To become a mujtahid means spending the major part of your...

To become a mujtahid means spending the major part of your life in studying the Islamic sciences in general and the Islamic legal system in particular. A person must, first of all, study the Arabic language (especially classical Arabic) since all the sources of the sharifa are in classical Arabic. Then he must study and gain expertise in Usulu ‘1-Fiqh (the Principles of Jurisprudence) which involves the methodology of defining and using the sources of the shari’a.

One also has to study the Qur’anic verses on laws, the hadith literature, and also the conclusions reached by the past mujtahids. In studying the hadith literature, one has to also study ‘ilmu ‘r-rijal which deals with the narrators of hadith— otherwise he will not be able to distinguish the authentic hadith from the inauthentic ones. In short, ijtihad is not everyone’s cup of tea.

The social life of human beings is based on mutual cooperation: each one of us takes the duty of fulfilling one of the needs of the society, and, in return, each one of us expects to benefit from the expertise of the others. Just as not everyone can become his or her own doctor, in an Islamic society, not everyone can become a mujtahid. Those who are not mujtahid will follow the shari’a by doing taqlid—following the opinions of a highranking and pious mujtahid. (A) Is Taqlid Reasonable?

First of all, taqlid is not “blind following,” it is based on an informed decision taken by the individual Shi’a man or woman. Before you start following the opinions of a mujtahid in the shari’a laws, you have to ascertain that he has the required expertise and that he is of upright character. Secondly, it is not always unreasonable to follow others and to hold uncritical faith in them.

We can logically distinguish four possible forms of imitation: an ignorant person imitating another ignorant person; a more learned person imitating a less learned person; a less learned person imitating an ignorant person; a less learned person imitating a more learned person. It is quite clear that the first three forms of imitations are unreasonable and can serve no purpose.

However, the fourth kind of imitation is obviously not only reasonable, but also necessary and a matter of common sense; in our everyday life we follow and imitate others in many things; we like to take the advice of experts in matters outside our own knowledge.