleed Inaugurating the Dialogue on Taqleed, my father said: - Let me first explain to you what is taqleed. Taqleed is the following, by a lay person, of a Jurist in matters of religious practice. Thus, you apply the Jurist’s legal opinion (fatwa).

It is as if you have put the responsibility squarely on the Jurist’s shoulders, in that he will stand accountable before Allah insofar as your compliance with his fatwa is concerned. * Why do we do taqleed? - By now, you know that The Creator is the source of The Law. He prescribed for you certain acts you should do and others you should not do. However, where to draw the line is not so clear-cut.

That said, you may be able to know some of His commands and prohibitions, depending on your upbringing and environment at large. As you may know, Islamic shari’a law has covered all aspects of your life. Thus, it has stipulated for each aspect a number of rulings. How are you going to know the demarcations of these rulings while you go about your life? How would you know what is halal to act upon it and what is haraam to shun it?

I wonder, do you have to resort for every incidence, be it minor or major, to the legal proof to be able to deduce a legal judgement? * Why not? - There is a yawning gap between your time and that of the early days of Islam.

Matters have further been complicated due to the fact that many legal texts were lost; the language and writing style, and norms of expression have changed; the role of pseudo transmitters, who concocted many hadiths (Prophetic traditions) was damaging; this in turn has led to the problem of who is and who is not genuine among the transmitters of hadith. All these have made the process of reaching at a legal opinion the more difficult.

However, let us assume that you were able to ascertain the veracity of the transmitters of any legal text and that you were able to understand the meaning of the terminology used. Do you think that you would be able to discern the multifaceted and complex science of jurisprudence? And would you be able to arrive at what you need to understand? * So, what should I do? - You should turn to the experts in this field, i.e. the jurists, and derive what you need to know of legal judgements from them.

That is, you emulate them. This is not the exclusive reserve of jurisprudence, rather the norm in every science and discipline.