Obtaining Of A Mujtahid

بِسْــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِالرَّحْمَنِ اارَّحِيم

There are four ways of obtaining the verdicts of a Mujtahid :

1. When a man hears from the Mujtahid himself.
2. When the verdict of the Mujtahid is quoted by two just persons.
3. When a man hears the verdict from a person whose statement satisfies him.
4. By reading the Mujtahid's book of Masae'l, provided that, one is satisfied about the correctness of the book.

As long as a person is certain that the verdict of the Mujtahid has not changed, he can act according to what is written in the Mujtahid's book. And if he suspects that the verdict might have been changed, investigation in that matter is not necessary .

If an A'lam Mujtahid gives a fatwa on some matter, his follower cannot act in that matter on the fatwa of another Mujtahid. But if he does not give a fatwa, and expresses a precaution (Ihtiyat) that a man should act in such and such a manner, for exam ple if he says that as a precautionary measure, in the first and second Rak'at of the namaz he should read a complete Surah after the Surah of "Hamd", the follower may either act on this precaution, which is called obligatory precaution (Ihtiyat Wajib), or he may act on the fatwa of another Mujtahid who it is permissible to follow. Hence, if he (the second Mujtahid) rules that only "Surah Hamd" is enough, he (the person offering prayers) may drop the second Surah. The position will be the same if the A'a lam Mujtahid expresses terms like Ta'mmul or Ishkal.

If the A'lam Mujtahid observes precaution after or before having given a fatwa, for example, if he says that if Najis vessel is washed once with Kurr water (about 388 litres), it becomes Pak, although as precautionary measure, it should be washed thre e times, his followers can abandon acting according to this precaution. This precaution is called recommended precaution (Ihtiyat Mustahab).

If a Mujtahid, who is followed by a person dies, his category will be the same as when he was alive. Based on this, if he is more learned than a living Mujtahid, the follower who has a general notion about the variation in the day to day Masae'l, must continue to remain in his taqlid. And if the living Mujtahid is more learned, then the follower must turn to him for taqlid. The term 'taqlid' used here implies only an intention to follow a particular Mujtahid, and does not include having acted acco rding to his fatwa.

If a person acts according to the fatwa of a Mujtahid in certain matter, and after the death of that Mujtahid, he follows a living Mujtahid in that matter according to his obligation, he cannot act again according to the fatwa of the dead Mujtahid.

Following A Mujtahid

Identifying A Mujtahid