The Ruling on Acting on One's Own Opinion and Contradicting the Majority of Scholars

The questioner : Is he being sought out, or is it suspected that he is committing open sinfulness regarding the Book and the Sunnah? I mean, is this a sickness or not?

The Shaykh : This is without a doubt. Brothers, no, this is not correct. Because a person acting on his own opinion in contradiction to the majority of scholars is certainly not correct; the general rule is that it is an error. We often say that if you see an anomalous hadith or an anomalous statement, do not rush to adopt it. Do not rush. If an anomalous hadith contradicts the authentic hadiths that are considered the foundations of the Sunnah, we should not be deceived by the apparent soundness of its chain, because the legal principles and established rules do not err, but the transmitter may err; he may make a mistake. We often find hadiths that are inverted in the transmission of some narrators. Therefore, if we see a hadith that appears sound in its chain but contradicts other hadiths that are more authentic than it, we must be cautious and not act upon it or call people to act upon it until we are certain. Likewise, if we see an anomalous statement by some scholars, for example, and the majority is contrary to it, we must be cautious, both in acting upon it and in calling to it, until the matter becomes clear. For example, if we see this statement contradicting the majority, we pause and look at how the majority of scholars contradict this statement and why, until the matter is clarified. And if the matter is clarified, there is no harm in contradicting the majority of scholars if we are certain that this statement is the correct one.

The questioner : I mean that the scholars and people nowadays have fallen into doubtful matters, and the scholars have been lenient. I say it is better for me to separate from them and leave them.

The Shaykh : By Allah, I do not see this. I see that he should mix with the people and the lenient scholars, speak with them, and look at their perspective. The truth may be with them, or the truth may be with him, in which case he should alert them. Even scholars are human; no matter how much a person reaches in knowledge, understanding, and intellect, he is deficient.

The questioner : I mean, is it possible that the majority of scholars, all the scholars existing in the era of the Muslims, or shall we say what?

The Shaykh : If all the scholars are in consensus on the contrary of this man's opinion, it is known that they are not all lenient. This means that there are things they observe that he does not observe. Also, perhaps some people think that the scholars are lenient, but perhaps the scholars have been diligent in the matter, but not everything the scholars say appears to us. Therefore, we should not blame the scholars and say, "By Allah, the scholars fell short and erred," until we look, discuss with them, and see if they acted or not? Do they see something other than what we see?