The Ethical Obligations of the Muqallid Between Autonomy and Trust (Istafti Qalbaka Wa in Aftâka Al-Nasu Wa Aftûka)

FESTSCHRIFT IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR BERNARD WEISS, Forthcoming

Islamic Law and Law of the Muslim World Paper No. 09-76

Posted: 14 Jul 2009 Last revised: 19 Dec 2020

See all articles by Mohammad Fadel

Mohammad Fadel

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law

Date Written: July 10, 2009

Abstract

Managing one’s faith is a complicated process. In this draft chapter, which will be published in forthcoming a Festschrift in honor of Professor Bernard Weiss, Professor Mohammad Fadel surveys the various arguments on how Muslims who lack the capacity to engage in independent ethical inquiry (ijtihad) are to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise as a result of the recognition of moral pluralism within Islamic ethics. This paper discusses the different approaches to this question taken by two different groups of Sunni Muslim theologians. The first, known as takhyir, holds that a non-specialist Muslim, a muqallid, is free to choose among any of the positions advanced by a qualified mujtahid. The second, known as tarjih, holds that a muqallid is obliged to weigh the merits of the competing opinions, not based on their substance, but rather on the personal qualities of the mujtahids who hold the competing opinions. Both positions, however, require non-specialists to identify trustworthy authorities so that they can discharge their ethical obligations by aligning themselves with the opinions (taqlid) of reliable scholars. The paper concludes by questioning whether the purely epistemological approach adopted by traditional Muslim theologians in answering this question is capable of providing a satisfactory answer to the problem of ethical obligation in Islamic moral theory that arises out of Islamic commitments to moral pluralism, and instead suggests that the mujtahid-muqallid relationship is more akin to a trust relationship than one based on intellectual deference.

Keywords: moral pluralism, Islam, takhyir, muqallid, mujtahid, ethical obligations, Islamic moral theory

Suggested Citation

Fadel, Mohammad, The Ethical Obligations of the Muqallid Between Autonomy and Trust (Istafti Qalbaka Wa in Aftâka Al-Nasu Wa Aftûka) (July 10, 2009). FESTSCHRIFT IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR BERNARD WEISS, Forthcoming, Islamic Law and Law of the Muslim World Paper No. 09-76, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1432531

Mohammad Fadel (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law ( email )

78 and 84 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5
Canada

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