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What is the ruling on one who says that the opinion of scholars should not be blindly followed and calls for the arbitration of reason in matters of dispute?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

We are commanded to refer to the people of knowledge when ignorant of a ruling of the Sharia, based on the Almighty's saying: "So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know." Their obedience is like that of those in authority. The rulings of the Sharia are not known by intellect, and whoever follows his intellect in them will go astray. For religion is not based on opinion, as Imam Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If religion were based on opinion, then wiping over the bottom of the leather socks would be more appropriate." One must follow what Allah revealed to His Messenger, and a non-scholar cannot know Allah's ruling except by referring to the people of knowledge.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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