In Sharia, unless you are a mujtahid, every single one of us is following an interpretation. The question is whose. Your own? A more trusted scholar? Or generations of trusted scholars? Which one has the least chance of error? Which one has the Quran and Sunna told us to follow?
We're told to follow what large swaths of the learned are upon. "Whoever goes against the path of the believers we leave him to what he chose." "My umma will not unify upon misguidance."
And more...how do we really know what past mujtahids actually said? The living chain of mass transmission is the only sure bet. Otherwise, you place your trust in scribes and editors you don't even know.
The living chain is still alive, bi fadlillah, in the schools of Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafii, & Ahmad. May Allah continue to preserve them and increase their virtue and their numbers.
Logically, the most likely correct of opinions is that which is free from the biases of location, era, politics, culture, economics.
This is the value of madhahib that have existed in various continents over the centuries. Freedom from many biases.
This is the value of madhahib that have existed in various continents over the centuries. Freedom from many biases.
