Is it permissible for contemporary scholars to base their fatwas and opinions on the sayings of past scholars, and are we obligated to accept those old opinions, especially with the emergence of scholars and thinkers whose views change with the changing times and reality?
Muslims are obligated to obey only Allah and those whose obedience He has commanded, such as the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the scholars who are capable of deriving rulings. If scholars differ on a matter, the truth does not lie outside their opinions, and their consensus is a binding legal proof. It is not permissible to introduce a new opinion on a matter about which scholars differed in the past and confined themselves to specific opinions; rather, one should choose the soundest of their opinions. The stability of legal rulings does not mean that a does not change with changing circumstances and times, but this change must be based on and its proofs, not on mere opinion.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 107777
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy