NECESSITY OF FIQH PART - 6

These lines establish the compulsory nature of Taqleed. Now, the question is that there have been many Legislators (mujtahidin), so, why follow the 4 Imams only?

The detailed manner in which the rules extracted by the 4 Imams are available to us, chapter wise and in extreme detail, the rules extracted by the other Imams are not available in the same manner. So why follow the other Mujtahidin?

Except the 4 Imams, all other true schools of Jurisprudence have ceased to exist. For this reason, it is the consensus of the whole Ummah that to follow any of the 4 Imams is to follow the Sawaad-e-A’adham i.e to follow the Ahle Sunnatul Jama’at. And to abandon them is to abandon the Sawaad-e-A’adham, as Hadhrat Shah Waliullah (May Allah shower His mercy on him) as written in :'Uqd al Jayyid fil ahkaam il ijtihad wa taqleed'