# Do I have to follow a madhhab?

*Do I need to follow a madhhab? A practical necessity, not a legislated obligation*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/9thi3gciick/s/1/
- Date: 2014-03-12 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Do I need to follow a Madhhab?- Mufti Abu Layth (0:04–5:13)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHI3gcIiCk&t=4s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/9thi3gciick/

**Topics:** Schools of law and following them; Legal theory and method

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Yes in practice: a sound understanding of the deen cannot be acquired without a school of law as the medium, just as knowledge cannot be acquired without a language. It is not a matter of sin or haram, but of what is conceivable.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that following a madhhab is a practical necessity for anyone who wants a sound understanding of the deen, as a language is for learning anything, and not a legislated obligation whose neglect is sinful.

**Evidence, his words at 3:53:** “it literally is inconceivable for for anybody to have a sound understanding of the de that has not taken a medium that has not taken a particular School of Law” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHI3gcIiCk&t=233s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth takes up the age-old question whether it is necessary to follow a madhhab. He says the question needs a more dynamic answer than yes or no, but reduced to one the answer is yes: anyone who wants to take their deen seriously and develop a sound, constructive understanding of it must take a particular medium. This does not mean that someone without a madhhab is sinful or has done something haram, and he says that demanding evidence from the Quran and Sunnah for following a school reduces the discourse to absurdity. He compares it to language: nobody can learn the deen, or anything, without going through a particular language, and no one asks for scriptural evidence that a language is required; likewise a sound understanding of how to worship and practise cannot be had without taking a school of law as one's basis. This, he says, is how the Muslim generations have taken their deen from their forefathers back to the salaf and the Prophet, so it is not a matter of haram or wajib but of what is conceivable. He closes by raising the follow-up question whether one is obliged to stick to one school, which the next segment answers.

## Sources and names cited

- madhhab
- deen
- haram
- wajib
- salaf
- Sunnah

## Transcript (machine tier, 0:04–5:13)

[0:04] [Music] ald

[0:41] I'd like to take a look today at an age-old question one which many people have asked time and time again and that is is it necessary for us to follow a maab okay now first of all I'd like to explain that this question is requires a more Dynamic answer than a simple yes or no but to reduce it to a yes or no I would have to answer yes we do have to follow a me but what do I

[1:20] mean by that what I mean by that is anybody who wishes to take their Dean seriously who wishes to have a developed and constructive understanding of their Dean must take a particular medium so the answer to this is not that anybody who does not follow a mhab is sinful or that they have perpetrated a Haram act so if somebody is to counter my statement by saying where is your

[1:58] evidence from the Quran and Sunnah then this would be reduced to an absurd type of discourse okay if I give you the analogy of language if somebody was to say I wish to let's say hypothetically as absurd or as bizarre as it may sound if somebody was to say that I wish to learn the dean but must I learn it through a particular language can I learn learn or obtain the knowledge and understanding of this them without going through the medium of a particular

[2:37] language the answer is absolutely not yet somebody may say well where is your evidence from the Quran and Sunnah that I must learn a particular language what if I want to combine between a few languages what if I wish to kind of redefine some of the syntax and the grammar between languages well you may do that but you will have to acquire this knowledge or even the knowledge of languages through

[3:13] language similarly a person cannot obtain an understanding of This Dean a sound concrete understanding of how to worship of how to practice and apply this them without having taken a particular School of Law as his or her basis for this thing so to clarify it is necessary if you wish to have an understanding or a detailed or a reasonably detailed understanding of this theme if you wish to practice this

[3:53] theme practice the Five Pillars and Beyond you must acquire that knowledge through a particular school of law this is how the Muslim Generations have been taking their Dean from their forefathers all the way right back to the Sal and back to the prophet of Allah sallallah alaihi wasallam so it is not an issue of Haram or waj this is an issue of something being conceivable that it literally is inconceivable for for anybody to have a

[4:30] sound understanding of the de that has not taken a medium that has not taken a particular School of Law so it somebody may ask am I obliged to stick to a particular School of Law well you see schools of law have been based upon several principles several philosophies behind them and objectives interpretations therefore whilst you are developing your understanding it would only make sense that you do pertain within a school of law because it would be based upon several

[5:10] principles it is like saying somebody wishes to enter into a particular building and there are several entrances several doors that you could go through and somebody may ask do I have to go through a particular door and you may say not necessarily but the answer is do I have to go through a door well yes you do you can't go through all of them you must choose one and go through it so similarly a person must adopt a particular basis through which they will develop their understanding of this them and as they continue to acquire

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 9tHI3gcIiCk/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/9thi3gciick/s/1/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.