If there are differing opinions among the schools of jurisprudence in a matter, which one should the layperson follow?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. When there is an opinion in the school of Imam Ahmad that contradicts one of the mujtahid imams within the school, which one is more deserving of being followed by the layperson who is unable to determine which evidence is stronger?
Answer:
The one who is unable to determine which evidence is stronger should ask the people of knowledge. This is for the one who does not have knowledge; he asks the people of knowledge. Allah the Exalted said:[An-Nahl 16:43] So if he is confused by one of the opinions, he asks the people of knowledge about the validity of that opinion and what its evidence is. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. When there is an opinion in the school of Imam Ahmad that contradicts one of the mujtahid imams within the school, which one is more deserving of being followed by the layperson who is unable to determine which evidence is stronger?
Answer:
The one who is unable to determine which evidence is stronger should ask the people of knowledge. This is for the one who does not have knowledge; he asks the people of knowledge. Allah the Exalted said:
So ask the people of the message if you do not know.
فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [17 -2802] إذا وجد في المسألة أقوال بين المذاهب، فأيهما يأخذ بها العامي؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.