What Is A Madhhab ?

[M-Riasat]

Hello people,

Can anyone explain to me what is a madhhab?

i don't know what it is, never heard of it as im a newbie muslim

please help

thanks

[sufisticated]

read the following article:

What is a Madhhab?

and do a search in the forums. there are plenty of discussions on this already.

[selma1]

Assalamu alaikum
The four madhhab Imams (Hadrat Abu hanife,Hadrat Shafii, Hadrat Maliki, Hadrat Hanbelli) all were mujtahid, they all ahla sunna, They performed ijtihads and the ilmihal books contain this ijtihads. The Endless bliss which is the best ilmihal I have ever seen, endless bliss books consist of from great&ancient ahla sunnat scholars http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15398


What does ijtihad mean? Who is called mujtahid?
http://serenityfountain.org/bliss1.asp
Bliss1 chapt27
27 - Sayyid Abdulhakim Arwasi (rahmatullahi 'alaih) http://www.hizmetbooks.org/Proof_of...ood/prhakim.htm there is info about him in that link, He was a great and profound religious savant. His name was mentioned in the preface of our book. His letter to a university student radiates knowledge. It was translated into English and published as a brochure. Our book includes that letter. He died in 1362 A.H. (1943).] says in his book Ashab-i kiram, "Ijtihad means to work with all one's might, to strive and to take pains. In other words, it is to strive to derive the rules to solve problems that have not been explained clearly and openly in the Qur'an or in the hadiths by likening them to matters that have been explained clearly and in detail. This can be done only by our Prophet (sall Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam), by all his Ashab and, from among other Muslims, by those who have been promoted to the grade of ijtihad; these exalted people are called Mujtahid. Allahu ta'ala commands us to perform ijtihad in many places of the Qur'an. Then, it is a binding rule for mujtahids to perform ijtihad. These are the great people who can understand the rules of the Shariat and religious matters lying in the depths of the ayats and hadiths that do not have clearly understandable meanings by using their understanding of the text and the meaning that can be inferred from the text. To be a mujtahid it is necessary to know the high branches of Arabic thoroughly, to know the Qur'an by heart, to know what each ayat means, the meanings that it indicates, the meanings lying hidden in it, the meanings that must be given according to the subject, to know when ayats descended, why they descended, about what they descended, if they are general or particular, if they are nasih or mansuh, [Some ayats were changed by some other ayats that descended later. The former are called mansuh, which means 'changed.' The latter are called nasih, which means 'the one that has changed the other.' The ayat about wine is an example.] if they are conditioned [Some ayats depend on some conditions, e.g. the ayat "O believers, perform namaz," is conditioned, because to perform namaz one has to be sane and pubert, and has to have a ritual ablution, etc. But the ayat "O people, have iman," is unconditional because everybody has to have iman.] or unconditional, how they have been derived from Qiraat-i Saba and Qiraat-i Shazza [Some ayats in the Qur'an are read in seven different ways. Each reading has a different meaning. Qiraat-i Shazza means the word which a few of the Prophet's companions used to recite in an uncommon manner.], to know by heart the hundreds of thousands of hadiths that are in Qutub-i sitta [The six hadith books which all Islamic savants have confirmed to be correct.] and other hadith books, to know when and why each hadith was said and how comprehensive its meaning is, which hadith is before or after the other, the events that have to do with it and upon which events and happenings it was said, by whom they were communicated or narrated and the state of the morality of the persons who communicate it, to know the methods and rules of the knowledge of fiqh, to comprehend the twelve branches of knowledge and the indications and symbols of the Qur'an and hadiths and their clear and hidden meanings while having these meanings fixed in the heart, and to have strong iman and a bright, pure heart and a conscience possessing superior qualities and tranquility.

"All these superior qualities could exist only in the Ashab-i kiram and, later, in some of the great awliya who lived within two hundred years of the period after them. Later, opinions and preferences became wide spread and bidats started to appear. Day by day such auspicious people decreased in number and by 400 A.H. there was no one left satisfying all these conditions, that is, who was a mutlaq (absolute) mujtahid.

from

www.serenityfountain.org


THE FAITH OF THE AHL AS-SUNNAT
Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih) writes in his book Kimya-i Saadat: "When someone becomes a Muslim, it will primarily be fard for him to know and believe in the meaning of the phrase La ilaha ill-Allah, Muhammadun Rasul-Allah. This phrase is called the kalimat at-tawhid. It is sufficient for every Muslim to believe without any doubt what this phrase means. It is not fard for him to prove it with evidence or to satisfy his mind. Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) did not command the Arabs to know or to mention the relevant proofs or to search and clarify any possible doubts. He commanded them to believe only and not to doubt. It is enough for everybody also to believe superficially. Yet it is fard kifaya that there should exist a few 'alims in every town. It is wajib for these 'alims to know the proofs, to remove the doubts and to answer the questions. They are like shepherds for Muslims. On the one hand, they teach them the knowledge of iman, which is the knowledge of belief, and, on the other hand, they answer the slanders of the enemies of Islam.


Qur'an al-karim stated the meaning of the kalimat at-tawhid and Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) explained what is declared in it. All the Sahabat al-kiram learned these explanations and conveyed them to those who came after them. The exalted scholars who conveyed to us what the Sahabat al-kiram had conveyed, by committing them to their books without making any alterations in them, are called the Ahl as-Sunnat. Everybody has to learn the itiqad of the Ahl as-Sunnat and to unite and love one another. The seed of happiness is in this itiqad and in this unification.

This passage is going on...

[TapeMonkey]

Please keep in mind what "new muslim" means. Lots of arabic phrases means only confusion. Mujtahid? Ijtihad? Fiqh? What what what?

