Fri 16 جمادى الأولى 1447 (07 Nov 2025)
[The Ruling on Followers When the One They Follow Slips]
Mufti:
السيد العلامة محمد بن عبدالله عوض المؤيدي
Fatwa number: 14111
Number of views: 19
[The Ruling on Followers When the One They Follow Slips]
Fatwa number: 14111
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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?
Answer (and Allah grants success):
If the slip is in matters pertaining to justice and Divine unity—such as determinism (jabr) and anthropomorphism (tashbīh)—then the scholar and his followers are destroyed, by proof of Allah’s saying: “Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him.” — [al-Nisāʾ 4:48]
and the like. The scholars of the madhhab are nearly agreed on this.
But if the slip is in some derivative of the fundamentals, or in subsidiary issues, then there is no blame upon them all, based on Allah’s saying:
“And there is no blame upon you for that in which you erred, but [only for] what your hearts intended.” — [al-Aḥzāb 33:5]