Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Email is hardly the ideal format for fiqh questions, but this is the nature of our times. You are more aware than I of how the great fuquha answered questions only after completely understanding the circumstances of the questioner. This is impossible over email, I understand. One of my teachers, repeatedly tells us of the limitations of a faqih in the regard of dealing with the law and speaking only from the bounds of which he/she is an authority. I always understood the faqih’s role to give the guidelines of law, knowing the questioner to be the expert in his/her own circumstances. An example is the question I forwarded can be used to illustrate the point.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Wassalam
Faraz Rabbani