Ahmad Ibn Ali reported that Imam Al-Askari (a.) had said about the verse:“But woe to those who write the book with their hands and then say: “This is from God! To sell it for a low price. Woe to them because of what their hands have written, and woe to them because of what they have acquired!” (2:79) Said: “This is a group of the Jews. One man said to Ja’far As-Sadiq (a.): “If the ordinary people of the Jews knew nothing of the Book except what they heard from their knowledgeable, and there was no other way for them, how did He damn them for their imitation (Taqlid) and taking from their knowledgeable? Are not the ordinary people of the Jews exactly like the ordinary people of us who imitate their knowledgeable ones?” He said: “There is a difference in one aspect between our ordinary people and knowledgeable people and between the ordinary Jews and their knowledgeable people and there is a similarity in another aspect. God condemned our ordinary people for their imitation (Taqlid) of their knowledgeable as He condemned their ordinary people of the Jews. As for the difference, the ordinary people of the Jews recognized the clear lies, the consumption of the forbidden, the corruption and the falsification of the judgments in their knowledgeables.They were driven by the insight of their hearts to the effect that the one who commits what they commited is an offender, who is not allowed to find himself approved by God and the intermediaries between the creation and God. So this is their own fault and the same for our ordinary people when they recognize the obvious transgressions, strong fanaticism and greed for this world and its forbidden things among their scholars. So whoever imitates them, resembles the Jews, whom God condemned because of their imitation (Taqlid) of the wicked among their knowledgeable. As for those of the understanding (Fuqaha’) who controls his self, is preserving his religion, resisting his inclination, and obedient to the commands of his Lord, it is up to the ordinary people to imitate him, and these are only some of the understanding (Fuqaha’) among our followers and not all. So whoever commits any of the abominations and disgraceful acts, which the sinful scholars committed by those, who do not belong to our followers (Ammah), do not accept anything from them about us, nor show any admiration for them. In that, which is taken from us people of the house, there is therefore much confusion, for the wicked take from us and then falsify it by keeping it in custody because of their ignorance, and they do not interpret things according to its perspective because of their lack of knowledge, and others deliberately lie about us.” [Wasa’il-ush-Shi’ah, vol. 27 page 131 Hadith 33401]

أحمد بن علي بن أبي طالب الطبرسي في الاحتجاج عن أبي محمد العسكري عليه السلام في قوله تعالى: فويل للذين يكتبون الكتاب بأيديهم ثم يقولون هذا من عند الله قال: هذه لقوم من اليهود – إلى أن قال: – وقال رجل للصادق عليه السلام: إذا كان هؤلاء العوام من اليهود لا يعرفون الكتاب إلا بما يسمعونه من علمائهم فكيف ذمهم بتقليدهم والقبول من علمائهم؟ وهل عوام اليهود إلا كعوامنا يقلدون علماءهم – إلى أن قال: – فقال عليه السلام: بين عوامنا وعوام اليهود فرق من جهة وتسوية من جهة، أما من حيث الاستواء فان الله ذم عوامنا بتقليدهم علماءهم كما ذم عوامهم، وأما من حيث افترقوا فان عوام اليهود كانوا قد عرفوا علماءهم بالكذب الصراح وأكل الحرام والرشاء وتغيير الأحكام واضطروا بقلوبهم إلى أن من فعل ذلك فهو فاسق لا يجوز أن يصدق على الله ولا على الوسائط بين الخلق وبين الله فلذلك ذمهم، وكذلك عوامنا إذا عرفوا من علمائهم الفسق الظاهر والعصبية الشديدة والتكالب على الدنيا وحرامها، فمن قلد مثل هؤلاء فهو مثل اليهود الذين ذمهم الله بالتقليد لفسقة علمائهم، فأما من كان من الفقهاء صائنا لنفسه، حافظا لدينه مخالفا على هواه، مطيعا لأمر مولاه، فللعوام أن يقلدوه، وذلك لا يكون إلا بعض فقهاء الشيعة لا كلهم، فان من ركب من القبايح والفواحش مراكب علماء العامة فلا تقبلوا منهم عنا شيئا ولا كرامة، وإنما كثر التخليط فيما يتحمل عنا أهل البيت لذلك، لأن الفسقة يتحملون عنا فيحرفونه بأسره لجهلهم ويضعون الأشياء على غير وجهها لقلة معرفتهم، وآخرون يتعمدون الكذب علينا

Al-Hurr Al-Amili writes: “The permissible imitation (Taqlid) mentioned here is the acceptance of the narration (Riwayah) and not the acceptance of the opinion (Ra’y) and independent legal discovery (Ijtihad) and conjecture (Zann) and that is clear and there is no disagreement regarding that. This does not contradict what has preceded and has been expressed clearly and reported by us in traditions and expressed in numerous places. Moreover, according to the fundamentalists (Usuliyyah), neither in the fundamentals (Usul) nor in the branches (Furu’) is it allowed to rely on this tradition, because it is a single discontinuous report (Mursal) with a unreliable chain of transmission and text and is thus weak (Da’if) for them. Its contradiction to the multiple and successive (Mutawatir) reliable chains of transmission makes the interpretation possible, that it arose out of concealment.” [Wasa’il-ush-Shi’ah, Volume 27, Page 132]

قال صاحب الوسائل الحر العاملي: التقليد المرخص فيه هنا إنما هو قبول الرواية لا قبول الرأي والاجتهاد والظن وهذا واضح، وذلك لا خلاف فيه، ولا ينافي ما تقدم وقد وقع التصريح بذلك فيما أوردناه من الحديث وفيما تركناه منه في عدة مواضع، على أن هذا الحديث لا يجوز عند الأصوليين الاعتماد عليه في الأصول ولا في الفروع، لأنه خبر واحد مرسل، ظني السند والمتن ضعيفا عندهم، ومعارضه متواتر، قطعي السند والدلالة، ومع ذلك يحتمل الحمل على التقية