Is This Considered Talfiq in One Case or Two Cases?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
My apologies. This is a madhab-related question, but it doesn’t relate to just one madhab. I read these two:
-shafii-fiqh/can-follow-another-school-law-traveling-shafii/
-maliki-fiqh/frequent-rectal-discharges-is-there-any-dispensation-regarding…
If a person were to take the Hanafi ruling that clothing can be purified with non-mutlaq-water (e.g., soapy water) and the Maliki rulings about incontinence (e.g., impurities that exit at least once a day do not need to be removed from the body/clothing and salah prayed in this way is valid, or if the impurities exit unpredictably and irregularly during most or all of the prayer times then it doesn’t break wudu), then would this be talfiq in one or two cases?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
This will be considered Talfiq in two cases.
If you are taking a Hanafi dispensation for prayer, it will obligate you to follow Hanafi rulings pertaining to wudu, ghusl, istinja, and purification, too, whenever you follow the dispensation for the prayer.
When it comes to prayer, purification (tahara) is one of the preconditions for its validity. As such, both would have to be valid in another school for it to be legally valid for you.
[Shurunbulali, Al-‘Iqd al-Farid Li Bayan al-Rajih Min al-Khilaf Fi Jawaz al-Taqlid]
Conditions for the Validity of Following Another School
One has to remember that while it is permissible to follow another recognized school, it is impermissible to do so merely out of desire (shahwa) – or avoid legal responsibility- or in a manner that would lead to contradictory actions (talfiq).
Taking another school’s dispensation is valid if this is done due to an Islamically recognized reason, such as health conditions, elder age, etc.
[Nabulsi, Khulasat al-Tahqiq Fi Bayan Hukm al-Taqlid wa al-Talfiq]
Related Answers
- Can We Follow Different Schools of Thought in Separate Issues? – SeekersGuidance
- How to Choose to Follow an Opinion within a School of Law? (seekersguidance.org)
- Clarifying the Issue of Talfiq in Islamic Law – Dr H. A. Hellyer – SeekersGuidance
- Talfiq Archives – SeekersGuidance
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
