I once thought about blindly following a madhab and then considered the problems facing me if I try to authenticate hadith all on my own.

Frankly, the whole thing is a bit overwhelming and I would like your comments on what I should or should not do about all of this. 

Answer:

 (this is regarding the article at www.IslamTomorrow.com/groups)

You make good sense and I don't blame you. I probably didn't write the articles well enough and probably need to look at them again, inshallah.

You are correct in saying the schools of thought have a lot of merit. In fact, much of what we know in Islam today has been in some way, preserved by one or the other or all of these four madhaahab.

However, it is not correct to claim to follow someone blindly when you have a clear proof that he ordered you not to do so. Right? (read again the page on the Four Imams)

At once we are forced to understand it is our responsibility to take only what we can verify. Please do not think we are saying not to follow great imams and teachers, we are only saying to verify for yourself what they are saying and not to follow them blindly, while claminng to be a "Hanifee" or a "Maliki" or a "Shafiiee" or "Hanbali."

Go to the books of these schools of fiqh and see where they are getting their information before follow them. You can easily compare with the modern works of fiqh in "Fiqh us Sunnah" by Sayyid Sabiq. He compares the scholars works to the actual hadeeth for you. It is very nice and all five volumes in English are less than $40.00, inshallah.

• www.IslamTomorrow.com/imams/
• www.IslamTomorrow.com/hadith/

www.ProphetOfIslam.com

You can also get information out of them online  (FREE):
http://www.masmn.org/Books/Syed_Sabiq/Fiqh_us_Sunnah/
So, don''t panic and get discouraged, this is actually the exciting part of being a Muslim, to be able to understand the workings of the worship, inshallah.

Please write anytime - and remember:
Fiqh is not the core of Islam - it is the fruit of Islam.

We ask Allah to accept your fasting, salat, zakat and hajj - and grant you Jennah, ameen.