• Schools of thought: Too rigid about schools of thought
May I ask whether any one of the great scholars who had founded that he was founding his own school of thought? I have read in a book compiled in South Africa that if a person changes his school of thought, he is liable to a punishment by flogging of imprisonment. There is also a story about a man who belonged to Ahl al-Hadith. This man proposed to marry a girl who belonged to the Hanafi school of thought. Her father made it a condition that the man change to his school of thought and the man agreed. When this case was put to a renowned sheikh, he said after reflection that the marriage was valid, but when the man dies, his faith disappears because he had changed from what he believed to be the truth and accepted something different, for the sake of something to do with this world. It is also written in the same book that the concept of following an imam is an obligatory injunction, as the Qur’an says: "Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know." Please comment.
I will begin with posing a simple question. Suppose that a Muslim spends his life making a conscientious effort to observe Islamic teachings, uphold Islamic values and implements Islamic principles, yet when he dies he still has not even heard the names of the four imams who founded the four major schools of thought, will he go to heaven? If the answer is that he would not, then the person making that answer is adding to the fundamental Islamic beliefs a new one which neither the Prophet, peace be upon him, nor anyone of his companions ever heard. If the answer is that such a person will go to heaven, if God forgives him his sins, then the whole concept of obligation to follow one school of thought collapses, as indeed it should.
This does not detract from the great effort done by all four schools of thought. We, however, need to put the matter into perspective. When someone suggests that a person should be beaten or imprisoned for changing his school of thought, then he is introducing into Islam an obligation that neither the Prophet, peace be upon him, nor any of his companions nor their successors, i.e. tabi’een, ever mentioned. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says: "Whoever introduces into this matter of ours something that does not belong to it, it will be rejected." Not only so, but also the four imams who founded these schools of thought never suggested that Muslims should follow them rigidly. You do not find any of them saying to his students that they have to follow everything he says. Indeed none of them suggested that he was founding a school of thought. All that they suggested was that they have explained Islam as they have learned and understood it. If people find their work right, then that is by God’s grace, and if they had made mistakes, they prayed for God’s forgiveness. Indeed every one of them made some mistakes, because infallibility is limited to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and that too only within the field of conveying God’s message. So if someone after 10 years or 10 decades discovers that a ruling in a school of thought other than the one he follows is better supported than that of his school, should he keep to the wrong one? How absurd!
Reflect for a moment on the story of that father. The sheikh says that the marriage is valid but the faith of the bridegroom has just vanished. How is the marriage valid when the man is no longer a believer? The sheikh makes his basis for this ridiculous view that the man abandoned the truth, as he knew it. Well there is a principle that the truth is one. It cannot be in one thing and its opposite. Now suppose that when the man changed his school of thought he actually joined the one, which has more of the truth, elucidated. Then that man is making a change for the better, but he is ruled to have deserted the faith because he abandoned what he believed to be the truth! So it does not matter that he would now be following the real truth. This is of no help. It is what he thought the truth to be that counts. Isn’t that absurd?
As for the verses quoted, it says:
"We have only sent before you men to whom We gave revelations. Ask, then, the people of earlier revelations if you yourselves have no knowledge." (An-Nahl 16:43)
This is a verse addressed to the non-believers who used to deny God’s message and said that God was too great to send His message through a human being. God makes it clear that it has always been the case that He sends human messengers to human beings. Since the non-believers among the Jews and the Christians were the ones with knowledge of such revelations, then God directs them to ask those people about the fact of His sending human messengers. If it is argued that this may have been the original meaning of the verse, but should be understood to have wider application, then a close look at its wording is sufficient to indicate that it has nothing to do with schools of thought and conforming to any one of them. It simply means that you need to ask a scholar regarding any matter you do not know. It does not say that the scholar you ask should belong to the school of thought you follow.
The best thing you should do with the book from which you have quoted these views is to throw it away, because it has no basis whatsoever. It belongs to the days when ignorance was widespread in the Muslim world. It encourages blind following.
The founders of the schools of thought would have done the same, because they are the first to tell you that blind following is not Islamic. Besides, in every school of thought there are different views, simply because a school of thought, by definition, is based on certain methodology of deduction and construction in order to arrive at rulings in all matters. Scholars use this methodology and sometimes they differ with their own teachers. There are several matters over which Imam ibn Taymiyya, a Hanbali scholars, disagreed with the view of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, but this disagreement does not make him non-Hanbali. If simply enriches the Hanbali School.
If you ask how is a lay man to know who is right, he says that although the truth is one, there is a range of what is right and acceptable to God. If you keep within that range, then you have nothing to fear. To do so, you need to know that the view you follow is well supported with evidence from the Qur’an and the Hadith.
• Schools of thought: Unacceptable stand on
It is said that since Imam Abu Hanifah was the earliest among all the founders of the four schools of thought, then his method is the one to be preferred, because he met some of the Prophet’s companions and many of their successors who could have supported his views with their abundant knowledge. It is also said that one may not switch from one school of thought to another. Nor is it permissible to take one view from one school of thought and another from a different school. Please comment.
If we carry this argument to its logical conclusion, then we should disregard the view of all scholars who were born after Imam Abu Hanifah and stick to his opinions. Since he developed a complete system of Islamic life, and he has those advantages, then who needs another view? Let us then forget about scholars in all subsequent periods, and let us close the faculties of Islamic studies in Muslim countries, and concentrate on the Hanafi school of thought.
