I’d been following Saudis in salat matters only. I lived in Saudi Arabia for about 14yrs [84-98] almost. Due to Gulf war, we went to pakistan. And there my cousins & all those, criticized me of my salat, that wahabis do his,etc. I didnt even know what are those, so I just quit it. Since then I have been follwing mix. Alhamdulillah, here I came to know about four Great Imams and taqleed. Also I researched alil, I used to ask masail[problems] to whomever I thought is pious. I Went to kharuj and all I found was disputes and arguements especially among Hanafis and Shafi’ees. I meet Hanafis, they just tell me follow Hanafi because Subcontinent people are mostly Hanafis and vice-versa. So, I decided to follow Shafi’ee because I thought Ive been following them all along. Now few months back I come to know that Saudis follow Hanbali. And here at Uni. some of Arab bros. say to me, dont say yourself as Shafi’ee ‘cuz you follow Hanbali. A Hafiz friend of mine, he is very concerned about this and wants good for me. He is the first & only one told me both are Haq. My parents doesnt know about taqleed yet but they are alil inclined towards Hanafi. Right now, I know more Hanafi general masail than Shafi’ee. But somehow I still want to follow Shafi’ee, I dont know what to do and follow. Please advice asap, as life is short and full of sins.
Your Hafiz friend is correct. All four Fuqahaa (jurists) and their respective Madhaahib (schools of thought) are on Haqq (truth).
It is Waajib (compulsory) to make Taqled of any one Madhab. You state that you know more Masaail (laws) of the Hanafi Madhab. One of the wisdom behind Taqleed is convenience. It is generally difficult for the layman to learn all the laws of all the Madhaahib and the basis of each law. For that, one will have to spend many years which is difficult for a layman.
We advise you officially adopt the Hanafi Madhab and abide by that. Educate yourself further on the Hanafi Mafdhab to enable you to follow Deen efficiently.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai