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What should a Muslim do when scholars differ on a Sharia issue, especially when unable to reach senior scholars?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a common person encounters a problem, they must ask the most knowledgeable, pious, and trustworthy scholars and act upon their fatwa, for Allah the Almighty says: (So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know). It is not permissible for him to seek a fatwa from others to follow dispensations. If he does not find senior scholars, there is no harm in him asking brilliant students of knowledge, while intending to ask those more reliable than them when the opportunity arises. As for those who cannot consult in person, they can correspond with scholars or reliable websites. The advice is that the questioner should not multiply possibilities and doubts, but rather act upon what has become clear to him, and ask someone he trusts in their knowledge and religiosity, and act upon the fatwa given to him.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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