5] Our attitude towards the differences of opinion among the imams with regard to covering the face

5]
There is an important matter that is giving me sleepless nights, which is: what is the meaning of the differences of the imam concerning a certain issue? If I say to someone that Shaykh So and so says that something is haraam, he says to me that is according to his madhhabor the madhhab of his country, and we follow a different madhhab that says it is halaal. This led me to the issue of hijab. For example, my country follows the Maaliki madhhab, the imams of which say that “that which is apparent” [al-Noor 24:33] refers to the face and hands. In addition to that, the face-veil is virtually banned in my country, i.e.,you could never wear it inyour daily life, such as wearing it at work or in school. There are laws that ban it and the gloves.Although personally I am fully convinced about the face-veil, I cannot wear it. What is your ruling on that? Because every time Ilisten to tapes about hijabfrom Shaykhs from another madhhab, I feel that my hijab is not Islamically acceptable, and I understand from their words that I am currently unveiled and making a wanton display of myself (tabarruj) and I am a cause of fitnah among this ummah. Whatshould we do, as we are confused?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
At the time of the Revelation, the Muslims learned the rulings of Islam from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) through the verses of the Holy Qur’aan and the ahaadeeth of his Sunnah. Hence there were no differences of opinion among them except with regard to some minor issues. If that happened, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would explain to them what was correct.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) died and the Sahaabah spread out to various regions to teach the people Islam, there appeared some differences with regard tosome matters of fiqh which arose at different times and in different places. These differences were due to a number of reasons, which we will sum up here from the words of the scholars:
1- The evidence had notreached the one who helda different opinion, and he made a mistake in forming his opinion.
2- The hadeeth had reached the scholar, but he did not regard the transmitter as trustworthy, and he thought that it went against something that was stronger, so he followed that which he thought was stronger than it.
3- The hadeeth had reached him but he forgotit.
4- The hadeeth had reached him but he understood it in a way other than the intended meaning.
5- The hadeeth reached him but it was abrogated,and he did not know the abrogating text.
6- He thought that it contradicted something that was stronger than it, whether that was a text or scholarly consensus (ijmaa’)
7- The scholar used a weak hadeeth as the basisfor his ruling, or he derived the ruling by means of weak arguments.
For a detailed discussion of these reasons and others, see Raf’ al-Malaam‘an al-A’immati’l-A’laam by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, and al-Khilaaf bayna al-‘Ulama’: Asbaabuhu wa Mawqifunaminhu by Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen.
We think that what we have mentioned about the reasons for differencesamong the scholars i.e., with regard to matters of fiqh, will be clear to you, in sha Allaah.
Secondly:
What should the Muslim’s attitude be towards differences that arise between the scholars? In other words, which scholarly opinion should the Muslim follow in matters where they differed? The answer depends:
1 – If the Muslim is one who has studied shar’i knowledge and learned its basic principles and minor issues, and he can distinguish right from wrong with regard to scholarly views, then he has to follow that which he thinks is correct and ignore that which he thinks is wrong.
2 – If he is one of the rankand file, or has not studied shar’i knowledge, and thus cannot distinguish between right and wrong with regard toscholarly views, then he must follow the fatwa of a scholar whose knowledge he trusts and who he believes to be trustworthy and religiously committed, whether he is from his own country or another country, and differences between scholars will not matter after that. He does not have to change what he is doing because he hears another scholar issuing a fatwa that differs from the one he is following, unless he realizes that what he learned later on is the correct view, on the basis of his confidence in the religious commitment and knowledge of the second Shaykh.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
The one who has knowledge of evidence is required to follow the evidence, even if it goes against some of the imams, if it does not go against the consensus of the ummah./ - - - :-> Transtors: 1.http://free-translation.imtranslator.net/lowres.asp 2.http://translate.google.com/m?twu=1&hl=en&vi=m&sl=auto&tl=en