C-6.4: Conditions for Following Another School

Scholars frequently acknowledge that the difference of the Imams is a mercy, and their unanimity is a decisive proof, Sheikh `Umar Barakat, the commentator of 'Umdat al-salik, says:

"It is permissible to follow each of the four Imams (Allah be well pleased with them), and permissible for anyone to follow one of them on a legal question, and follow a different one on another legal question. It is not obligatory to follow one particular Imam on all legal questions" (Fayd al-llah al-Malik (y-27), 1.357).

This does not, however, imply that it is lawful to indiscriminately choose dispensations from each school, or that there are no conditions for the above mentioned permissibility. Imam Nawawi was asked for a formal legal opinion on whether pursuing dispensations in such a manner was permissible;

(Question:) "Is it permissible for someone of a particular school to follow a different school in matters that will be of benefit to him, and to seek out dispensations?"

He answered (Allah be well pleased with him), "It is not permissible to seek out dispensations [A: meaning it is unlawful, and the person who does is corrupt (fasiq) ], and Allah knows best" (Fatawa al-Imam al-Nawawi (y-105), 113).

But when forced by necessity or hardship to take such a dispensation (A: even retroactively as when one has finished the action, and then makes the intention to have followed another Imam's school of thought on the question), then there is nothing objectionable in it, provided that one's act of worship together with its prerequisites is valid in at least one of the schools. One may not simply piece together (taliq) constituent parts from various schools in a single act of worship, if none of the schools would consider the act valid. An example is someone who performs an ablution that is minimally valid in the Shafi'i school by wetting only a few hairs of his head in the ablution sequence, something not permitted by Hanafis, and then prays behind an imam without himself reciting the Fatiha, something permitted by Hanafis but not shafiis. His ablution, the necessary condition for his prayer is inadequate in the Hanafi school and his performance of the prayer is inadequate school, with the result that neither considers his prayer valid, and in fact it is not, Whoever follows a ruling mentioned in this volume from another school must observe the conditions given at w-14 and make sure his worship is valid in at least one school, which for prayer can best be achieved by performing all recommended measures in the present volume relating to purity, for example, e-5,e-11, and so on, as if obligatory.