realize a legitimate sharʿī interest, and provided they issue from collective ijtihād undertaken by persons who are qualified to exercise choice and are distinguished by piety and scholarly integrity.

4 – It is impermissible to select the concessions of the juristic schools merely out of whim, for that leads to casting off religious obligation. One may resort to concessions only in accordance with the following guidelines:
(a) The juristic opinions being relied upon must be valid in the sharʿī sense and may not have been classed as anomalous.
(b) A need must exist for taking the concession in order to remove hardship, whether that need is public, private, or individual.
(c) The person availing himself of the concession must be capable of making an informed choice, or else depend upon someone who is so qualified.
(d) Resorting to the concession must not result in the kind of prohibited talfīq described in Section 6.
(e) The concession must not serve as a pretext for attaining an illicit objective.
(f) The conscience of the person taking the concession must be at ease with doing so.

5 – The essence of talfīq in following the madhhabs is that a lay follower, in a single legal issue containing two or more interrelated elements, combines them in a manner that none of the mujtahids he follows would independently endorse.

6 – Talfīq is forbidden in the following situations:
(a) When it leads to adopting concessions purely out of whim, or to violating any of the guidelines set for taking concessions.
(b) When it results in overturning a judicial ruling.
(c) When it contradicts what has already been acted upon by way of taqlīd in a single case.
(d) When it entails violating consensus (ijmāʿ) or what consensus necessarily implies.
(e) When it produces a composite situation that none of the mujtahids would approve.

And Allah knows best.