Q4 :Schools of thought differ on the point of
whether ablution is invalidated as a result of neting in contact with a
member of the opposite sex. Therefore, if a person has to walk in a
crowd, particularly in tawaf, where there is always the possibility of
such a contact, should one make his intention as he performs his
ablution on that particular occasion that he is following the Hanafi
school of thought?
A4 : There is no rigidity in Islam about
following a particular school of thought. Indeed, it is very rare that
a person follows a single school of thought. Most people imagine that
they do, but in practical life, they can hardly prove that. Let me
explain. A person who has learned enough about Fiqh and how rulings on
different matters are made is required to look at the evidence
supporting any ruling made by any scholar on a particular question. He
netpares the evidence and determines which opinion is supported by
better and stronger evidence. He then follows that ruling. This means
that he may be following the Shaf’ie school of thought in respect of
certain practices, and the Hanafi school of thought on a number of
other issues, while he follows Imam Malik in certain matters and Imam
Ahmad ibn Hanbal in others. He may go further than that and follow
other leading scholars and imams on other questions. There is nothing
to stop him from doing so as long as he is able to determine for
himself the reason which makes him follow one imam on a particular
question and another in a different matter. A lay person who has very
little knowledge of Fiqh is sometimes thought to be the person who
follows a single school of thought all the time. This is wrong. He may
follow that school of thought in his worship, particularly prayers,
because he learns these in childhood according to a particular school
of thought. But when it netes to other matters, he goes to a scholar to
ask about the rulings governing different questions. When the scholar
answers him, he does not begin to ask the scholar in which book he read
that ruling and whether it conforms to the Hanafi or Shaf’ie school of
thought. He simply trusts his judgment, because he knows that he is an
expert. Let us take this particular question on ablution. If a layman
who believes himself to be a follower of the Shaf’ie school of thought
netes in contact with a woman during tawaf, he feels unable to
interrupt his tawaf for a fresh ablution. He continues and then tries
to find a scholar. When he puts the question to that scholar, the
latter reassures him that his tawaf is valid. He tells him to go ahead
and offer his prayers in the normal way. If the man is somewhat rigid,
the scholar will try to reassure him saying that a casual contact is
different from a deliberate contact which stirs up certain feelings.
Here the scholar is giving him the ruling of another school of thought.
The layman does not inquire about that. He accepts the ruling and is
happy with the outnete. The situation is netparable to that of a
person who wants to build a house. He goes to an architect and tells
him to draw him a plan with certain specifications. When the architect
has done so, the man does not ask him how he has determined the
strength of the pillars and in which book of architecture he read that
a particular number of pillars going so much deep into the ground will
be able to support a building of the height he wants. He simply accepts
the judgment, because he is an expert, in the same way as the scholar
is an expert concerning religious rulings. When we ask whether any
person follows a particular school of thought rigidly, we might find
some people doing so. These are scholars in their own right, and they
have consciously chosen to follow a particular school of thought,
because they believe that the method of construction and deduction of
rulings it follows is the best.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )