Back home people follow two schools of thought, Hanafi and Shaf’ie. More recently a group calling themselves Ahl al-Hadith has been arguing that certain matters which people do in prayer are not correct. This has resulted in bitter division, and people started to prevent these people from coming into the mosques. Thereupon, they have built their own mosque where they teach that the prayers of other people are not valid. Please comment.
This is an example of the sad situation into which Muslims have deteriorated for differences over matters of detail which will not be subject for questioning by God on the day of judgment. The difference is over such small matters pertaining to position and place in prayer, covering one’s head with a cap, etc. The only thing that is necessary to cover in prayer is the awrah, which is the area between the navel and the knees for a man (according to most scholars), and the whole body of a woman with the exception of her face and hands. In many matters different situations are acceptable, because the Prophet, peace be upon him, might have done each one on a different occasion, or he might not have said anything when people accomplished certain duties in different forms.
When people insist that certain details must be done in a specific manner, then they must produce solid evidence that all other ways are incorrect. Unfortunately people do not approach the matter in the right way. If they have a report or a Hadith that the Prophet, peace be upon him, did something in a particular fashion, they want all Muslims to do it in the same way all the time, although the matter is not compulsory. If the Prophet, peace be upon him, wanted us to follow his example in this matter of detail, he would have said so. In the absence of specific instructions, the matter remains a Sunnah, or a recommended practice.
By definition then, this is a recommendation which means that it is not an obligation. Why should people obligate others or pressure them into doing what is recommended, when it is not something God will ask us about? He will give an extra reward for doing the Prophet’s recommendations, but He will not question anyone for failing to do so.
Having said that, I would like to add that creating divisions in the Muslim community is forbidden. If we know that doing something is likely to create such a division then we should steer away from it. Those who call themselves as Ahl al-Hadith, which means they follow the Prophet’s guidance, should be most keen not to create divisions within a Muslim community.
• Schools of thought: Followed by the scholars at Arab News
Is it permissible for a person to follow any four schools of thought at any particular time?
It is important to be certain of one's grounds when one conducts his worship or his affairs. He must be sure of his source of information about what Islam requires of him. When you send a question to Arab News, you do not know which schools of thought supports the view which you are given. The religious editor takes it upon himself to give you the most suitable answer in your case, after weighing the evidence supporting each particular view scholars have recorded on the same question.
That means that you do not actually follow a particular school of thought all the time.
That applies to all of us. We either know which school of thought approves the view we are following or may not know it. The case of following a single school of thought throughout one's life is very rare.[Added: or at least not practical.]
• Schools of thought: Sticking to only one
Every Muslim should follow the Prophet (peace be on him), but is it also necessary that every Muslim should follow one of the four schools of thought? If the answer is in the affirmative, how do we account for this considering that these schools of thought were established much later than the Prophet?
The short answer to this question is that it is not necessary to follow any one of the four major schools of thought. Nor is it done in practice except by a few people.
If a person has enough knowledge of Islam and how rulings are deduced from texts of the Qur'an and the Hadith, he normally looks at every question separately, choosing the ruling which he feels to be weightier regardless of which school of thought subscribes to it. On the other hand, if he has only scanty knowledge of Fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, then he follows whatever ruling is given by a scholar in any particular matter. Take for example the readers of Arab News who write to me. They take my advice without questioning me regarding the school of thought which advocates that particular opinion. It is true that some of them mention that they belong to a particular school of thought and request an opinion on its basis. I try to accommodate them as far as possible, but sometimes I prefer to give them the opinion which is most suitable, or easiest to follow in their particular circumstances. Sometimes I give an advice on a serious question which is contrary to what all four schools of thought say. For example, in the case of pronouncing divorce three times in one session. I lean towards the opinion of Imam Ibn Taimiyah, who is no less an imam than the founders of the four schools of thought. He states that such a divorce counts as a single, revocable divorce. You will appreciate the amount of misery that is avoided by following this ruling which is supported by strong evidence from Hadith and by a growing number of scholars and which has been incorporated in the family law of a number of Muslim Countries.
Only when a scholar has studied a particular school of thought thoroughly and when he subscribes to its methodology that we find a person strictly following that school of thought. He is of course entitled to his decision.
What we must not forget is that the schools of thought are simply methods of deduction of various rulings concerning the affairs of human life. They are all based on the teachings of the Prophet and the practices of his companions and the opinions learned from scholars in the early period of Islam.