Taqlid: Four Valid Ways to Obtain a Mujtahid’s Fatwā

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Ayatullah Sistani

Ruling 4

There are four ways to obtain a fatwa, i.e. an edict issued by a mujtahid:

1. Hearing it from the mujtahid himself;

2. Hearing it from two dutiful people who narrate the mujtahid’s fatwa;

3. Hearing it from someone whose word one trusts;

4. Reading it in the manual of Islamic rulings (risālah) of the mujtahid, on condition that one has confidence in the manual being correct.

- Ayatullah Sistani, Practical Laws of Islam, Following a Jurist (Taqlid)