Explanation of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “And whoever issues a fatwa without a firm basis, his sin is upon the one who issued it”

The Shaykh : The third and final part of this hadith is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
In this part, there is a specific ruling concerning scholars who engage in issuing fatwas to people. This is, in reality, a heavy matter, weighing as much as the saying of Allah the Exalted to His Prophet (peace be upon him): . This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) obligated the one seeking a fatwa not to rush into issuing rulings, but rather he must be cautious. Caution means knowing the ruling from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). If he issues a fatwa without this caution—meaning without referring to the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)—and the person seeking the fatwa adopts the scholar’s opinion and fatwa, and the scholar had issued it with sin, then the sin is upon the one who issued the fatwa.
From here, we arrive at a serious and very serious issue: when a scholar is asked about a matter and issues a fatwa without relying on the Book and the Sunnah, he is issuing a fatwa without a firm basis. This is because the hadith says: ; that is, without a chain of narration, without clear evidence, and without proof. It is known to every Muslim that the proof in Islam is nothing but the Book and the Sunnah, or what is derived from them through scholarly consensus and correct analogical reasoning. So, whoever issues a fatwa without a firm basis—meaning without proof from the Book of Allah or from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), as detailed above—has issued a fatwa without guidance and without proof. In that case, the sin of the one seeking the fatwa at that time is upon the one who issued the fatwa. So what is obligatory for the mufti? He must be cautious above all else and not rush into issuing a fatwa. This means he must review the matter if he has not already done so. How does he review it? And from where does he derive the correct answer to what he was asked? By referring to the Book and the Sunnah. This is because the hadith says: ; that is, without proof. And what is the proof in Islam? It is the Qur'an and the Sunnah, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So, what do you think of one who is asked about a matter or a case and issues a fatwa based on the opinion of a scholar—whichever scholar it is—while he knows that there are two or more opinions on the matter? Did he issue a fatwa with a firm basis? With proof?
Whoever issues a fatwa based on the opinion of so-and-so, while knowing that there are two or more opinions on the matter; did he issue a fatwa with a firm basis, with proof and clear evidence?
The answer is: No. Because when the matter is one of the disputed issues, scholars have issued two or more opinions on it. So, he issued a fatwa based on one of the opinions without supporting his fatwa, at least in his own mind, with a verse from the Book of Allah or a hadith from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, he has not issued a fatwa based on a firm basis, proof, or clear evidence. Therefore, the sin of this erroneous fatwa does not fall upon the one seeking the fatwa, but rather upon the one who issued it; his sin is upon him. So, every one seeking a fatwa must be cautious in his fatwa; that is, he must base his fatwa on the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The meaning of this scholarly statement, in clear and distinct terms, is that the one seeking a fatwa—the scholar, when asked about a certain matter—let us give an example of that:
A man asked him: Does the flow of blood invalidate the ablution? He said: Yes. He means that this is the Hanafi school, and this is how he issues the fatwa. So, if we refer to this hadith, we understand that the sin of this answer is upon him, not upon the one seeking the fatwa. Why?
Because there are two other opinions on this matter. The Hanafi school rules that the ablution is invalidated by the mere flow of blood from its place. The Shafi'i school says: Blood does not invalidate the ablution at all, no matter how much it is. The school of Imam Malik and Ahmad distinguishes, saying: If the blood is much, it invalidates; otherwise, it does not.
So, the one who issued the fatwa said: It invalidates. Where is the proof, and the matter is disputed? Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim who follows one school of jurisprudence, when asked about a matter, to issue a fatwa based on his school; because there are other schools. So, he must refrain from issuing the fatwa. If he issues it, he is sinful, as evidenced by this hadith, which is his saying (peace be upon him): —that is, without a chain and proof—. So, the one who says: The flow of blood invalidates the ablution, or does not invalidate it, or it invalidates if it is much and does not invalidate if it is little; whichever answer it is, if its issuer did not rely on a chain from the Book and the Sunnah, his sin is upon him and not upon the one seeking the fatwa. Why? Because the one seeking the fatwa fulfilled his obligation when his Lord said to him: . This person who does not know came to one he thinks is among the people of knowledge and asked him, so he issued a fatwa to him. Thus, the sin is upon this mufti.
When this mufti is asked, he must fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and not issue a fatwa except based on a firm basis, proof, and chain. If he does not do so, he is sinful. Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) drew attention to this reality when he said: “It is not permissible for a man to issue a fatwa based on my opinion unless he knows from where I took my evidence.” This is a text from Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), the first of the four imams, who explains this hadith to us.
This hadith says: Whoever issues a fatwa without a firm basis, his sin is upon him and not upon the one seeking the fatwa. So, Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “It is not permissible for a man to issue a fatwa based on my words unless he knows from where I took my evidence.” So, this Hanafi who was asked: Does the flow of blood invalidate the ablution? And he answered: Yes. It is not permissible for him to do this, by the ruling of this hadith and by the saying of the aforementioned Imam; because he did not know his evidence.
The meaning of this, or the outcome of this hadith, is the obligation to study the Book and the Sunnah so that the mufti is able to issue a fatwa based on evidence from the Book and the Sunnah; so that sin does not befall him; so that he is saved from what would happen if he erred in the fatwa. Because it is not the case that one who issues a fatwa relying on the Book and the Sunnah is infallible from error; no. But if he exerts effort and issues a fatwa based on what he understood from the Book and the Sunnah, he has two states: either he was correct, in which case he has two rewards, or he erred, in which case he has one reward. But this—meaning the two rewards if he was correct, and the one reward if he erred—is only for the one who issues a fatwa relying on the Book and the Sunnah. As for the one who follows a scholar without knowing his evidence (and following a scholar without knowing his evidence is ignorance by the consensus of scholars, and he does not scrutinize the fatwa), he has no reward, not even one reward. Rather, he bears a burden; because he issued a fatwa without a firm basis and without clear evidence and proof.
The outcome of this hadith is the obligation for the scholar to refer to the Book and the Sunnah in everything he issues a fatwa about.