As-Salam u alaykum brother Hassan,

Please do not interpret what I am about to say as an endorsement of unqualified people doing Ijtihad, or an attack on your character. Certainly, if you knew my actions my words would have no weight with you or any other person.

With your love and respect for the Ulama of the Mada’hib you seem to have idealized them,it is understandable that you would have sensitivity to anyone suggesting that their are flaws in the understandings of some of these scholars.

However we should understand that criticizing is not the same as disrespect.

When people become so obsessed with Taqleed they tend to make have very exclusivist understandings. For example one fatwa by a well-known Hanafi scholar says, “The wife must follow the Husbands school of thought”. This was in response to a question about a Hanafi man marrying a Shafi women.

It is not my place to question the Mufti’s intentions, but the fact is that using such rigid and uncompromising language can cause ignorant people to engage in rash actions that violate the basic principles of adab

Also it seems that you have prejudged Shaykh Qaradawi’s work by accusing him of not understanding the schools. He never said such rigidity was the mainstream view of the scholars of any of the mada’hib.

Bottom Line: Maulana Muhmmad Taqi Uthmani put it correctly when he said” these sorts of differences (ikhtilāf) in views based on juristic judgement (ijtihādī) are natural, and cannot be the [sole] basis for judging [their author]”.
—

Your Muslim Brother

With due respect, Sidi SohaibS, have you read the article? The respected author states rather disparagingly about a muqallid who follows one single maddhab, “[these people] require taqlīd of only ONE of these four imams. Thus, [they do] not allowing mobility from one of these four madhāhib to another one of these four, even if only in a few matters where the weakness of the madhhab’s position is apparent.”

The flaw with Shaykh al Qaradawi’s statement is that he does not recognize that what the perception of weakness in a maddhab’s position is relative; thus by definition a Shafi’i follows his maddhab because he believes that most of his maddhab’s positions are correct. Following a maddhab is about humility–saying “I am no one compared to the likes of Abu Hanifa or Ash Shafi’i” rather than “my position is stronger than theirs.” That is why even great muhaddithin like Ibn Hajar al Asqalani or Bayhaqi or As Suyuti or at Tahawi followed maddhabs.

Now, dont get me wrong, there are some positions where these great mujtahid imams went wrong, but THE MADDHAB CORRECTED THE MISTAKES ACCORDING TO THEIR USUL. Many people do not understand this. There are hundreds of positions where Abu Hanifa’s position is not the position of the maddhab. In the Shafi’i position, as well, there is a conflict of the qadim and jadid positions, and the stronger position is taken–not always Shafi’i’s last position.

Therefore, Sh. Qaradawi simply does not understand what a maddhab entails. It entails the expertise of hundreds of ulama–muhaddithin, fuqaha, logicians, grammarians, mufassirin, etc. who all worked together to verify the correct position in fiqh according to the usual of the maddhab; can one man outdo the thousands?

Did you read and try to understand the article before saying that? What you said might be implied by Opinion 2, but not according to the opinion advocated by the author (Sh. Qaradawi).

Dr. Imad Bayouns discussion on this principle in his series on the 20 principles of Imam Hasan Al Banna covers these points. It’s worth listening to! (I think its $10 purchase from the MAS-IE chapter).

Br Arif and hs– I think these are very good questions and they need further articles to help respond to properly.

The issue of recognizing who can do ijtihad vs. who can do tarjeeh of already available scholarly opinions is a practical one. The issue of talfeeq vs. following a single madhhab in a single act of worship is one where there are more than one opinion, although the recommendation is still important.

I do hope that these topics can be covered in the future insha Allah, with some detail.

Though I read the book (sh. Taqi’s book) years ago, the book clearly advocates “opinion 1” mentioned above