Is it permissible for a Muslim to worship according to a specific school of jurisprudence?

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : The issue differs greatly from one person to another. For example, if by "Muslim" in your question you mean the ignorant common person, the answer differs from if you mean a scholar, a doctor who has obtained a doctoral degree. The common person does not adhere to a school of jurisprudence, because the common person has no school of jurisprudence; his school is the school of his mufti. So whichever scholar he asks, he follows his words, whether he errs or hits the mark; he bears no responsibility. He acted in accordance with His saying, the Exalted: . But if he is among the people of knowledge—and by people of knowledge we mean one who is able to understand the Qur'an and understand the Sunnah, meaning first, he has knowledge of the Arabic language, this knowledge that enables him to understand the Qur'an correctly, and the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) likewise—then he has knowledge of the hadiths, which are authentic and which are not, and he has knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and so on. It is not permissible for him to follow a scholar without knowing his evidence. But if he has no knowledge, then he is lumped in with the common people, and he is included in His saying, the Exalted: . And this is the calamity of the age today, because they cannot perform independent legal reasoning, these people, because they fight independent legal reasoning and the scholars qualified to derive rulings, and some of them wrote a thousand papers titled "Non-Sectarianism," which is actually non-religiousness. Did you get the answer?

The questioner : In my case, praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, ... if ... in something I return to Imam al-Shafi'i or al-Hanbali, and I truly look at the ruling that my heart finds comfort with, is this thing correct or not? And especially ...

The Shaykh : By Allah, it is difficult to answer this, because, without holding you accountable, were the conditions I mentioned to you just now present?

Another questioner : I do not have them present.

The questioner : Do you follow a school of jurisprudence or do you not follow a school of jurisprudence?

The Shaykh : If you have a scientific background.

The questioner : As you know me.

The Shaykh : From my side, I do not know you; what do I know about you?

The questioner : Do you know Tahir?

The Shaykh : I know him well.

The questioner : So, like him.

The Shaykh : Like him, it is not permissible for you to follow a school of jurisprudence, because he does not follow a school of jurisprudence, but he looks at the evidence with whichever school of jurisprudence and follows it. So if you are like your son, he would be like you. Perhaps the initial point is not precise, and that is your saying that you are like your son, ...

The questioner : What do you mean, not precise?

The Shaykh : You make it precise.

The questioner : The four schools of jurisprudence, all of them, even the Hanafi one, are more precise than the second.

Another questioner : The matter, I will differ with him.

The Shaykh : No, we do not want to differ with him; we want to derive from him. He said this is not precise; how do you make it precise? We want to derive from him this precision; how?

The questioner : I do not know.

The Shaykh : But your son knows.

The questioner : There is a distance between me and him; I do not want to say to him about every matter, "Come, look at this, how will it be ...?" My son jumps from here to there, I do not jump, because all the books in the time of Turkey speak about the Hanafis. I was born in the time of Turkey; all of them were Hanafis, and whoever was not Hanafi would leave our land.

The Shaykh : Correct, but I want to ask you ... because ...

The Shaykh: All right.

Another questioner : Meaning, the Hanafi school has opinions in the single issue ... well, if opinions come ...

The Shaykh : This is a problem; if you cling to the school of jurisprudence, you do not benefit from it, because you return to saying, "I do not know." For example, let me give you an example: tranquility in the prayer. We pray five prayers every day, they are obligatory. In the Hanafi school, there is an opinion that it is obligatory, and an opinion that it is a duty, and an opinion that it is a recommended practice. So you read the school of jurisprudence, these three opinions, and which opinion do you want to follow?

The questioner : .... .

Another questioner : Is it obligatory, or a duty, or a recommended practice, and these three are Hanafi opinions?

The questioner : We want to be reassured; whether it is obligatory, or a recommended practice, or a duty, we are reassured and done.

The Shaykh : But many of the Hanafis are not reassured.

The questioner : They are free, but I am reassured.

The Shaykh : How is there freedom and one school of jurisprudence?

The questioner : Meaning, the word "I do not know."

The Shaykh : ... , it was not precise with him.

Another questioner : When we started, we were poor at the beginning, a long time ago, to learn the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, we started from the chapter of ritual purity. I found in the school of jurisprudence how many opinions in the single issue. I left the book and it was over. And if a dog is thrown into a well, is the well ritually pure or not? If a man falls into a well while in a state of major ritual impurity and comes out of it, is he purified? And is the water ritually impure, or is the man still ritually impure? And so on, opinions, until they settled on one.

Another questioner : Allah knows best that through one school of jurisprudence there are opinions, ... the second school of jurisprudence ... then he is convinced and follows the one who has the argument and the evidence ...

The Shaykh : The major issue, you turn it to the scholars. Which scholars? The Hanafis. It returned to your son ...

The questioner : For example, as an example, shaking hands with a woman. Imam al-Shafi'i says it invalidates the ablution. Imam al-Hanafi says it does not invalidate the ablution. Imam al-Maliki says if there is desire, it invalidates the ablution, and if there is no desire, it does not invalidate ... I am a student of knowledge ... whom do I follow ...? I found Imam Malik, meaning in my opinion ...

The Shaykh : In the middle between this and this?

The questioner : Yes, in the middle between this and this.

The Shaykh : So you built upon his opinion. Well, is this the path that your Lord, the Lord of the worlds, commanded you? He said, the Exalted, in the Noble Qur'an: And this speech is directed to you directly, and if the neighbor is by the side, by association,