Question) Why is it Wajib to follow only one Imam or Madhab and stick to it ? Why can’t we follow all four at the same time ?
Answer) Taqleed was made Wajib during the 3rd Hijri. There was an Ijma of Scholars on this subject, where all the Scholars unanimously agreed upon it. It was made compulsory because a similar incident occurred in the Past, in Islamic history. As we know there are 7 Dialects of the Quran. But during the Khilafah of Hadhrat Usman RAU, he collected all the written Quran and burned them and kept only one dialect. The reason behind that was to prevent the Ummah from destruction in future as people would not be able to understand the difference and it would raise significant "ikhtilaaf" among the Ummah. Therefore, realizing that, only one dialect was used even though Prophet S.A.W. had approved 7.
This was explained by Hazrat
Shah Waliyyullah RUA in great detail: http://www.cometoislam.com/fiqh/legal/58-59.htm
(Last paragraph of page 59).
I can quote a personal experience. When I
was in States, I prayed behind an Imam who receited
"Malik e yo midden.." instead of "Maalik e yo ....." and i thought this Imam was not a learned person. But alhamdolillah later I learned it was a different
dialect. So, not doing so and not making the Ummah to have one dialect
would have definitely created confusion.
The same thing happened and in the light of
above mentioned incident, it was made compulsory for people to stick to one
Imam only. Otherwise people would seek easiness, instead of following the
rulings they would get.
For example, in Fiqh Hanfi,
if you bleed, your Wudu breaks. But in Shafi'i it doesn't. In Fiqh Hanfi,
if you touch a Woman who is not a Mehram, your Wudu doesn't break. But in Shafi'i
it does. So, let's suppose a person in Wudu
starts bleeding and he likes mixing all the Imams, he would go for Imam Shafi'i's ruling and keep his Wudu
intact. Then let's say he goes outside and touches a woman accidentally,
he would then, this time, go for Imam Abu Hanifa RUA's ruling. This finding easiness would eventually
lead him astray and he would lose his Iman, and 'Ulama are "Muttafiq" on
that.
Read the example and explanation by Ibn Taymiyah in detail: http://www.cometoislam.com/fiqh/legal/50-51.htm
Also, one more point to remember. All Madhaib are based on certain principles and those
principles prevent us from mixing them. For Example, In British English
the last alphabet is "Zad" and in American
English it's "Zee". So, British say "Zabra"
(I am talking about the pronunciation here) and Americans say
"Zebra". If an American says "Zee" as the alphabet
but says the word "Zabra" instead of
"Zebra", he would contradict himself. I hope you understood the
example.
So, as one dialect was allowed, even though we
had seven, the same way, following only one Imam was made permissible by the
scholars, even though we had more than one.
Answered by www.cometoislam.com
“The Legal Status of Following a Madhab” answers all the questions, accusations and objections raised by Non-Muqallideen. If you are honestly looking for the truth, then it’s a must read.