Wednesday, 29 April 2026 (12 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
Question: If a layman who does not understand taqlīd and adherence pronounces an innovated divorce while believing it binding and valid, then later it becomes clear to him that there are scholars who give fatwa that it does not take effect—may the muftī give him a fatwa that it did not take effect, or must he give a fatwa that it did take effect based on the rule that “the madhhab of the pure layman is the madhhab of whomever he accords with,” and that what the layman did while believing it valid is valid so long as it does not contravene consensus?
Answer—and Allah is the One who grants success: What the pure layman did while believing it valid—and not contravening consensus—is valid. This can be supported by His—Exalted is He—saying: "And there is no blame upon you for that in which you erred, but [only] for what your hearts intended." [Al-Aḥzāb:5]. On the basis of this rule, his past actions are judged valid. Thus, if this layman seeks a fatwa concerning an innovated divorce he pronounced in the past, and the wife’s waiting period therefrom has ended, the muftī must give a fatwa for its validity and admonish him not to return to the like of it. If he seeks a fatwa about a future matter, the muftī gives him a fatwa according to the muftī’s madhhab, paying no heed to the layman’s belief. And if he seeks a fatwa about a divorce he has pronounced while the divorcee is still in her waiting period from that divorce, the mujtahid gives a fatwa according to what he holds, of occurrence or non-occurrence. This is not called “transition,” for transition presupposes adherence. This detail is of the madhhab, as mentioned by Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Ḥūthī, may Allah have mercy on him.
Yes: what appears of the common folk among Muslims in our lands is that they are not bound to a madhhab; rather, they rely upon scholars. Each one of them, in what befalls him of religious matters, relies upon one scholar—or more—whom he believes to be learned and righteous, whether the one being imitated is a mujtahid or not.
Moreover, the statement of the people of the madhhab is that the adherence of laymen carries no weight, and is no adherence at all; what is considered of adherence is only what issues from one who knows the conditions of taqlīd.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1