Hukm al-Taqlid

Hukm al-Taqlid (The Ruling on Legal Imitation), also titled Risalat al-Ijtihad wa-l-Taqlid, is a legal treatise on the jurisprudence of legal reasoning (ijtihad) and imitation (taqlid) by the Najdi Hanbali scholar Hamad ibn Nasir Al Mu'ammar (d. 1225 AH / 1810 CE) Hukm al-Taqlid+1.

Origin and Scope

The treatise was composed in response to a formal inquiry regarding three primary questions: whether beginner students of Islamic law are obliged to attain direct knowledge of the textual proof (dalil) and verify the chains and soundness of hadiths for every single legal ruling or whether practicing according to abstract jurisprudential treatises (al-fiqhiyyat) suffices them; what the ruling of taqlid is in the case of ordinary laypeople (al-awamm); and how to assess the claim reported from some later scholars of an alleged consensus (ijma') on the obligation to strictly imitate the four established schools of Sunni law (Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal) Hukm al-Taqlid+1.

Core Arguments and Structure

Ibn Mu'ammar opens the work by affirming that unconditional obedience is due solely to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, and that scholars unanimously agree that no individual in the Muslim community is infallible except the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Majmuat al-Rasail wal-Mas…+1. He cites statements from the four eponymous imams explicitly warning against uncritical adherence to their own opinions whenever authentic textual evidence contradicts them Rasail wa Fatawa al-Shayk….

The author divides individuals regarding the knowledge and practice of legal rulings into three main categories:

1. The Qualified Jurist (al-Mujtahid): An individual who fulfills the requisite qualifications of ijtihad; his duty is direct legal deduction and reasoning rather than taqlid Hukm al-Taqlid.
2. The Incapable Inquirer: A person lacking the tools for independent deduction, such as a layperson or an unequipped student of law; the religious obligation for such an individual is to ask scholars and follow their guidance through taqlid Hukm al-Taqlid+1.
3. The Intermediate Intermediate Student (al-Mutafaqqih): An educated student or jurist capable of examining textual arguments and weighing divergent opinions (al-nazar wa-l-istidlal); when clear evidence indicates the superiority of a particular view, such an individual is obliged to follow the stronger evidence (ittiba'), even if it diverges from the official stance of his associated school (madhhab) Hukm al-Taqlid+1.

Addressing the reported consensus on the obligation of following the four schools, Ibn Mu'ammar traces this report to the Hanbali vizier Ibn Hubayrah in his work al-Ifsah 'an Ma'ani al-Sihah Majmuat al-Rasail wa al-M…+1. He argues that Ibn Hubayrah did not claim that ijtihad was impermissible after the early period, nor that personal adherence to a single school was mandatory; rather, Ibn Hubayrah intended to refute the requirement that a judge must be an absolute mujtahid, arguing instead that after the consolidation of the four schools, appointing a judge who relies on an established school is valid and his legal judgments are enforceable Majmuat al-Rasail wa al-M…+1.

Transmission and Print History

The treatise was circulated in manuscript collections of Najdi legal and theological treatises Majmuat al-Rasail wal-Mas…+1. It was published in Cairo under the supervision of Muhammad Rashid Rida at al-Manar Press in 1344 AH as part of the compilation Majmu'at al-Rasa'il wa-l-Masa'il al-Najdiyyah under the heading Risalat al-Ijtihad wa-l-Taqlid Majmuat al-Rasail wal-Mas…+1. It was also included in the author's collected works (Majmu'at al-Rasa'il wa-l-Masa'il wa-l-Fatawa) and has been issued as a standalone monograph under the title Hukm al-Taqlid, edited and annotated by Abd al-Aziz ibn Adnan al-Iydan Hukm al-Taqlid+1.