Qias, then, affords no hope of enlightened progress, removes no fetter of the past, for in it there must be no divergence in principle from a legislation imperfect in its relation to modern life and stationary in its essence.[32] In the Nihayat-ul-Murad it is written:--"We are shut up to following the four Imams." In the Tafsir-i-Ahmadi we read:--"To follow any other than the four Imams is unlawful." An objector may say that such respect is like the reverence the heathen pay to their ancestors. To this an answer is given in the preface to the Tarjuma-i-Sharh-i-Waqayah. The writer there says that it is nothing of the kind. "The Mujtahidin are not the source of the orders of the Law, but they are the medium by which we obtain the Law. Thus Imam Abu Hanifa said: 'We select first from the Quran, then from the Traditions, then from the decrees of the Companions; we act on what the Companions agreed upon; where they doubt, we doubt.' The Commentator Jelal-ud-din Mahli says, 'The common people and others who have {29} not reached the rank of a Mujtahid, must follow one of the four Imams.' Then when he enters one Mazhab (sect) he must not change. Again, it may be objected that God gave no order about the appointment of four Imams. Now, it is recorded in a Tradition that the Prophet said, 'Follow the way of the great company; whosoever departs from it will enter hell.' The Followers of the Imams are a great company." It is moreover the unanimous opinion, the "Ijma'-i-Ummat," that the Imams rightly occupy the position accorded to them. It is a great blessing, as we read in the Tafsir-i-Ahmadi: "It is of the grace of God, that we are shut up to these four Imams. God approves of this, and into this matter proofs and explanations do not enter." Should any one further object that, in the days of the Prophet, there were no Mujtahidin, that each man acted on a "saying" as he heard it, that he did not confine his belief or conduct to the deductions made by some "appointed Companion," he may be answered thus:--"For a long time after the death of the Prophet many Companions were alive, and consequently the Traditions then current were trustworthy; but now it is not so, hence the need for the Imams and their systems."