The obligation of the Muslim to follow the Book and the Sunnah
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The third question of the fatwa number ( 2872 )
Q 3: There are four schools of Islamic jurisprudence in Islam. What are the criteria that make me follow one of them, and is it possible for me to mix between them, meaning: that I do some things according to one school and other things according to another school?
A 3: Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon His Messenger and his family
and his Companions... After that: The principle is that it is obligatory for the Muslim to follow the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and to seek assistance from the words of the scholars of knowledge, whether he affiliates himself to one of the four schools or not. He is not required to affiliate himself to any of them, provided that he is able to derive rulings on his own or seek assistance from some of the imams of Islamic jurisprudence, due to the availability of the conditions for him and the absence of obstacles in his case. In that case, he takes the ruling on his own. If he is not able to do so, he follows the most trustworthy person he can obtain from among the scholars of knowledge. As for the four schools, each one is attributed to the imam after whom the school is named. This imam became famous for independent legal reasoning in deriving rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, so people from among the scholars of knowledge followed him in his school. It is not permissible to be fanatical about any of them without evidence. Rather, the obligation is to take what the scriptural evidence requires, while disregarding whether it agrees with such-and-such a school or another. A fatwa has been issued by the Committee regarding the four schools.
And from what has preceded, it becomes clear that they are followers of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Messenger is not a follower of them. Rather, what he brought from Allah of the Shari'ah of Islam is the principle to which these imams and other scholars (may Allah be pleased with them) refer. Every Muslim is called a Hanifi; for following the smooth Hanifiyyah, which is the religion of Ibrahim and the religion of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the religion of all the messengers, whether he is a Hanafi, a Maliki, a Shafi'i, a Hanbali, a follower, or one who follows others from among the scholars of Islam. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Q 3: There are four schools of Islamic jurisprudence in Islam. What are the criteria that make me follow one of them, and is it possible for me to mix between them, meaning: that I do some things according to one school and other things according to another school?
A 3: Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon His Messenger and his family
and his Companions... After that: The principle is that it is obligatory for the Muslim to follow the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and to seek assistance from the words of the scholars of knowledge, whether he affiliates himself to one of the four schools or not. He is not required to affiliate himself to any of them, provided that he is able to derive rulings on his own or seek assistance from some of the imams of Islamic jurisprudence, due to the availability of the conditions for him and the absence of obstacles in his case. In that case, he takes the ruling on his own. If he is not able to do so, he follows the most trustworthy person he can obtain from among the scholars of knowledge. As for the four schools, each one is attributed to the imam after whom the school is named. This imam became famous for independent legal reasoning in deriving rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, so people from among the scholars of knowledge followed him in his school. It is not permissible to be fanatical about any of them without evidence. Rather, the obligation is to take what the scriptural evidence requires, while disregarding whether it agrees with such-and-such a school or another. A fatwa has been issued by the Committee regarding the four schools.
And from what has preceded, it becomes clear that they are followers of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Messenger is not a follower of them. Rather, what he brought from Allah of the Shari'ah of Islam is the principle to which these imams and other scholars (may Allah be pleased with them) refer. Every Muslim is called a Hanifi; for following the smooth Hanifiyyah, which is the religion of Ibrahim and the religion of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the religion of all the messengers, whether he is a Hanafi, a Maliki, a Shafi'i, a Hanbali, a follower, or one who follows others from among the scholars of Islam. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.