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Following Other Schools

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

In a previous response, you advised a questioner to follow the Hanafi school in his wudu so that his wife would not get angry when he tried to keep on wudu. Is it permissible for a Muslim to follow a school other than his own in any manner that he wishes? Is it permissible for me to follow the Hanafi school in wudu, the Shafi‘i school in prayer, and the Hanbali school in marriage?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيمالحمد لله رب العالمين و صلى الله على سيدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه و سلمأما بعد.

(1) What the scholars of exacting verification (muhaqqiqeen) have explicitly stated is that it is not obligatory to follow a single school in all matters. Rather, it is permissible for one to switch from one school to another as long as one does not seek out dispensations, which means to take the easiest position from every school.

(2) It is permissible to follow the Hanafi school in wudu, the Shafi‘i school in prayer, and the Hanbali school in marriage because impermissible mixing between schools (talfiq), as the Yemeni Imam Ibn Ziyad al-Shafi‘i said, is “to join between two schools on a single issue in a manner that makes it invalid according to both schools”, such as if one makes wudu and follows the Shafi‘i school by wiping less than a quarter of the head and then touches a woman who is not a close relative and follows the Hanafi school by not repeating one’s wudu. In this case, one’s wudu will be invalid according to both schools because the Hanafis hold that it is obligatory to wipe [h: at least] a quarter of the head (and he has not done this) and the Shafi‘is hold that touching a woman who is not a close relative (mahram) invalidates one’s wudu (and he has touched [h: a non-mahram] and not repeated his wudu).

Shaykh Ibn Hajar, however, said that impermissible mixing between schools (talfiq) can also occur between two separate issues, such as wudu and prayer. According to him, then, both one’s wudu and prayer must be valid according to a single school in order for one to have validly made taqlid.

The great scholar ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Mashhur said in Bughyat al-Mustarshidin (p. 9), “Ibn Hajar’s position is more cautious and that of Ibn Ziyad is more suitable for the commonality (‘awamm).”

Amjad Rasheed
Amman, Jordan

(Translated by Hamza Karamali)

السؤال : أرشدتم أحد السائلين في جواب سابق إلى تقليد المذهب الحنفي في وضوئه حتى لا تغضب زوجته عندما يحاول أن يحافظ على وضوئه ، فهل يجوز لمسلم أن يقلد غير مذهبه كيفما يريد ؟ هل يجوز لي أن أقلد المذهب الحنفي في الوضوء والمذهب الشافعي في الصلاة والمذهب الحنبلي في النكاح ؟  الجواب : أولاً : الذي صرح به المحققون من العلماء أنه لا يجب التزامُ مذهب واحد فقط في جميع المسائل ، بل يجوز للشخص الانتقالُ من مذهب إلى آخر ما لم يقصد تتبعَ الرخص وهو الأخذ بالأسهل من كل مذهب . ثانياً : يجوز تقليدُ المذهب الحنفي في الوضوء ، والشافعي في الصلاة ، والحنبلي في النكاح ؛ لأن التلفيقَ الممنوع كما قال الإمامُ ابنُ زياد اليمني الشافعي : هو الجمعُ بين مذهبين في قضية واحدة بحيث تصيرُ غير صحيحة على كلا المذهبين ، كأن يتوضأ ويمسح أقلَّ من ربع رأسه تقليداً للشافعية ، ويلمس امرأةً أجنبيةً فلا يعيد الوضوء تقليداً للحنفية ، فيكون وضوءه على كلا المذهبين غيرَ صحيح ؛ لأن الحنفية يوجبون مسحَ ربع الرأس وهو لم يفعل ذلك ، والشافعية يقولون بنقض الوضوء بلمس المرأة الأجنبية وهو لمس ولم يُعِدْ وضوءه . وقال الشيخُ ابنُ حجر : التلفيقُ الممنوعُ يكون بين قضيتين كالوضوء والصلاة . فلا بد عنده لصحة التقليد أن يصح الوضوءُ والصلاةُ على مذهب واحد من الأئمة . قال العلامة عبد الرحمن المشهور في “بغية المسترشدين” ( ص 9 ) :” وكلام ابن حجر أحوط ، وابن زياد أوفق بالعوام “. اهـ

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