The Shaykh 'Ayd 'Abassi's remarks on suspending judgment in certain legal matters for those who do not know the ruling.

Eid Abbasi : One must suspend judgment... We do not receive revelation, and Gabriel does not come to us, but a person should ask someone more knowledgeable than himself. He should review the issue. For example, I was asked about a matter where I did not know the legal ruling and had not encountered it before. So, should I just exercise independent legal reasoning right away?
Independent legal reasoning comes after exerting effort. One who exerts effort reviews the books, asks the scholars, examines the texts, searches the evidence, reviews the statements of the scholars, the commentators on the hadith, and the exegetes of the verses.
Therefore, suspending judgment is obligatory for one who does not know the ruling; otherwise, he will blunder in the religion of Allah blindly. A scholar who knows the ruling states it. If he does not know the ruling, we tell him: Say what comes to your mind?! That is not acceptable.
We tell him: If the scholars of independent legal reasoning have reasoned, there is no harm. But to reason... in this matter, sometimes the process takes days and months. So, what is his position during that entire period? He suspends judgment and does not issue a ruling until he has finished verifying the issue. In reality, our professor (may Allah preserve him)—I think you will see in many hadiths that he remains silent about them, saying: "I have not yet verified them." When asked, he says: "I do not know." If the correct view were in your opinion, he would have to issue a fatwa saying, "By Allah, this is correct, this is the case." He does not assert, "By Allah, the most likely is this." Yes, this is how a person would make haram permissible and haram lawful.

The questioner : And that is by the grace of Allah.

Eid Abbasi : No, you should thank the professor for the books he...The Shaykh : Nasser verified the book "Mishkat al-Masabih." Do you know the book "Mishkat al-Masabih"? In the first edition, which is widely circulated now, many of the hadiths are not verified; he remains silent about them. "Ahmad narrated it," and he remains silent.The Shaykh : Years later, the second edition or the second verification clarified most of the hadiths about which he had been silent; that is, it clarified their rulings. And in some hadiths where he had previously issued a ruling, he found a new independent legal reasoning. And some hadiths—though very few—remain without clarification, about which he is silent. This is also one of the clearest examples that a person must speak with knowledge. If he does not know, he remains silent. Perhaps your statement is correct if there were no one in the entire world but this one person. What would the people who need to act do? We would tell them: Exercise independent legal reasoning based on what appears to you at this moment. But who said that there is no one in the Islamic community but one person? If you do not know, when they ask you, direct them to ask someone else . Therefore, suspending judgment is the obligatory course, and stating the ruling in this manner is not correct; because an immature opinion will come forth, like bread that is... uncooked. So we avoid it, and there is no sin upon him.
Do you remember the statement of Imam Malik? People used to come to him from the far corners of the earth. Some came, a delegation from beyond the river from Khurasan, with forty questions. They asked him about the first question: "What is your opinion, O Imam?" He told them: "I do not know." The second, the third, out of forty questions, for thirty-six questions he told them: "I do not know, I do not know, I do not know," until they were exhausted, and he was Malik! Where are we in comparison to Malik? Where? We are at the lowest of the low. So they said to him: "We have broken the backs of our camels for you, and yet you say: 'I do not know'?" He said to them: "Whoever says 'I do not know' has issued a fatwa." Meaning, should I strain myself to say in the religion of Allah without knowledge?! This is the path of the righteous Salaf. And I previously mentioned an example of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as well, when he was asked, he would suspend judgment until the revelation came to him. And this is also from the position of our contemporary professors, so perhaps the correct view becomes clear with this, if Allah wills.

The questioner : The correct view, and I am retracting what I said.

Eid Abbasi : In truth, we appreciate our brother Abu Hasan, and we know of many examples of his returning to the truth, and praise be to Allah; that is a very good character trait and indicates sincerity and humility. May Allah firm him and increase him, and us, and all of us, if Allah wills. And of course, he encouraged us to seek knowledge, and he is—if Allah wills—the first to practice it.

The questioner : ... This is what I know.

Eid Abbasi : By Allah, I do not remember exactly right now. Ask Abu Hasan. Did you say that Allah holds a person accountable for what is in his heart?

The questioner : The statement of the verse in the Qur'an.

Eid Abbasi : ؟