Answered by our Shaykh, the ‘Allaamah, the Sincere Adviser, Abu ‘Abdirrahman Yahya bin ‘Ali Al-Hajoori – may Allaah preserve him –
Question:
Is it permissible for a layman who cannot extract rulings to blind follow?
Answer:
The majority of the scholars permit the laymen who can not extract (proofs for themselves) to perform taqlīd, and they use as evidence the statement of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic:
(فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لا تَعْلَمُونَ)
“So ask of those who know the Scripture, if you know not.” [An-Nahl:43]
The Thāhiriyā see that this is not a sound evidence for them, rather Ibn Hazm said: “Allaah has spoken the truth and the distorters of His statement have lied, verily Allaah commanded us to ask the people of scripture concerning the scripture and has not commanded us to ask the people of the scripture of their opinions”.
And in his book “Ihkām Al-ahkām” he mentioned a very good refutation in this subject, of which the summary is:
That the layman asks concerning the proofs and follows the proofs, and he asks he who he trusts in regards to their knowledge, their religion, their war’, their taqwa, and he follows the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, Allaah, the Most High, said:
(اتَّبِعُوا مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَلا تَتَّبِعُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ قَلِيلًا مَا تَذَكَّرُونَ)
“Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord, and follow not any Auliyā besides Him (Allaah). Little do you remember!” [Al-A’rāf:3]
So taqlīd is the following of he who is not a binding evidence, without binding evidence.
As for the following of evidences then this is not following individuals rather it’s following the evidence.
Al-‘Amrīṭi, may Allaah have mercy upon him, mentioned in regards to this:
تقليدنا قبول قول القائل”
“من غير ذكر حجة للسائل
“Blind following with us is the accepting of a statement without mentioning the evidences to the questioner.”
Translated by : Abu ‘Abdirrahman ‘Abdullaah bin Ahmed Ash-Shingaani
Original Fatwa:
الكنز الثمين في الإجابة على أسئلة طلبة العلم والزائرين (5) (https://www.sh-yahia.net/show_books_40.html)
Under: كتاب السنة Entitled: حكم التقليد بالنسبة للعامي