Appearance
Prohibition of Following Desires and the Followers of Desires(145)
A person is either obeyed, followed, and imitated (muṭāʿ wa-mutbūʿ wa-muqallad) or obedient, follower, and imitator (muṭīʿ wa-tābiʿ wa-muqallid). The follower and imitator must have their following and imitation (taqlīd) be based on investigation (muḥaqqiqāna), not blindly, just as the one who is obeyed, followed, and imitated must be an investigator (muḥaqqiq); that is, he should not exploit people’s ignorance. This important matter, which is a general law regarding the subject of the followed and the follower, is clearly stated in the Qur’an. Based on this principle, God says to the People of the Book in the verse under discussion that you are either independent-minded investigators (muḥaqqiq) or folowing imitators (muqallid) in religious matters; if you are investigators, avoid excess and negligence in your investigations and do not commit excess (ghuluww) in your religion: “Do not commit excess in your religion not in truth” (lā taghlū fī dīnikum ghayr al-ḥaqq). And if you are imitators, let your imitation (taqlīd) be based on investigation and do not blindly accept the words of those who themselves have continuous misguidance and constantly lead others into error.
In investigation you must move within the framework of reason (ʿaql), which has no excess or negligence, just as in your imitation you must follow the reason of others, not their desire (hawā). You should also avoid following those who follow their own desires and desires, because they themselves are misguided and following these desire-seekers and desire-worshippers brings misguidance, even though one who follows another’s desire has first become a follower of his own soul’s desires; that is, he has taken orders from his own soul’s desire to obey another’s desire, because if someone were obedient to his own reason, he would never obey others’ desires. In any case, following one’s own or another’s carnal desires is a cause of misguidance.
It should be mentioned that the people whom God has prohibited the contemporary People of the Book at the time of the Qur’an’s revelation from following their desires: “and do not follow the desires of a people” (wa-lā tattabiʿū ahwāʾ qawm) can be one of two groups:
Past Jews and Christians; such as Jewish rabbis (aḥbār) and Christian monks (ruhbān) whose thoughts were influenced by unbelievers and polytheists.
Unbelievers and polytheists whose disbelief and atheism spread to the People of the Book, just as some of the fabrications of the People of the Book (Isrāʾīliyyāt) have found their way into Islamic books.(146)