[XU8i6ysK]

I came across this on a Salafi/Wahhabi forum:

Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari al-Hanafi says (as reported by al-Ma’sumi): “It is not obligatory upon anyone from the Ummah to be a Hanafi, or a Maliki, or a Shafi’i, or a Hanbali; rather, it is obligatory upon everyone, if he is not a scholar, to ask someone from Ahl al-Dhikr (people of knowledge), and the four Imams are from amongst the Ahl al-Dhikr.”

Ibn al-Humam al-Hanafi says in his Tahrir (as quoted by al-Ma’sumi): “Adhering to a particular Madhab is not obligatory, according to the correct opinion, since nothing becomes obligatory, except that which Allah and His Messenger  has commanded; and Allah and His Messenger  did not oblige anyone to adhere to the Madhab of any particular individual from the Ummah, to make Taqleed of all that he says and to leave the sayings of everyone else. Surely, the blessed generations passed without obliging anyone to adhere to a particular Madhab.”

This is also the opinion of some of the leading Hanafi jurists of modern times, such as ‘Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghuddah - may Allah have mercy on him, (see his comments on al-Ihkam by al-Qarafi p. 231) in addition to Al-Zuhaili who says in his Usul al-Fiqh al-Islami 2/1166 that this is the correct opinion. He further adds, in the footnote of the same page, about the layman, that: “It is not correct for him to have a Madhab, even if he adheres to it.” Is this correct?

[Britiobby]

I came across this on a Salafi/Wahhabi forum:



Is this correct?

No reference given to the statement of Mulla Ali Qari (RA) so no point in addressing the matter.

The actual position of Imam Ibnul-Hummam (RA) is this:

http://www.euro-sunni.com/en/Shariah...d-history.html

Imam Ibn al-Hummam, author of many unique works in Jurisprudence and Doctrine records the view of the Hanafi scholars on Taqlid of a single Mujtahid in the commentary of Hidayah Fath al-Qadir:

(As for the layman) it is obligatory for him (Al-wajib alayh) to do Taqlid of a single Mujtahid….The jurists have stated that the one who switches from one Madhab to another by his Ijtihad and evidence is sinful deserving of being punished. Thus one who does so without Ijtihad and evidence is even more deserving. (vol.6 p.360)

Please read the entire article and the rest is refuted easily.

[emorbimefed]

Of course he has a madhhab. It is the madhhab of his mujtahid. Simple.

[Tarrccrys]

Yes this is also what Ibn Nujaym states in al-bahr al-raa'iq:

قال الإمام ابن نجيم في البحر الرائق: "وإن كان عاميًّا ليس له مذهب معين فمذهبه مفتيه

So he has the madhab of his Mufti.

But somehow Salafis deduce from quotes like العامي لا مذهب له that the layman is not to supposed to call himself a Maliki/Hanafi/Shafi'i/Hanbali.

So we would need statements showing that laymen are allowed to call themselves such.