The Shaykh Nuh article, though, is good about defining some things. Just, when explaining things to a "new" muslims, keep the "buzzwords" (ahem) to a minimum.

Lemme break it down for ya: a madhhab is a "school of thought" in jurisprudence (jurisprudence: philosophy of law/legal system).

In orthodox sunni islam, there are 4 schools of thought, or madhhabs. They are:
Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali. They are named after their respective founders: Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi'i, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. As far as orthodox sunni islam is concerned, these are the only 4 acceptable schools of thought (what makes one acceptable or not is beyond the scope of this explanation).

Basically, what happened (and this is an extreme simplification) was different scholars had different ideas about how to interpret the core sources of islamic law. Different methodologies were formed on how about to do this... these methodologies are embodied by the 4 madhhabs which were founded by the 4 aforementioned scholars and have been worked on and elucidated on every since.

Why do we have madhhabs? Well... matters of religion are of extreme import. We're talking about your very salvation here. So you want to be sure that you get things right. Anytime you read or hear something, you have to interpret it. Language is made of symbols, and we dont' always agree on what these symbols means. So, with these core sources of Islamic law (which, if you want to know, are, in order, the Qur'an, Sunnah (prophetic practices), 'Ijma (scholarly consensus), and Qiyas (analogical reasoning)), you want to be sure you get the right interpretation, or something closest to it.
The Qur'an doesn't explicitly cover every topic you'll ever encounter, nor do the situations expounded in the hadith collections. So what we need are top notch scholars do look into these core sources and interpret them... top scholars because it takes a strong, strong intellect to decipher all this. People often compare it to medicine. When needing, say, brain surgery, do you go ask the guy down the street, or do you want to ask a top notch brain surgeon? Your life is at stake here!
Well, if you life is so important, what about your soul? Who is the brain surgeon for your soul? That would be the scholars. And the very best of the scholars are called Mujtahids, the very best of these being a mujtahid mutlaq, or an absolute mujtahid. The "four Imams" (Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, Hanbal) were such mujtahids.

[innocent]

Firsly and foremostly I take great pleasure in welcoming you to islam brother. Welcome to the the most peaceful religion in the entire universe! Secondly
to put madhab in simple terms it means following set beliefs and acts according to a past religiuos role model, for example Imam Ahmad was a firm beliver of his time who saw the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) carrying out a certain act (this could be performing prayer) in a particular way. therefore, he acted accordingly and taught people how it was to be done. In the same way another firm believer Imam Shafee saw the prophet carrying out this act differently. He taught people according to how he saw it done. None of these Imams were wrong, as the prophet done things differently, and different people were present at different times. Likewise, there are many 4 main imams who saw the prophet doing things ina different way therefore narrated it according to how they saw it.
Now, when we choose a certain imam and follow him (to avoid confusion), we are following a "madhab" (school of thought).
Hope this helps!!

[selma1]

from
www.serenityfountain.org which consists of great&ancient ahla sunnat scholar's books(writings)

AHL AS-SUNNAT
It is primarily necessary for someone who becomes a Muslim, or for Muslims' children who reach the age of maturity called 'âqil-bâligh, to say the Kalima-i shahâdat, learn its meaning and believe in it. Then, they have to learn and believe in the knowledge written in the books of the Ahl-as-sunnat savants regarding i'tiqâd, that is, the tenets of belief. Then, they have to learn fiqh knowledge from the books of any one of the four Madhhabs, that is, the five commandments of Islam, and they must observe these commandments.

Those who deny that it is necessary to learn and obey these things and those who do not pay due attention to these points become murtads. That is, after they become Muslims upon saying the Kalima-i shahâdat, they become kâfirs again. The knowledge of i'tiqâd in the four Madhhabs is the same. Someone who follows the knowledge of imân and fiqh of any of the four Madhhabs is called Ahl as-sunnat or Sunnî.

Belief of those who do not follow one of these four Madhhabs is wrong. They are either Ahl-i bid'at -bid'at holders- or murtads. In both cases, they will certainly go to Hell to be punished in the fire, if they die without repentance.

While doing something, due to certain excuses, a person coming across difficulties in doing that thing according to his own Madhhab's rules can do it according to the rules of one of the other three. Then, he has to follow all the rules related to this thing in this second Madhhab. It is impossible to act in agreement with all of the imams in all affairs; there are also many cases which prevent one from acting in agreement with three or even two imams at the same time. Such (controversial) affairs should be done by following only one imam.

[Muslimah_Saira]

mashallah for evryone who replied coz even though i didnt start the thread its been something ive been confused about.

[Silver Sparrow]

*shakes head*
nopes, makes no sense to me either

Back to the original Q, modernmuslima.com's madhhab guide is easily the best: http://www.modernmuslima.com/madhhabs.htm

[Flora]

Please keep in mind what "new muslim" means. Lots of arabic phrases means only confusion. Mujtahid? Ijtihad? Fiqh? What what what?

VERY good advice!!! I think Mods on here should enforce your advice. Make a big notice or something to tell the Muslims not to get too complex in this section.

[leo28]

mashallah for evryone who replied coz even though i didnt start the thread its been something ive been confused about.

This confused me also cz what i initially understood was that madhab means religion, which is islam n then we have different religious affiliations or u can say sects, as the other members have listed above. Esp for south asian ordinary muslims, major dividing line remains either sunni muslim or shia muslim. Since i originally belong to a country n society, which is predominantly hanafi, so by design my affiliation remains with this sect. However i didn't mention hanafi against madhab, which in my understanding is Islam. Im sure there would be many others like me, who would not have mentioned hanafis against madhab.