But then we meet an unexpected obstacle: What about the scholars who lived before Abu Hanifah and who were even more knowledgeable about Islam than he was? We may include here the three caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar and Ali, as well as Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Abbas.
Each one of these was an even better scholar than Abu Hanifah and they all lived earlier than him. Carry the argument a little further and you will see yourself forced to disregard all scholars and their scholarship and concentrate on the Qur’an and the Hadith, taking both directly from the Prophet, peace be upon him. Whether your understanding of these is correct or not is beside the point, since you are aiming at being close to the Prophet, peace be upon him.
The whole argument is shallow. The scholars and their schools of thought have enriched Islamic study and worked out clear methodology of construction and deduction of rulings on all matters.
Their methodologies and their priorities may differ, and that is one of the factors that led to the differences among them, but all of them are highly esteemed and their contributions are of immense value.
The other point is also absurd. There is no such restriction. Besides who determined a person’s school of thought? Is it something you inherit from your father or you take from your local community? There is no requirement to follow a particular school of thought, or to limit the schools of thought to four only. In Islamic history, there were scholars who were by no means less eminent than the founders of the four schools of thought.
They lived at the same time, or later. We sometimes take the view of a later scholar and prefer his view to one, which may be found in all four schools of thought. There is nothing wrong with that. What is important is that our choice should be built on understanding and weighing up the evidence supporting any point of view.
• Schools of thought: Wealth unmatched by others; or confusion!
You have indicated on several occasions that it is not very important to follow any one school of thought. I find this view highly valid, and I support you on this. However, on many occasions you refer to these schools of thought in your answers and sometimes you mention their respective views. That creates confusion. Would it not be better to maintain the first line of discussion only?
In the Qur’an, God gives us a number of accounts of the history of earlier prophets with their people, and outlines the basic principles of their messages and how these differed according to the circumstances and conditions that prevailed in every community. However, the basic concept of the Oneness of God remains always predominant in all these messages. All Islamic scholars are in agreement that the divine law that applied to earlier communities applies to us, unless there is some modification which the Qur’an or the Prophet, peace be upon him, has made clear. Hence, when we listen to the Prophet Shoaib saying to his people: "Do not begrudge people their dues," this outlines a simple value which we should implement in our lives. Moreover, it agrees with what the Prophet, peace be upon him, says about giving every person his or her dues of respect and esteem, in addition to giving them any thing that belongs to them by right.
In the history of Islamic scholarship there were numerous scholars of great distinction, but the most famous of these were the founders of the four schools of thought. I have explained on more than one occasion that what makes a school of thought is the fact that a scholar is succeeded by a number of his students who follow his methods and agree with his rulings. These become distinguished scholars in their own right. Each of them must, in time, make new rulings on matters that might have been raised at the time of their teachers. These are then followed by their own students, and one generation of scholars after another enrich the schools of thought. It also provides for differences of opinion within the school of thought itself. Thus we may find Abu Yousuf and Muhammad ibn Al-Hassan, the most distinguished students of Abu Hanifah, differing with him or with each other on certain points. We also find Ibn Abideen, for example, the most recent Hanafi scholar of general acclaim, modifying various rulings in order to allow for the changing circumstances of society.
All this has created a wealth of scholarship that is hardly matched by any other faith, even though these might have had longer history and larger following. This is something of importance and great benefit to us today, and also to future generations.
How important is it to follow a particular school of thought? The answer is simple: It is not important in as much as our accountability of the Day of Judgment is concerned. In other words, God will not ask anyone which school of thought he or she followed, or why he or she chose this or that school of thought.
However, the schools of thought are very important in understanding our faith and how Islamic law is to be applied. If every one of us says: I will refer to the Qur’an directly to find out what God wants and do it, then we will be like the patients in a hospital who go on strike, saying that they do not need the doctors working there. Instead, they will refer to the best known medical books and find out how to cure themselves.
In point of fact, very few people follow the same school of thought in practice. These are scholars who study a particular school of thought and specialize in it. When they are asked by a layman about a particular question, they give the view of that school of thought and do not go beyond it. Otherwise, people do not follow a school of thought except in a limited way. When a person needs to find out the Islamic view on a particular matter, he asks a scholar who gives him his answer after questioning him about the details of the case.
The scholar should weigh the matter and refer different views in order to find out the one which best applies to the question in hand, or give his own ruling on the matter. In certain cases he may find the view of the Hanbali school of thought to be the most suitable, while in others the Shaf’ie school of thought seems to give the better answer to the question in hand. He gives his questioner the view which he believes to be the one to please God most and to make things easier for the person or the people concerned. Thus the scholar is not following a particular school of thought, but he is not negating the usefulness of either. The layman also is not following the school of thought he thinks he should follow.
That does not detract him from the fact that they both are following Islam. Indeed it enhances it, because they both are following a broader view of Islamic life. The schools of thought continue to have their position of high esteem, as indeed the view of other scholars over the many generations of Islamic scholarship.
We are much better off for having them and being able to refer to all these scholars and benefit by their different methods of construction and deduction. May God enable this generation of scholars to enrich Islamic scholarship and provide an example to be followed by future generations.