In What Do We Imitate?
Having got acquainted with the conditions that must be available in the one who must imitate, we move to present the answer of the following question: What are the issues in which it is dutiful on the religiously responsible person who is neither a jurisprudent nor a worker on the basis of taking cautiousness to imitate?
The answer is that there are three frames, in the first two of which imitation is not dutiful but in the third of which imitation is dutiful.
The First Frame: The Basic Principles Of The Religion
Imitation is not permissible with respect to the basic principles of the religion; one must search and speculate on them in order to reach the truth.
The deceased Sheikh Muhammad Ridha’ Al-Mudhaffar in his book Aaqa’id Al-Imamiyya said, "We believe that our minds are what imposed on us to speculate on the creation and on knowing The Creator of the universe and that it is they that imposed on us to analyse the pretence of any one who is pretending prophecy and his miracle. Then, it is incorrect to imitate another one in these issues however important and high levelled he is."1
The Second Frame: The Necessities
There are certain deeds whose judgments are clear for the ones who are religiously responsible, such as: praying, fasting, and performing pilgrimage. The dutifulness of these deeds is without any doubt necessary for all the Muslims. Therefore, neither imitation nor jurisprudence is a must in these deeds.
From here, the jurisprudents have been accustomed in their practical theses to exclude the necessities from the dutifulness of imitation for the one who is neither a jurisprudent nor a worker on the basis of taking cautiousness.
In Tahreer Al-Waseela [Editing the Means], Imam Al-Khomeini (May his secret be sacred), "I declare that every religiously responsible person who has not reached the level of jurisprudence must, as regards the non-necessities in his worships and dealings and even in the desirable deeds and the permissible deeds, be either an imitator or a worker on the basis of taking cautiousness…"2
The Third Frame: The Unnecessary Branches
From the just mentioned saying of Imam Al-Khomeini (May his secret be sacred), we deduce that the frame of the dutifulness of imitation with respect to the non-jurisprudent and the one who is not working on the basis of taking cautiousness includes, after excluding the basic principles of the religion and the necessities, all the deeds which are entitled by the following five judgments of religious responsibility: dutifulness, forbiddance, detest, desirability, and permissibility.
A Clarifying Chart Is it dutiful to imitate in
| - The basic principles of the religion? | No |
|---|---|
| - The necessities? | No |
| - The unnecessary branches of the religion? | Yes |
