This paper examines the issue of the essentiality or inessentiality - with reference to the arguments of both sides - of imitation of the most learned (taqlīd-i a‘lam), which has been subject to age old discussions in Muslim communities. Taking into consideration the evidences of the two main viewpoints on this issue and despite the widely known viewpoint of the later generation and contemporary jurists based on the essentiality of taqlīd-i a‘lam, the writer has regarded this viewpoint as questionable and open to doubt, and considered as more authoritative the viewpoint favoring the inessentiality of taqlīd-i a‘lam and the permissibility of imitation of the qualified jurists in general.
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