"School of Thoughts"

In the name of Allah, the All Merciful, the Compassionate

Prayers and blessings be upon his noble Messenger Muhammad, and to his Family, to his Companions, and to those who follow their guidance until the Day of Judgement

Following this discourse on the  Madhahib we need to first understand the role of the madhhab.  All this info I am about to share with all of you is from the audio lecture on following a madhhab by Imam Zaid Shakir.

Using some analogy, the Quran and the Sunnah is the mountain; we are far away from it looking at with awe and amazement.  We would like to get a better look at this mountain.  The madhahib serves as the binoculars so one can see the intricate details on the mountain.  Now we dont look at the binoculars, we look at the mountain. So the madhahib is merely a tool on how to see the Prophetic guidance with greater clarity and detail then with, using the analogy again, seeing the mountain with a naked eye.

Secondly a madhhab is not the work of one Imam or one scholar.  A madhhab is a school of jurisprudence, where the founding Imam would lay out the jurisprudential principles of his school and bring about the preliminary legal rulings based on those principles.  His students would then reexamine and update the legal conclusions of the school, using the principles that the founding Imam has established.  Take for example the Shafi'i School:

1) Imam Shafi'i laid out the jurisprudential principles of his school and started the preliminary legal conclusions.

2) The his main students like Imam Muzani, Imam Buwaythi, and others reevaluated his legal conclusions based on his methodology and evidence and upgraded when necessary.

3) The next generation consisted who consisted of luminaries like Imam Bayhaqi did the same, reevaluated the legal rulings of the school based on the principles of the school and upgraded.

4) The generation after Imam Bayhaqi had the likes of Imam al Haramayn al Juwayni who reevaluated the legal rulings of the school and upgraded

5) Imam Juwayni's student Hujjatul Islam Imam Abu Hamid al Ghazali was of the next generation who did the same

6) After Ghazali was Imam Rafi'i and his contemporaries who continued to upgrade the school. Imam al Rafi' actually condensed and expounded on Imam Ghazali's work Al Wajiz.

7) After Rafi' Imam Nawawi came  who  reevaluated and upgraded the entire school based the earlier works of fiqh from the school especially from his predecessor Imam Rafi'.  He created a manual called Minhaj at Talibin which became the foremost reference work for the later Shafi'i school. 

*The soundest and most reliable legal rulings of the Shafi' madhhab is from what Imam Rafi' and what Imam Nawawi agree on, followed by Imam Nawawi's position.

8) Imam Ibn Hajar al Haytami and Imam ar Ramli came after Imam Nawawi and expounded on Imam Nawawi's work.

So as we have illustrated from this example, the madhhab is not the ruling or legal conclusions of one Imam or scholar, but rather, it is a work of hundreds if not thousands of scholars from the school in each generation who have reevaluated and upgraded the legal conclusions of the school based on the jurisprudential principles laid out by the Imam himself.  This process of refining and correcting has made all four madhahib sound schools of jurisprudence within the Sunni tradition. 

Finally, following a madhhab, ie Taqlid, is not blindly following as some detractors say now.  But rather, following a madhhab is in fact the following of qualified scholarship.  The scholars that I have mentioned in the Shafi'i school, for example, were giants in the fields of Hadith, Quran, Fiqh, and the other sciences.  We look to specialists in Islamic law because most of us do not have the time nor intellect to learn all the requisite knowledge required to derive legal rulings from the Quran and Sunnah.  In traditional ciriculums, a person who wants to be a Mufti, a specialist in Islamic law who can issue out fatwa (expert legal opinions) would have to go through 20 years of learning.  Fiqh would not  be the only science studied but also Arabic language, Quran, Tafsir, Hadith and its sciences, Usul al Fiqh, Qawa'id al fiqhiyah, logic, rhetoric, and others.

So I hope with this exposition inshallah we realize the need to follow qualified scholarship. In an age where its the Do-it-yourself Islam, we are treading on dangerous waters trying to derive our own rulings based on our one dimensional understanding of the Quran and Hadith.

Wa salla Llahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim taslima kathira

Wa Llahu ta'Ala Alim wa Hasbunallahu wa ni'ma al Wakil.

raushan wrote: No right thinking Muslim can ignore the services and contribution of the great Fiq�h scholars. The Qur�an orders us to follow them (Men of authority in their respective fields) in all such matters on which different authorities of a particular field are unanimous. But if the authentic authorities differ on a subject, that issue should be referred to Qur�an and Hadith for guidance. There is no room for choice in this matter. This is a very specific and clear cut order of Almighty Allah.

Assalam Aleikum raushan.

When there is a difference of opinion between the scholars of the four madhabs, the difference is not because the scholars have decided to ignore the primary sources of Islam. Hence, you will not find the solution to the differences. The scholars reach differeing opinions due to interpretational matters. They still go to the primary sources, but sometimes there is room for interpretation.

raushan wrote: Swearing allegiance to a particular scholar with such ardour that the followers become a sect is against the spirit of Islam. The great Fiq�h scholars never advocated it themselves. The Holy Qur�an denounces the sectarianism in no uncertain words; �Cling one and all to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves..� (3:103)

As Salamu Alaykum

I think you need to re-read my post.  A Muslim who adheres to one of the four madhahib isn't swearing allegiance to a particular scholar. In fact a person who adheres to a madhhab is following qualified scholarship as undertaken by the entire school not just one scholar.  I illustrated that in the example I used with the Shafi'i Madhhab.  Each successive generation of scholars from that school looked upon the legal rulings and opinions of the school reevaluated in light of the methodology of the school and the primary evidence and upgraded accordingly. 

No denies following the Qur'an and Sunnah. The question is who are you following? The Prophet (salla llahu alayhi wa sallam) is no longer personally alive to teach us. All we have left is what has been transmitted by people.  Do we follow a person who simply reads a book of ahadith he bought from the store? or do we take ahadith who studied the ahadith or work or science of Islam from masters in an unbroken chain back to the source?  I prefer following this unbroken chain of transmission. This insures that what I follow is based on the correct context and understanding that the source intended.

Following a madhhab isn't making allegiance to anyone.  One can change their madhhab if they choose, they aren't stuck with it once they choose. I recommend you get the cd lecture on why we follow madhhabs by Imam Zaid Shakir. Its available at Alhambra Productions.