Similarly...

Similarly, an Islamic society without experts in the shari’a cannot properly consider itself Islamic, and so it is an obligation for a group of persons from this society to devote themselves to the study of the religious sciences to provide proper guidance to all Muslims. This is such an important obligation that Allah has exempted those who go to seek religious knowledge from the duty of jihad. He says: “It is not (right) for the believers to go forth all together (for Jihad).

So why should not a party from every section of them (i.e., the believers) go forth to become learned in the religion, and to ivarn their people when they return to them—so that haply they may beware.” (9:122) It is clear from many narrations that the Imams of Ahlu ‘1-bayt (a.s.) used to be pleased whenever any of their companions taught religion or gave legal rulings (fatwa) to others.

There are several documented cases of Shi’as who lived far from Medina asking the Imam of their time to appoint someone in their area to adjudicate between them in religious problems: Zakariyyah ibn Adam al- Qummi and Yunus bin ‘Abdu ‘r-Rahman, for example, were named by Imam ‘Ali ar-Riza, to solve disputes in their own districts.

In a famous hadlth, ‘Umar ibn Hanzalah asked Imam Ja’far as- Sadiq (a.s.) about the legality of two Shi’as seeking a verdict from an illegitimate ruler in a dispute over a debt or a legacy. The Imam’s answer was that it was absolutely forbidden to do so.

Then Ibn Hanzalah asked what the two should do, and the Imam replied: “They must seek out one of your own who narrates our traditions, who is versed in what is permissible and what is forbidden, who is well-acquainted with our laws and ordinances, and accept him as judge and arbiter, for I appoint him as judge over you...” Besides these ahadith, we have quite a few sayings of the Imams that tell us what to do if we come across two ahadith which are contradictory or semi-contradictory—and solving the contradictory ahadith is one of the functions of ijtihad.

These types of ahadith are known as al-akhbdr al-’ilajiyyah, the ahadith which solve the problems in the studying of the hadith. In conclusion, we can say that one way of following the shari’a is to study the science of shari’a, learn the process of ijtihad and become a mujtahid. 3. Taqlid Although we have mentioned ijtihad as the first of the possible ways of following the shari’a, it is not something which every person can do.