Taqlid or
taqleed (
Arabic تَقْليد
taqlīd) is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology. It literally means "to follow". In Islamic legal terminology it means to follow a
mujtahid (as an Islamic scholar who is competent in interpreting
sharia) in religious laws and commandment as he has derived them, that is, following the decisions of a religious expert without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of
jurisprudence (
fiqh) without demanding an explanation of the processes by which they arrive at it, hence adherence to one of the classical schools (
madhhab) of jurisprudence.