ABSTRACT
Taqlid had become largely a fiction. Like other historical legal fictions it had served its purpose as a transitional device; and when its potential appeared exhausted, modernist jurisprudence inevitably passed on to a more frank and open recognition of the real purposes that had inspired it. It is the principle that taqlid allows a choice from among these variant views recorded in the authoritative texts which has permitted extensive modification of the law as traditionally applied in Middle Eastern countries. Which exploited by modern reformers, has lent an added significance to the alleged statement of the Prophet that "Difference of opinion among people is a sign of the bounty of God". The selection by Middle Eastern countries of the principles of another school—in this case the Hanbalis—concerns the right of a husband and wife to regulate the incidents of their marital relationship by the stipulation of conditions in the marriage contract itself.
