madhabs

[sarah1510]

why do muslims have to follow 'madhabs'? why can't they follow just the Qu'ran and if needs be the e.g. of the prophet. For christians the Bible has everything christians need.

[TripolySunni]

why do muslims have to follow 'madhabs'? why can't they follow just the Qu'ran and if needs be the e.g. of the prophet. For christians the Bible has everything christians need.

Salam aleykum,Why what's wrong with following madhabs? What is a madhab? A Madhab is the opinions of the scholars based on their knowledge, for example The students of Imam al Shaf'i used to come to him and ask him "What do you think I should do in this or that situation?" and he'd give his opinions based on the Quran and the sunnah and these opinions are later collected by His students in a Book and this is called the Madhab of Imam al shafi'i. It's not sect, it's not a division, it's just scholarly opinions regarding matters of jurisprudence... All the four madhabs are legitimate and accepted. Basically all you need to enter jannah are the five pillars,Prayer Zakat ect.. But the scholars have different opinions on some very minor details based on the poofs they have collected and their reading and interpretation of some texts.

On the Other hand what is not accepted is SECTS, by the clear verses of the Quran and the Hadiths, creating sects or entering sects is strictly forbidden, sadly we have a few but they're minority like Khawarij, Ithna ashari Shia, Muatazillah, Ahmaddiyah ect...

[nadeemabdulhamid]

Perhaps this article might be helpful for understanding: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/madhhab.htm

[Zafran]

why do muslims have to follow 'madhabs'? why can't they follow just the Qu'ran and if needs be the e.g. of the prophet. For christians the Bible has everything christians need.

The bible needs humans to understand it - smart Humans would be a good choice to actually understand what the bible is saying.

Madhabs are a tradition of qualified scholarship and there understanding of the Quran and sunnah.

Another good point to make is that Christians dont have a intricate law whilst Islam does

whilst christians have many books on theology Muslims have many books and discussions on fiqh or the philosophy behind the sacred law (which christianty does not have) - this where the madhabs (qualified scholarship) comes in.

[AlHannah20]

why do muslims have to follow 'madhabs'? why can't they follow just the Qu'ran and if needs be the e.g. of the prophet. For christians the Bible has everything christians need.

Madhabs are just an aid to help is the understanding and the interpretation of the Qur'an. Based on each persons preference, they choose if they want to follow a madhab. Christians definitely DO NOT follow the bible to the T, at least we are making more of an effort to follow the Qur'an. For example, the bible tells women to cover their heads,and it forbids pork but most christians completely ignore things this because they have a very unstructured school of thought to interpret only certain parts of the bible but not others. Thats my take on it anyway sister.

[maneatinglizard]

why do muslims have to follow 'madhabs'? why can't they follow just the Qu'ran and if needs be the e.g. of the prophet. For christians the Bible has everything christians need.

If the Bible has everything a Chritian needs, then why do we see different groups that interpret it differently? You see, two different Christians may read the exact same Bible, but understand it completely differently.

So, we see the reason for Madhabs is that, while the Quran and Ahadith (i.e. sayings of the Prophet ) are our primary sources in practicing our religion, they must be contextualized and understood properly, which can only be done in many cases by the work of qualified scholars. The teachings of these scholars were then collected and refined by later generations, and this continued and still continues to this day.

[sarah1510]

hello everyone,

i have read the link provided and also done abit of my own research meanwhile. i have a couple of questions if someone can answer them please.

those people who dont follow a madhab, are they still muslims? if not why not? the prophet never explicitly said muslims have to follow a school of thought.

when muslims die, is god going to ask did u follow a school of thought. if he isnt then why is following one so important?

the founder of these schools of thoughts, imam abu hanfia, imam shafi.. sorry i can't remember the names of the other 2 imams were human beings therefore is it possible in this day and age for somone to be in the position to be a mujtahid (thats the term right)

i know the answer to the above question, yes but its extremely rare but if in the rare case there was a mujtahid mutlaq now it would not be allowed for him to call to his madhab and nor for people to make taqleed of him. why is this? i asked my friend that if ur saying its impossible for someone to be a mujtahid mutalq, then in essence your preventing continued learning. to which she said no very rarely there might be a mujtahad mutalq but he wont call to this own madhab? why is this, why can't a madhab be established now? why would it not be allowed for someone to make taqleed of a mujtahid mutlaq if there was one in the present age?

finally are salafis and brelwis part of ale sunnat

if i were to convert to islam, i want to be known as a muslim not a 'deobandi'. so if i were to say im a muslim and i follow imam abu hanifa (because from what i can gather he seems the best from the 4 although from one article i read it explained how the schools are much more than just his teachings but have expanded and that now only 20% or something of his fiqh remains), is that alright but i respect the teachings of deobandi, is that alright?

thanks, i dont expect for all my questions to be answered because they never are but anything will be helpful.

