What is the ruling on consulting more than one scholar on a single issue? And what should be done if the fatwas conflict: does one take the easier or the more cautious?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Is it permissible to consult more than one scholar, and in the case of a difference in the fatwa, does the questioner take the easier or the more cautious? May Allah reward you with good?
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for a person, if he has consulted a scholar in whom he has confidence in his statement, to consult another, because this leads to playing with the religion of Allah and following dispensations, such that he asks so-and-so, and if it does not suit him, he asks the second, and if it does not suit him, he asks the third, and so on. And the scholars have said: "Whoever follows dispensations commits open sinfulness".
But sometimes a person may have no scholars available except, for example, so-and-so, so he asks him out of dire necessity, and it is his intention that if he meets a scholar more trustworthy than him in knowledge and religion, he will ask him. There is nothing wrong with asking the first one out of dire necessity, and then if he finds someone better, he asks him. And if people differ with him regarding the fatwa, or regarding what he hears of their sermons and advice, for example, then he follows the one he sees as closest to the truth in knowledge and religion. If the two men are equal in his estimation, some scholars said that he follows the more cautious, which is the stricter, and it was said: he follows the easier. And this is the correct view: if the fatwas are equal in your estimation, then you follow the easier, because the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is built on ease and simplicity, not on strictness. And Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said in describing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):Ash-Shama'il Al-Muhammadiyah 348Sahih (Zubair `Aliza'i), yes, after him.
Is it permissible to consult more than one scholar, and in the case of a difference in the fatwa, does the questioner take the easier or the more cautious? May Allah reward you with good?
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for a person, if he has consulted a scholar in whom he has confidence in his statement, to consult another, because this leads to playing with the religion of Allah and following dispensations, such that he asks so-and-so, and if it does not suit him, he asks the second, and if it does not suit him, he asks the third, and so on. And the scholars have said: "Whoever follows dispensations commits open sinfulness".
But sometimes a person may have no scholars available except, for example, so-and-so, so he asks him out of dire necessity, and it is his intention that if he meets a scholar more trustworthy than him in knowledge and religion, he will ask him. There is nothing wrong with asking the first one out of dire necessity, and then if he finds someone better, he asks him. And if people differ with him regarding the fatwa, or regarding what he hears of their sermons and advice, for example, then he follows the one he sees as closest to the truth in knowledge and religion. If the two men are equal in his estimation, some scholars said that he follows the more cautious, which is the stricter, and it was said: he follows the easier. And this is the correct view: if the fatwas are equal in your estimation, then you follow the easier, because the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is built on ease and simplicity, not on strictness. And Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said in describing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):