How Islam be Implemented in the Present Age?

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by Maulana Justice Muhammed Taqi Usmani
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Whose work is it to deduce solutions from the Quran and Sunnah for solving the problems that keep arising from day to day, and what are the qualifications required of those who perform this task? The answer to this question was provided by the Prophet (sallallaho alayhe wasallam) himself when All approached him asking:
"O Prophet of Allah, what would be your instructions for me should a situation arise for which we find no guidance (from the Quran or your Sunnah), nothing of command or forbidding?" The Prophet (sallallaho alayhe wasallam) replied, " consult the fuqaha (jurist) and the pious and do not act upon a lone opinion."
Two Conditions:
The words hardly require explanation. The Prophet (sallallaho alayhe wasallam) lays down two conditions for anyone to be looked upon as worthy of finding solutions from the Quran and his Sunnah: the consultees should be, faqih as well as pious devotees. The importance of the first is obvious. Only he can understand the purport of the Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah, who has an in-depth knowledge of both, should be well acquainted with their commands, and should have devoted his life towards understanding the spirit of the Shariah. Similarly, he should be one who does what religion requires him to do. One whose deeds do not correspond with Islamic commands, who cannot distinguish between the permissible and the forbidden, cannot possibly understand the spirit of any Islamic requirement. To deduce correctly is, indeed, to discover the truth. And Allah bestows the gift of recognizing the truth on him who reveres truth by performance of deeds.

Allah says in Holy Quran:

"If you are (pious and) Allah-fearing (taqwa), He will bestow on you the gift of discriminating between right and wrong." [Infaal: 29] .
These words of the Quran specify that piety and devotion are pre-requisites of the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. None can otherwise qualify for this ability. In the words of Mufti Muhammad Shafi, (Tafsir M'arif al-Quran), "resolving problems, not mentioned the Quran and Sunnah, can be only by mutual consultation of religious jurists and the pious. To impose an individual opinion on Muslims is criminal. "