Importance of opinion of doctors in Islamic Jurisprudence

We will find several places in the book of Fiqh that the great Islamic scholars make the rulings related to the opinion of Doctors. For example, they said in the chapter of Tayammum. (It’s alternative way to get purification when someone has no water or he faces any problem to use water.)

In the Majmaul Anhur (vol. 1, page 147) Abdur Rahman Afendi (died in 1668) said,

(أَوْ لِمَرَضٍ خَافَ زِيَادَتَهُ) ....(أَوْ بُطْءَ بُرْئِهِ) .... وَمَعْرِفَتُهُ بِاجْتِهَادِ الْمَرِيضِ تَجْرِبَةً أَوْ أَمَارَةً أَوْ بِإِخْبَارِ طَبِيبٍ مُسْلِمٍ غَيْرِ ظَاهِرِ الْفِسْقِ (مجمع الانهر جـ1 صـ147)

(Tayammum is legal when someone does not have water) or he is afraid of increasing his disease or lasting disease longer. And these will be understood by the experience of patient or any sign or opinion of any efficient Muslim Doctor who does not do evil openly.

Prominent Islamic scholar Imam Nawawi (1234 - 1277 AD )said,

قَالَ أَصْحَابُنَا يَجُوزُ أَنْ يَعْتَمِدَ فِي كَوْنِ الْمَرَضِ مُرَخِّصًا فِي التَّيَمُّمِ وَأَنَّهُ عَلَى الصِّفَةِ الْمُعْتَبَرَةِ عَلَى مَعْرِفَةِ نَفْسِهِ إنْ كَانَ عَارِفًا وَإِلَّا فَلَهُ الِاعْتِمَادُ عَلَى قَوْلِ طَبِيبٍ وَاحِدٍ حَاذِقٍ مُسْلِمٍ بَالِغٍ عَدْلٍ فَإِنْ لَمْ يُمْكِنْ بِهَذِهِ الصِّفَةِ لَمْ يَجُزْ اعْتِمَادُهُ (المجموع شرح المهذب جـ 2صـ286)

Our scholars said, “A patient will get the permission of Tayammum if he knows that he is in that very condition in which Tayammum is permitted or he have to depend on the opinion of any efficient true Muslim doctor. Otherwise Tayammum is not permitted.”

We will find a lot of examples like this. I am not elaborating more.