Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i,
Hanbali:- Names that have a place in the vocabulary, acts of worship, and
belief system of nearly every Muslim, but whose history remains unquestioned by
the masses.
Belief coupled with action is indeed
something commendable. Allah praised those who believe and perform righteous
actions numerous times in the Qur’an. For example:
“And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, they are
dwellers of Paradise, they will dwell therein forever.” (Qur’an 2:82)
But everyone believes in
something. And almost everyone does good. This wouldn’t be of any relevance if
it weren’t for the fact that Allah also informs us in the Qur’an:
“And if you obey most of those on earth, they will mislead you far away from Allah's Path. They follow nothing but conjectures, and they do
nothing but lie.” (Qur’an 6:116)
Who then does the verse apply to? What distinguishes the conviction of a
Muslim from that of a Christian – or a Buddhist?
In order to find out the true
reality of a matter, one must take it back to its source. Our beliefs should
have a legitimate basis, otherwise they cease to be any different from fables
and made-up stories.
It is due to this that I disagree
with the belief that Madhhabs are divinely ordained; something I’ll further
corroborate through the course of this essay.
If you question the average
Muslim regarding his adherence to a certain Madhhab, you will find out that
this was something passed on to him by his parents, or the Muslims in his
community (if he converted to Islam).
Along with the command of
strictly following the Qur’an and Sunnah came the command of following a
Madhhab, the consequence of which was the mistaken notion of it being a
fundamental part of the religion – and subsequently ones Islam incomplete
without it.
One would then question these
parents and members of the community and go higher and higher up this chain,
passing over the sayings of individuals such as Ahmed Al-Wanshirisi:
“It is
not permitted for the follower of a scholar to choose the most pleasing to him
of the schools and one that agrees the most with him. It is his duty to do
Taqlid of the Imam whose school he believes to be right in comparison to the
other schools” (Al-Wanshirisi, 2015, Page 163-164)
Until one reaches the 13th
Century (CE); the period in which blind following developed. Further analysis
of this time in history sheds light into the reason behind this – the closing
of the door of Ijtihad by scholars due to social and political turmoil, and
consequently the inability to go beyond the four Madhahib.
The sharp mind would have then
ascertained that rigidly following a Madhhab is something that came into existence long after the death of the Prophet; far after revelation and divine ordainment's came to a close.
Delving further into history
brings to our attention the existence of many other Madhabs. We even learn that
there were over a hundred schools of thought during a period in time, but which
died out due to a number of factors. (Al-Fadl, 2011).
If we were to assume the position
of the Madhhabs being divinely ordained for arguments sake, then what do we say
about the other Maddhabs? Are they too, ordained by Allah? Then hundreds of
Schools of Thought would be upgraded to the status of revelation and we would
end up negating the second pillar of the Shahadah – Muhammed is the Messenger
of Allah.
In addition to this, The Imams
themselves have been attributed with sayings such as:
“…Look into my opinions: all that agrees with the Book and the
Sunnah, accept it; and all that does not agree with the Book and Sunnah, ignore
it” (Malik)
“You (addressing Ahmed ibn Hanbal) are more knowledgeable about
Hadeeth than I, so when a hadeeth is Saheeh, inform me of it, whether it is
from Kufa, Basrah, or Syria, so that I may take the view of the hadeeth, as
long as it is saheeh”
(Ash-Shafi’i)
“Do not follow my opinion; neither follow the opinion of Malik,
nor Shafi’i, nor Awzaai, nor Thawri, but take from where they took” (Ahmed ibn Hanbal)
We also see that their rulings
were affected by their understanding, availability of hadiths, and many other
factors. Due to this, more than one of them has been reported to have prevented
his students from recording his rulings, such as Abu Hanifa: “Woe to
you, O Ya’qub! Do not write down everything you hear from me, for it happens
that I hold one opinion today and reject it tomorrow, or hold one opinion
tomorrow and reject it the day after tomorrow”
They were fallible, like any
other human being. They did not receive revelation that would elevate them to
the status of being completely followed without question, unlike the Prophet,
whom Allah gave this authority to in the Qur’an:
“…And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has
forbidden you - refrain from…“ (Qur’an 59:7)
This, however, doesn’t mean we
completely ignore their efforts and disregard them in totality. Allah tells us:
“… so ask the people of the Reminder [Scriptures - the Taurat
(Torah), the Injeel (Gospel)] if you do not know.” (Qur’an 21:7)
To totally shun the scholars is
to completely rely on our own understanding, which opens the door to
distortion of the religion and outlandish, even extreme views. The
impermissibility is limited to blind following and disregarding the truth. We
are to follow the scholars in what they clarify of matters to us, but not at
the cost of evidence.
References
Al-Albani, Muhammad
Naasir-ud-Deen. (1993). The Prophets
Prayer described from the beginning to the end as though you see it. Suffolk:
Al-Haneef Publications
Al-Fadl, Khaled. (2011). What is Shari’a? Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/03/22/3170810.htm (Accessed 19
December 2015)
Al-Wanshirisi. AlMi’yar Al-Mu’rib an Fatawa Ahl
Al-Ifriqiyyah wa Al-Andalus wa Al-Maghrib.
Ibn Abdul Barr. Jaami’ Bayaan Al-Ilm
Ibn Abi Haatim. Aadab Ash-Shafi’i
Ibn AlQayyim. I’laam
Al-Fulaani. Eeqaz Al-Himam
Comments
Post a Comment