Q: How
can a person not make Taqleed and still at the same time follow the teachings of
one of the madhhabs - Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafi and Hambali (may Allah have mercy
on them all). Did Allamah Ibn Baaz (rahimahullah) follow the madhhab of Imam
Ahmad ibn Hambal (rahimahullah), yet he did not do Taqleed?
Answer:
Firstly: The followers of the madhhabs are not all the same. Some of them are
mujtahids within their madhhab, and some are followers (muqallids) who do not go
against their madhhabs in any regard.
Al-Buwayti, al-Muzani, al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajr were followers of Imam al-Shaafa’i,
but they were also mujtahids in their own right and differed with their imam
when they had evidence. Similarly Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr was a Maaliki but he differed
with Maalik if the correct view was held by someone else. The same may be said
of the Hanafi imams such as Abu Yoosuf and Muhammad al-Shaybaani, and the
Hanbali imams such as Ibn Qudaamah, Ibn Muflih and others.
The fact that a student studied with a madhhab does not mean that he cannot go
beyond it if he finds sound evidence elsewhere; the only one who stubbornly
clings to a particular madhhab (regardless of the evidence) is one who lacking
in religious commitment and intellect, or he is doing that because of partisan
attachment to his madhhab.
The advice of the leading imams is that students should acquire knowledge from
where they acquired it, and they should ignore the words of their imams if they
go against the hadeeth of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam).
Imam Abu Haneefah (rahimahullah) said: “This is my opinion, but if there
comes someone whose opinion is better than mine, then accept that.”
Imam Maalik
said: “I am only human, I may be right or I may be wrong, so measure my words
by the Qur’aan and Sunnah.”
Imam Al-Shaafa’i
said: “If the hadeeth is saheeh, then ignore my words. If you see well
established evidence, then this is my view.”
Imam Ahmad
said: “Do not follow me blindly, and do not follow Maalik or al-Shaafa’i or
al-Thawri blindly. Learn as we have learned.” And he said, “Do not follow
men blindly with regard to your religion, for they can never be safe from error.”
No one has the right to follow an imam blindly and never accept anything but his
worlds. Rather what he must do is accept that which is in accordance with the
truth, whether it is from his imam or anyone else.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:
|
"No
one has to blindly follow any particular man in all that he enjoins or
forbids or recommends, apart from the Messenger of Allaah (sallallahu
alaihe wa-sallam). The Muslims should always refer their questions
to the Muslim scholars, following this one sometimes and that one
sometimes. If the follower decides to follow the view of an imam with
regard to a particular matter which he thinks is better for his religious
commitment or is more correct etc, that is permissible according to the
majority of Muslim scholars, and neither Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafa’i
or Ahmad said that this was forbidden."
Majmoo’
al-Fataawa, 23/382. |
Shaykh
Sulaymaan ibn ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
|
Rather
what the believer must do, if the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His
Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) have reached him and he
understands them with regard to any matter, is to act in accordance with
them, no matter who he may be disagreeing with. This is what our Lord and
our Prophet (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) have enjoined upon us, and all
the scholars are unanimously agreed on that, apart from the ignorant blind
followers and the hard-hearted. Such people are not scholars."
Tayseer
al-‘Azeez al-Hameed, p. 546 |
Based on this, there is nothing
wrong with a Muslim being a follower of a certain madhhab, but if it becomes
clear to him that the truth (concerning a given matter) is different from the
view of his madhhab, then he must follow the truth.
Islam Q&A (edited)
