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The_Savior_from_Spiritual_Error, page : 77
“Our instructor instructed the preachers and spread them widely through the
land and perfected the instruction, according to the word of Allah most high,
`Today I have perfected your religion for you‟ (Koran 5, 5); when the
instruction has been made perfect, the death of the instructor does no
harm, any more than does his being hidden”.
There remains their argument: “How do you judge a point of law on which
there has been no explicit ruling? Is it by the letter of the law (nass)? But
you have not heard it. Is it by your independent interpretation (Ijtihad) and
opinion (ra‟y)? That is precisely the place where differences occur”.
To this we reply: “We do what Mu`ath did when the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him, sent him to the Yemen; we judge by the actual text
where there is a text, and by our independent reasoning where there is no
text.¹ That is exactly what their preachers do when they are away from the
Imam at the remotest corners of the land. They cannot in all cases judge by
the text, for the texts which are finite in number cannot deal with all the
infinite variety of events; nor is it possible for them to return to the city of the
land and perfected the instruction, according to the word of Allah most high,
`Today I have perfected your religion for you‟ (Koran 5, 5); when the
instruction has been made perfect, the death of the instructor does no
harm, any more than does his being hidden”.
There remains their argument: “How do you judge a point of law on which
there has been no explicit ruling? Is it by the letter of the law (nass)? But
you have not heard it. Is it by your independent interpretation (Ijtihad) and
opinion (ra‟y)? That is precisely the place where differences occur”.
To this we reply: “We do what Mu`ath did when the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him, sent him to the Yemen; we judge by the actual text
where there is a text, and by our independent reasoning where there is no
text.¹ That is exactly what their preachers do when they are away from the
Imam at the remotest corners of the land. They cannot in all cases judge by
the text, for the texts which are finite in number cannot deal with all the
infinite variety of events; nor is it possible for them to return to the city of the