The Legal Status of Following a Madhab
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Hardback 122 pages
FORWARD: There is no dearth of books on the subject of taqleed and ijtihad, and I had no idea that I would be writing anything on it. However, certain reasons compelled me to write down this treatise.
When, in 1963, the editor of Faran, Mahir ul-Qadri, suggested that I should contribute on article on taqleed, I was disinclined to engage in debate on the question, as, indeed, my respected father, Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Shafi, always kept himself away from it. However, I acceded to his request in the hope that I might explain the issue and invite the warring parties to think coolly and cease to argue.
Praise belongs to Allah, the article was well received when it was published in May 1963, in the Faran, and several other magazines of India and Pakistan and some Muslims of Junagadh reprinted it published it in the form of a booklet.
Nevertheless, though I had avoided a debate on the issue, the people, who disavow tagleed and reject that the imams of ijtihad should be followed responded with heavy criticism, Mawlana Muhammad Isma'il Salfi was one of them. His criticism was published in al-I'tisam in its thirteen issues and then annexed to his book Tahreek Azadi-e-Fikr our Shah Waliullah ki Tajdeedi Masa'I ..