Valid usul has been noted in the Four Sunni Madhhabs and all of them recognise each other as valid interpretations of Islamic law while the diametric opposite has been witnessed in those who are outside these Four Sunni Madhhabs, especially so if the detractors are not recognised as high ranking jurisprudents (fuqaha) of the genre known as Mujtahids. It is also pertinent that the Fatwa mentioned that the main cause of the fitna (mischief) of abandoning the taqlid of the valid Schools of Sunni law has been coming from the hands of young Muslims who lack the tools to really understand in a painstaking way why difference of opinion (ikhtilaf) in jurisprudential rulings (fiqh) occurred, and why they are permitted if the foundational principles (Usul) are valid in the first instance. It is an essential Fatwa to show that not only is taqlid allowed and valid, but that also following false beliefs is harmful to Islam. It also warned against those who go to excesses in attempting to fanatically promote an anti-Taqlid stance and presumptuously attempt to re-interpret the Shar’ia especially when they have not reached any level of valid and recognised Ijtihad.
The following is a crucial and highly welcomed Fatwa passed in the Holy city of Makka al-Mukarrama in 1987 on the validity of following (taqlid) one of the Four Sunni Madhhabs (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali) with regards to Islamic rulings, as well as a warning to those who try to detract the common folk from this type of taqlid, and attack it in an odious way. Fatwa on Taqlid and its detractors by the Islamic Fiqh Academy – Makka al-Mukarrama – 1987