You Must Refer to Explanations of Scholars for Understanding Sharee‘ah Texts

21-9-2020 | IslamWeb

Question:

1) When I read Quran and sound/authentic hadith, sometimes it is very clear to me (for example what is halal and what is haram). For example, one can divide the verses of the Quran in following categories, those which meaning are apparent( both scholar and lay man figure it out after reading it), some verses which can only scholar can figure it out and some verses which are known only to Allah. My question is as a lay man/person (non scholar), is it permissible for me to decide halal and haram (for myself) based on my reading (without asking Islamic scholars). In this case, I am just talking about the verses and hadith I can understand, not the ones that I cannot understand.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

You should not attempt to understand the Sharee‘ah texts on your own, but should rather refer to the scholars for explanation and clarification of their intended meanings. A text may have a clear-cut indication but have been abrogated. Also, its general indication may be specified or restricted by another text, or some of its indications may be unclear to you, especially given that you are a non-Arabic speaker. Therefore, you should not be emboldened to deduce Sharee‘ah rulings from the texts independently, even if their indications seem clear-cut to you. You should rather refer to the scholars’ writings and their explanations of such texts. May Allah guide you to what pleases Him.

Allah Knows best.