[TripolySunni]

hello everyone,

i have read the link provided and also done abit of my own research meanwhile. i have a couple of questions if someone can answer them please.

those people who dont follow a madhab, are they still muslims? if not why not? the prophet never explicitly said muslims have to follow a school of thought.

when muslims die, is god going to ask did u follow a school of thought. if he isnt then why is following one so important?

the founder of these schools of thoughts, imam abu hanfia, imam shafi.. sorry i can't remember the names of the other 2 imams were human beings therefore is it possible in this day and age for somone to be in the position to be a mujtahid (thats the term right)

i know the answer to the above question, yes but its extremely rare but if in the rare case there was a mujtahid mutlaq now it would not be allowed for him to call to his madhab and nor for people to make taqleed of him. why is this? i asked my friend that if ur saying its impossible for someone to be a mujtahid mutalq, then in essence your preventing continued learning. to which she said no very rarely there might be a mujtahad mutalq but he wont call to this own madhab? why is this, why can't a madhab be established now? why would it not be allowed for someone to make taqleed of a mujtahid mutlaq if there was one in the present age?

finally are salafis and brelwis part of ale sunnat

if i were to convert to islam, i want to be known as a muslim not a 'deobandi'. so if i were to say im a muslim and i follow imam abu hanifa (because from what i can gather he seems the best from the 4 although from one article i read it explained how the schools are much more than just his teachings but have expanded and that now only 20% or something of his fiqh remains), is that alright but i respect the teachings of deobandi, is that alright?

thanks, i dont expect for all my questions to be answered because they never are but anything will be helpful.

1-Following a Madhab is not Obligatory, but Following The Quran and Authentic sunnah is Obligatory.
2- prophet PBUH said those who follow him and his companions on that day shall never go to hell.
3-Imams can make mistakes and that's not uncommon But I doubt me and you can tell where they are unless we are qualified scholars.
4-Imams were unique, had a huge amount of knowledge and they learned Islam directly from the followers of the companions, I don't think people can reach this level in our times but it's possible.
5-Yes you can make Taqleed of modern day scholars, if they have the knowledge and taqwa and intelligence and wisdom you can surely sense it and follow him and make taqleed and discuss the proofs with him even.
6-Many people make taqleed of Sheikh Albani and Sheikh Bin Baz and so on...
7-Salafis are ahlul sunnah, Barwelvis it depends if they follow the sunnah or not.
8-Deobandi is only known in Pakistan and India, We in the arab world never heard of it.

(For laymen who don't know arabic and don't know how to deal with proofs and how to extract rulings from hadith and what's authentic and what isn't and so on... It is Recommended to Make Taqleed to one of the four accepted schools of Fiqh).


Salam Aleykum, (hope it's helpful)

[sarah1510]

1-Following a Madhab is not Obligatory, but Following The Quran and Authentic sunnah is Obligatory.
2- prophet PBUH said those who follow him and his companions on that day shall never go to hell.
3-Imams can make mistakes and that's not uncommon But I doubt me and you can tell where they are unless we are qualified scholars.
4-Imams where unique, a huge amount of knowledge and they learned Islam directly from the followers of the companions, I don't think people can reach this level in our times but it's possible.
5-Yes you can make Taqleed of modern day scholars, if they have the knowledge and taqwa and intelligence and wisdom you can surely sense it and follow him and make taqleed and discuss the proofs with him even.
6-Many people make taqleed of Sheikh Albani and Sheikh Bin Baz and so on...
7-Salafis are ahlul sunnah, Barwelvis it depends if they follow the sunnah or not.
8-Deobandi is only known in Pakistan and India, We in the arab world never heard of it.


Salam Aleykum, (hope it's helpful)

yes it was helpful thankyou very much.

you said that you can make taqleed, ive been going through some old threads on this website and in one post, a user called Sad ibn Abu Waqqas said:

'The key thing to rememeber is (and my source for this is an article by G.F. Haddad) that

(a) There can well be a mujtahid mutlaq even now, and there is no proof against this happening, although it seems that it hasn't happened for a while.

(b) If somebody claims to be a mujtahod mutlaq, we tell him "Fine! Good for you." But we do not permit the common people to do taqleed of anyone other than the madhdhabs of the four well-known Imams.

The door of jitihad is not closed (that is a myth), but the door of taqleed to any new mujtahid mutlaq outisde of the four schools *is* closed, by consensus.

why has taqleed to any new mujtahids been closed then? it appears you two ^ are in conflict ur saying you can make taqleed to a mujtahid mutalq if there was one now and hes saying you can't

when u said its allowed then why do u disagree with salafis they also make taqleed with people who know more than them e.g. local imam etc.

also isnt sheikh albani a salafi?

[TripolySunni]

yes it was helpful thankyou very much.

you said that you can make taqleed, ive been going through some old threads on this website and in one post, a user called Sad ibn Abu Waqqas said:

'The key thing to rememeber is (and my source for this is an article by G.F. Haddad) that

(a) There can well be a mujtahid mutlaq even now, and there is no proof against this happening, although it seems that it hasn't happened for a while.

(b) If somebody claims to be a mujtahod mutlaq, we tell him "Fine! Good for you." But we do not permit the common people to do taqleed of anyone other than the madhdhabs of the four well-known Imams.

The door of jitihad is not closed (that is a myth), but the door of taqleed to any new mujtahid mutlaq outisde of the four schools *is* closed, by consensus.

why has taqleed to any new mujtahids been closed then? it appears you two ^ are in conflict ur saying you can make taqleed to a mujtahid mutalq if there was one now and hes saying you can't

when u said its allowed then why do u disagree with salafis they also make taqleed with people who know more than them e.g. local imam etc.

also isnt sheikh albani a salafi?

You can Make taqleed to one of the four Madhabs OR to the Pious and wise and well learned educated scholar which is accessible to you.

Yes al Albani was a salafi and people Make Taqleed to him but you can't compare him to the Four Giants of Fiqh who were followed by millions of Humans throughout the ages. The rule is stick to the Opinions of one Madhab/Scholar and do not cherry pick Fatwas from here or there which suit your desires. UNLESS another scholar comes and Gives Clear Strong Evidence which enters your heart and convinces you.

(Remember this forum has people who are extremists in Taqleed)