All the Muslims should bear the responsibility of Islam. There are no clergymen in Islam and the State should prohibit any sign of their presence among the Muslims.

Although Mujtahids are scholars, however not every scholar is necessarily a Mujtahid since a scholar could either be a Mujtahid or a Muqallid (imitator). If the Muslim were to take the Shari’ah rule in order to act upon, then, it requires some consideration: if he took the rule from a Mujtahid, he in this case would be emulating the Mujtahid. If he took it from a non-Mujtahid, he would be learning that rule from the person he had taken it from, and he would not be emulating him. However, if the Muslim was to take the rule in order to learn it, he would be learning the rule irrespective of whether he took it from a Mujtahid or a non Mujtahid. Therefore, these scholars - whether Mujtahids or otherwise - are not clergymen since none of them has any right to legitimise or prohibit anything and they are just like any other Muslim regarding every single Shari’ah rule. None of them should distinguish himself from the rest of the Muslims in anything with regards to the Shari’ah rules regardless of how high his rank is in terms of knowledge, Ijtihad and respect. Hence, what is Haram for others does not become allowed for the scholar and nor does the Wajib upon others become Mandub (recommended) for him. He is rather like any other individual Muslim. Therefore, the idea of clergymen held by Christians has no existence in Islam. The concept of clergymen is specific to Christians because a clergyman does legitimise and prohibit rules to them. Thus, attributing such a term to the Muslim scholar might give the impression of attributing the Christian concept to the Muslim scholars despite the fact that Muslim scholars do not allow and nor do they prohibit anything. Therefore, it is not fitting to attribute the term of clergyman to a Muslim scholar.

There are explicit narrations prohibiting the emulation of Christians and Jews. Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri narrated that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: