Hakikat Kitabevi Publications No: 10 answer to an enemy of islam

Al-mizân al-kubra, p. 68, with
references added.
[2] Ibn ’Âbidîn, 
Radd al-muhtâr, the beginning of the salât al-witr. It is for
this reason that religion reformers attack against this valuable book
and Hadrat Ibn ’Âbidîn (rahmatullâhi ’alaih), who is one of the arch-
stones of the Hanafî madhhab.

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(rahmatullâhi ’alaih) said about his own ijtihâds, “This is my
ijtihâd. I have done what I could. If anyone does better than this,
it is more probable that he is right.” But he did not say, “I will
follow him.” There are those things which were decided to be
halâl, harâm or wâjib by the a’immat al-madhâhib, though they
were not explained clearly in the Qur’ân al-kerîm or the hadîth
ash-sherîf. They did not give any decision when they could not
find hints in the Qur’ân al-kerîm or the hadîth ash-sharîf. They
were like the stars in the sky. Others are like the people walking
about on the earth. The latter, seeing the former’s reflection on
the surface of water, think that they know them. Harûn ar-Rashîd,
the Khalîfa, visited Imâm Mâlik and said, “I want to spread your
books everywhere so that the whole Umma should follow only
these books.” Hadrat Imâm said, “O Amîr al-mu’minîn (the Head
of Muslims)! The disagreement between the disagreement of
scholars is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s compassion upon the Umma. Every
mujtahid will follow the evidence which he knows as sahîh. The
rules deduced by them all guide to the right path. They are all in
the way of Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Thus, he meant that all the madhhabs
and mujtahids were on the right path. Strange to see, the religion
reformer, who insists on saying that not hadîths but ijtihâds should
be given up, claims now that hadîths which are da’îf should be
given up in mu’âmalât. Al-Imâm al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa, when
employing ijtihâd, would prefer a hadîth da’îf, and even the words
of any Sahâbî, to his own ra’y. A da’îf hadîth can be a document
(dalîl) only for supererogatory (fadâ’il) ’ibâdât; in other words,
the supererogatory ’ibâdât can be performed also according to
such hadîths. For the ’ibâdât that are fard, wâjib or sunnat
mu’akkada, only those hadîths that are mashhûr and sahîh can be
documents. While looking for such a document for a matter, or
while employing ijtihâd on a matter which had not been explained
in an âyat or in such hadîths, in other words, while looking for the
document of a matter similar to the matter in question, al-Imâm
al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa would prefer a da’îf hadîth to his own ra’y;
that is, he would prefer the document shown by a da’îf hadîth to
his own deduction. For, the hadîth ash-sherîf written in