Taqlīd v. Ijtihād: The Rise of Taqlīd as the Secondary Judicial Approach in Islamic Jurisprudence

Abstract

Muslims scholars ofter argue that ijtihād is the only intellectual process that Islamic law knows, and that taqlīd is an intruder process that has no legitimacy. However, although ijtihād remains the primary judiciary approach, taqlīd seems to be the secondary one. The main Islamic law sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah, introduce taqlīd as an Islamic intellectual process that versus ijtihād. Further, the strict qualifications to be a mujtahid justify the emergence of taqlīd to fill in gaps when ijtihād is not workable. Otherwise, it will be an undue burden to require everyone to be a mujtahid. In this regard, I attempt to expound taqlīd in its judicial aspect as the secondary Islamic judicial approach in an attempt to apply its concept on the proper Islamic Judge.

Keywords: Taqlīd, Ijtihād, Islamic Law, Islamic Judiciary, Jurisprudence