How Do We Deal with Suspicious Sources for Islamic Knowledge?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
What does one do, if when taking a legal ruling (fatwa) or Islamic knowledge from someone that claims that the answer is from a well-known scholar but the source itself and their claim is suspicious?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
When taking knowledge from someone and something seems suspicious, one must first make sure that the suspicion is due to a valid reason. A mere feeling, doubt, or a mere dislike of the person does not mean that the suspicion is justified.
Suspicion in the Ruling
If the suspicion is in the ruling itself, not the person. Then, one can consult another scholar. The issue arises due to the fact that a non-scholar does not have the requisite knowledge to judge the validity of an opinion.
Hope this help
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
