❀ Refutation of Personal Taqleed through the Qur'an, Authentic Hadiths, and Consensus of the Ummah ❀
🖋 Excerpt from the book "Mas'alah Taqleed in Deen" by Shaykh Zubair Ali Zaee رحمه الله
✦ Refutation of Taqleed from the Noble Qur’an
➊ Verse:
﴿ وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ﴾
"And do not follow that of which you have no knowledge."
[Al-Isrāʾ: 36]
This verse has been used as evidence against Taqleed by the following scholars:
- Imām Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (al-Mustaṣfā 2/389)
- Imām as-Suyūṭī (ar-Radd ʿalā man Akhlada ilal-Arḍ p. 125, 130)
- Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn 2/188)
➋ Verse:
﴿ اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ ﴾
"They took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah."
[At-Tawbah: 31]
This verse has been cited by scholars as a condemnation of blind following (Taqleed):
- Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm 2/109)
- Ibn Ḥazm (al-Aḥkām 6/283)
- Ibn al-Qayyim (Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn 2/190)
- as-Suyūṭī (ar-Radd ʿalā man Akhlada ilal-Arḍ p. 120)
- al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (al-Faqīh wal-Mutafaqqih 2/66)
🖋 Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله said:
“The scholars have used these verses as a refutation of Taqleed. Their use of these verses is not hindered by the fact that they refer to disbelievers, because the comparison is not based on faith or disbelief — rather, the similarity lies in following others without evidence.”
(Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn 2/191)
➌ Verse:
﴿ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ﴾
"Say, bring your proof if you are truthful."
[Al-Baqarah: 111, An-Naḥl: 64]
Scholars who used this verse as proof against Taqleed include:
- Ibn Ḥazm (al-Aḥkām 6/275)
- al-Ghazālī (al-Mustaṣfā 2/389)
- as-Suyūṭī (ar-Radd ʿalā man Akhlada ilal-Arḍ p. 130)
✦ Refutation of Taqleed from Authentic Hadiths
➊ Origin of Taqleed as a Bidʿah
🖋 Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله states:
“This innovation of Taqleed emerged in the fourth century — a century condemned by the Prophet ﷺ.”
(Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn 2/208)
🖋 Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله said:
“Taqleed originated in the fourth century.”
(Ibṭāl at-Taqleed, quoted in ar-Radd ʿalā man Akhlada ilal-Arḍ p. 133)
The Prophet ﷺ said:"Every innovation is misguidance."
[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Jumuʿah, ḥadīth 868]
➋ Following Opinions over Revelation
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ warned about people in the end times who would issue fatāwā based on opinion rather than divine guidance:
"Then there will remain ignorant people. They will be asked for rulings, and they will issue verdicts based on their opinions. They will go astray and lead others astray."
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Iʿtiṣām bil-Kitāb wa as-Sunnah, ḥadīth 7307]
➌ Hadith of Muʿādh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه:
"Beware of three things: the mistake of a scholar, the argument of a hypocrite using the Qur'an, and the worldly temptations that destroy you. As for the scholar’s mistake, if he is rightly guided, do not blindly follow him in your religion, and if he errs, do not despair of him."
(al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ 9/326-327 ḥadīth 8709–8710)
Although this narration is weak due to a disconnected chain (mursal), its meaning is sound and supported by other principles and statements of the Salaf.
Important Note:
All verses and hadiths commanding adherence to the Qur'an and Sunnah are valid proofs against Taqleed, because the muqallid abandons revelation in favor of fallible human interpretation.
✦ Refutation of Taqleed by the Consensus (Ijmāʿ) of the Ummah
🖋 Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله states:
"There is established consensus among all the Companions رضي الله عنهم and all the Tābiʿīn that no one among them would unconditionally follow the statements of any other scholar. Whoever adheres completely to the opinions of Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, ash-Shāfiʿī, or Aḥmad — while being capable of understanding — and does not leave their positions at all, has opposed the consensus of the Ummah and departed from the path of the believers. We seek refuge in Allah from such a state. Moreover, these esteemed imāms themselves forbade Taqleed of themselves and others. So whoever makes Taqleed of them has, in fact, opposed them."
(an-Nubdhah al-Kāfiyah fī Aḥkām Uṣūl ad-Dīn p. 83, also quoted in ar-Radd ʿalā man Akhlada ilal-Arḍ of as-Suyūṭī p. 131–132)
Conclusion:
✔ The Qur’an commands following knowledge and evidence, not personalities.
✔ The Sunnah warns against issuing rulings by opinion and describes Taqleed as an innovation.
✔ The early generations — the Companions and Tābiʿīn — had unanimous consensus that unquestioning adherence to anyone besides the Prophet ﷺ is invalid.
