Is it permissible for a Muslim to choose the easiest scholarly opinion?
Question: 10645
When there is an issue of ikhtilaaf or a difference of an opinion on a matter,I hear alot of people say things like,well, it’s a difference of opinion so I am going to do what is easiest for me to do. Is this the correct understanding to get, if not how should one go about choosing an opinion to follow?
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
It is not right for a Muslim to choose
the easiest opinion, because in this way he will get out of the obligations
of sharee’ah, or most of them, because in most matters – apart from
the basic principles of Islam – there are differences of opinion. In
the past, they used to say that the one who follows the rukhsah (dispensation,
easy option) has become a heretic. It is obligatory to choose the scholarly
opinion which is most correct according to the daleel (evidence), if
one is qualified to examine and weigh up the matter. If a person is
not qualified, then he has to follow the scholar who he thinks is most
trustworthy in terms of knowledge, commitment to Islam and taqwa.
Source:
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Kareem al-Khudayr
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