Hakikat Kitabevi Publications No: 10 answer to an enemy of islam

Al-fatâwâ ’l-hadîthiyya, explained
whether a person who follows a madhhab may follow another
madhhab or not:
“Imâm Abu ’l-Hasan ’Alî as-Subkî (rahmatullâhi ’alaih) says
that there are seven different cases of following another
madhhab: 1) If a person believes that the ijtihâd of another
madhhab on a certain matter is more dependable than that of his
own madhhab, it is permissible for him to do that matter in
accordance with that madhhab. 2) A person who cannot know
which of the two imâms of madhhabs is more hitting in his ijtihâd
on a certain matter may do that matter in accord with either of
these madhhabs. If he prefers the madhhab other than his with
the purpose of a religious precaution, for example, for the
purpose of avoiding the harâm, his action will be permissible
without any karâha (anything disliked by the Prophet). If he has
a different intention, it will be makrûh. 3) Though it is permissible
to follow another madhhab showing an easy way in something
which one needs to do, it is wâjib for him to follow one of the two
imâms whose documentary evidence, he believes, is stronger. 4)
It is not permissible to follow another madhhab without any need
and because of the desire to do the easy way without knowing
which of them is stronger. If one does so, one will have obeyed
not Islam but one’s own desire. 5) It is not permissible to do one’s
affairs in accord with the collection of the rukhsas of madhhabs
since it is against Islam to do so. 6) By consensus, it is not
permissible to do an affair in accord with more than one madhhab
if it is not sahîh in one of these madhhabs. It is da’îf (not
probable) that Kamâl ibn Humâm said it was permissible. 7)
While the effects of something which one has done in accordance
with one madhhab are still going on, one is not permitted to
follow another madhhab. For example, if a person, because there
is the right of shuf’a
[1]
in the Hanafî madhhab, follows the Hanafî
madhhab and buys his neighbor’s house from the person who has
bought it before, he cannot follow the Shâfi’î madhhab in doing
– 66 –
[1] ‘Shuf’a’ is the right or claim of pre-emption in respect of a house or
land of which one is part-owner or which adjoins one’s own property.
For more detail, see 39th chapter of