Why is it Wajib to follow only one Imam or Madhab and stick to it ? Why can ’t we follow all four at the same time ?

Why is it
Wajib to follow only
one Imam or Madhab
and stick to it ? Why
can ’t we follow all
four at the same
time ?


Answer) Taqleed was
made Wajib during the 3rd
Hijri. There was an Ijma of
Scholars on this subject,
where all the Scholars
unanimously agreed upon it.
It was made compulsory
because a similar incident
occurred in the Past, in Islamic
history. As we know there
are 7 Dialects of the Quran.
But during the Khilafah of
Hadhrat Usman RAU, he
collected all the written Quran
and burned them and kept
only one dialect. The reason
behind that was to prevent
the Ummah from destruction
in future as people would not
be able to understand the
difference and it would raise
significant "ikhtilaaf" among
the Ummah. Therefore,
realizing that, only one dialect
was used even though
Prophet S.A.W. had approved
7.
This was explained by Hazrat
Shah Waliyyullah RUA in great
detail: http://
www.cometoislam.com/fiqh/
legal/58-59.htm(Last
paragraph of page 59).
I can quote a personal
experience. When I was in
States, I prayed behind an
Imam who receited "Malik e yo
midden.." instead of "Maalik e
yo ....." and i thought this
Imam was not a learned
person. But alhamdolillah later
I learned it was a different
dialect. So, not doing so and
not making the Ummah to
have one dialect would have
definitely created confusion.
The same thing happened and
in the light of above
mentioned incident, it was
made compulsory for people
to stick to one Imam only.
Otherwise people would seek
easiness, instead of following
the rulings they would get.
For example, in Fiqh Hanfi, if
you bleed, your Wudu breaks.
But in Shafi'i it doesn't. In
Fiqh Hanfi, if you touch a
Woman who is not a Mehram,
your Wudu doesn't break.
But in Shafi'i it does. So, let's
suppose a person in Wudu
starts bleeding and he likes
mixing all the Imams, he would
go for Imam Shafi'i's ruling and
keep his Wudu intact. Then
let's say he goes outside and
touches a woman accidentally,
he would then, this time, go
for Imam Abu Hanifa RUA's
ruling. This finding easiness
would eventually lead him
astray and he would lose his
Iman, and 'Ulama are
"Muttafiq" on that.
Read the example and
explanation by Ibn Taymiyah in
detail: http://
www.cometoislam.com/fiqh/
legal/50-51.htm
Also, one more point to
remember. All Madhaib are
based on certain principles
and those principles prevent
us from mixing them. For
Example, In British English the
last alphabet is "Zad" and in
American English it's "Zee".
So, British say "Zabra" (I am
talking about the
pronunciation here) and
Americans say "Zebra". If an
American says "Zee" as the
alphabet but says the word
"Zabra" instead of "Zebra", he
would contradict himself. I
hope you understood the
example.
So, as one dialect was
allowed, even though we had
seven, the same way,
following only one Imam was
made permissible by the
scholars, even though we had
more than one.


SOURCE:
Why is it Wajib to follow only one Imam or Madhab and stick to it?
http://www.cometoislam.com/fiqh/question1.htm