Question: If a drop of blood falls into a vessel of water, that water becomes impure. If then a drop from this impure vessel falls into another vessel or onto clothing, does that render the water or clothing impure?
Question: Is it permissible to give a layman fatwā outside the
madhhab, or outside the madhhab of the muftī—such as when the muftī
gives him fatwā according to the madhhab of one of the Imams of the Ahl
al-Bayt (ʿa), for the sake of ease and facilitation to the layman?
Question: If a pure layman—who knows nothing of taqlīd,
commitment, or its conditions—comes asking fatwā in matters relating
to divorce, marriage, transactions, or acts of worship, how should he be
given fatwā? Should he be answered according to the madhhab of the
muftī or otherwise?
Question: Guides (murshidūn) go out to instruct people in the
countryside and elsewhere, at the request of the scholars (may Allah
preserve them). The people of these villages must ask the guide about
certain matters—such as prayer, zakāt, and similar issues. Is it
permissible for the guide to give them fatwās according to what he
studied with the scholars from Matn al-Azhār and the like? Or must he
refer them to a scholar to issue the fatwā?
And if it is not permissible for him to issue fatwās according to his
knowledge, does that mean his study is only for himself until he reaches
the rank of ijtihād and then assumes the position of giving fatwā?
Question: There is discussion about the sayings of the people of the
madhhab in al-Azhār, al-Sharḥ, al-Bayān, and other works—what is your
opinion on that?
Q4: Do the jurisprudential curricula that are generalized for teaching
entail uniformity of opinion, teaching a single methodology, issuing fatwas
based on it, ruling based on it, and limiting other interpretations to their
proponents? How is this methodology, which should be generalized,
chosen?
Q3: Is the truth in matters of ijtihād with one side only, while the others
are mistaken?
Q2: Is every mujtahid correct, even if his evidence proves weak
compared to what others see as stronger and weightier?
Q1: Since it is not permissible for the mujtahid to imitate another, and
he must act upon what his own reasoning leads him to—must he teach his
students his own ijtihād and give them fatwās upon it? Or may he teach
them something other than his own choice?
If a scholar slips, and his followers imitate him in his slip in good faith—such that, had they known, they would not have followed him in his error—what is the ruling on them?