Obedience, Ijtihad and Taqlid

The book under review is about a much contested issue, namely ijtihad and taqlid or the use of independent reasoning and the blind following of the ‘opinions’ of the righteous Predecessors. It also attempts to delineate the concept of ‘proper obedience’ in Islam while grappling with both the concepts of ijtihad and taqlid. The author presents, in the form of epithets, some Qur’anic statements, Prophetic narrations, sayings of famous jurists and scholars of Islam, such as Abu Hanifah, al-Shafi[i, Malik, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn al-Qayyim, Yusuf alQaradawi, and Mawdudi which elucidate ‘proper obedience’ while establishing the comprehensibility of Scripture and the availability of the guidance and validity of ijtihad and, at the same time, discrediting and denouncing taqlid which amounts, according to the author, to ‘hero-worshipping’. The author maintains that it is permissible to follow the opinion of an Imam but on the basis of evidence rather than because of an affiliation to any particular madhhab...