for a particular school of law or favoritism toward any given imam. The same rule applies to lawsuits and disputes concerning every kind of right, not only personal-status matters as is the case in some countries that claim to be Islamic—for Islam is a single, indivisible whole. The Almighty says, “O you who believe, enter into submission wholly” (al-Baqarah 208), and He says, “So do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part?” (al-Baqarah 85).

Likewise, the followers of the legal schools must weigh the statements of their imams against the Book and the Sunnah: whatever agrees with them they adopt, and whatever conflicts with them they reject, without fanaticism or bias—especially in matters of creed. Indeed, the imams—may Allah have mercy on them—commanded this, and it is the shared doctrine of them all. Whoever deviates from it is not truly following them, even if he claims their affiliation. Such a person falls under Allah’s words: “They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah—and the Messiah, son of Mary” (al-Tawbah 31). The verse is not restricted to Christians; it encompasses everyone who acts as they did (so whoever contradicts what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have commanded by judging among people with other than what Allah has revealed, or