I have a friend (Scholar in the making) who insists that you should follow ONE particular school of thought....
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum
wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon
all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
If
someone were to ask you which school of thought you follow, how would you
respond?
I have a friend (Scholar in the making) who insists that you should follow ONE
particular school of thought....
He claims that the opposite to this is the Salif methodology, which you seem to
embrace, as you showed in one of you previuos answers to me...
Please enlighten me upon this confussing matter...
Thank you
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Which madhab belief/Aqeedah
to follow
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Your
Question: If someone were to ask you which school of thought you follow, how
would you respond?
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 77-78:
O you who have
believed, do ‘rukooh’ (bow down) and do
‘sajdah’ (prostration), and worship your Lord Allah Alone, and do righteous
deeds: it may be that you attain true success!
Exert your utmost for the cause of Allah, as one should. He has chosen you for His service, and has
not laid on you any hardship in your religion.
Therefore, be steadfast in the
religion of your father Abraham. Allah
had named you ‘muslims’ before this, and has named you (muslims) in this Quran
also, so that the Messenger may
be a witness in regard to you, and you
may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind.
Allah Subhanah, the Lord and Creator of everything in
existence has Himself named the believing Ummah as ‘Muslims’; and a believer
who sincerely believes in Allah and the Last Day must feel honored to introduce
and recognize himself by the name Allah Subhanah has Himself chosen for the
believers: ie. Muslims.
It does not behove and befit a believer who sincerely
believes in Allah and the Last Day to add a man-made and self-invented prefix
to the name ‘Muslim’ which none other than the Lord Creator Himself has chosen
for them. Allah is our witness brother,
the believers should take honor and pride in being recognized by the name their
Lord Most High has Himself chosen for them: ie. Muslims.
If someone is not satisfied recognizing us by the name
Allah Subhanah has Himself chosen for the believing Ummah (ie. Muslims) and
insists on asking us to declare which sect or school of thought we believe in,
then the appropriate answer to such a person should be that we belong to the
sect upon which the Messenger of Allah (saws) and his companions belonged; for
the Prophet Mohamed (saws) declared that every sect will be in the Hell Fire
except this one sect!
Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 171 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr
That Allah's Messenger (saws) said: “There
will befall my Ummah exactly all those evils which befell the people of Israel
(Jews and Christians), so much so that
if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother,
there will be amongst my Ummah one, who will do the same. And if the people of
Your
Question: I have a friend (Scholar in the making) who insists that you should
follow ONE particular school of thought....
If the insistence of your friend and brother scholar in
the making is that the believers belong to the one sect to which belonged the
Noble Prophet Mohamed (saws) and his companions, then without an iota of a
doubt, your friend is absolutely right; for the believers who sincerely fear
Allah and the Last Day must claim allegiance to no other sect than the one to
which our Noble Prophet (saws) and his companions adhered to.
But if your friend insists that one assign a self-invented
name or prefix to the sect or schools of thought when Allah and His Messenger
(saws) have given no authority for this invention, then obviously the
insistence of your friend must be rejected.
The believers who sincerely fear Allah and the Last Day
should be content and honored to be recognized by the name the Lord Creator has
chosen for the believing Ummah: ie. Muslims.
Your
Question: He claims that the opposite to this is the Salif methodology, which
you seem to embrace, as you showed in one of you previuos answers to me...
Beloved brother, Allah forbid that we embrace or assign a
name or methodology for ourselves after having believed in Allah and His
Messenger (saws) other than being called by the name that our Lord Creator has
Himself chosen for the believing Ummah: ie. Muslims.
We regret that you might have misunderstood the context in
which our previous answer was written where we declared that if the Messenger
of Allah (saws) and his companions were Hanafis, then we are Hanafis; if they
were Malikis, then we too are Malikis; if they were Shafeis, then we too are
Shafeis; if they were Hanbalis, then we too are Hanbalis; and if they were
Salafis, then we too are Salafis!
But the truth of the matter is that never ever did the
Messenger of Allah (saws) or his noble companions claim to be Hanafis, or
Shafeis, or Malikis, or Hanbalis, or Salafis, or belong any other self-invented
prefix, sect, or methodology except Islam!
The Messenger of Allah (saws) and his noble companions were more than
content to be recognized by the name Allah Subhanah has chosen for the
believing Ummah (Muslims), and Allah is our witness brother, the believers who
sincerely love Allah and His Messenger (saws) are satisfied to be recognized by
that exact same name: ie. Muslims, without the addition of any self-invented and
unauthorized prefix!
Just look at the Anger and Wrath of Allah described on
those who break up their religion into sects; then how is it possible that one
who sincerely believes in Allah and the Last Day strive and insist that this
United Ummah of Muslims be broken into sects and sub-sects?
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah
Mu’minoon verse 52-55:
And you (believers) all belong to one and the
same ummah, and I(Allah) am your Lord;
so fear Me Alone! Yet afterwards the
people divided themselves into different sects,
and each sect rejoicing in what
it has. Well, leave them deeply involved in their
heedlessness up to an appointed time.
What? Do they think that, by continuing to provide them with wealth and
children, We are solicitous for their
welfare? Nay, they do not understand
the reality of the matter!
It is indeed unfortunate that after possessing such
absolutely crystal clear guidance from the Lord, some amongst the believers
insist on inventing self-proclaimed sects, sub-sects, and methodologies!
If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and
commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws),
one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any
other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be
assured of being led astray.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister