Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question:
What is the fate of someone who follows a ruling where a difference of opinion exists, and it ends up being incorrect on the Day of Judgement?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate
Wassalam,
I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.
If one follows an established difference of opinion—recognized by recognized mainstream Sunni scholars—within the Four Schools (madhhabs), then one is not blameworthy in this life nor sinful in the next. [Shinqiti, Maraqi al-Su`ud, and its Commentary; Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; other]
This is also conditioned by soundly following that opinion and is not resulting in actions or consequences that are not permissible in the Shariah. (Such as taking a more lenient position on music, but then using it to listen to music with impermissible lyrics and in places an upright Muslim cannot be in.)
The way of safety is to find trained, recognized, upright scholars who are balanced in their approach but who uphold taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) and caution.
Our teachers would remind us, “Take a fatwa that will be a means of Salvation for you; not merely a fatwa that pleases you.”
And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.
[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center