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

Adillat al-madhâhib, I studied the
ijtihâds of Abû Hanîfa and his disciples very minutely. I saw that
each of them was based on an âyat kerîma, hadîth sharîf or khabar
(narration) reported from as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. Such great
mujtahids as Imâm Mâlik, Imâm Ahmad and al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î
praised al-Imâm al’a’zam very much. Others speaking favourably
or unfavourably about him is not of any importance, for, those
who are in the Mâlikî, Hanbalî or Shâfi’î madhhab have to love
and praise someone whom their imâm al-madhhab praised. If
they do not love him they will have not obeyed their madhhab. It
is wâjib for anyone who adapts himself to a madhhab to follow his
imâm al-madhhab and praise al-Imâm al-a’zam. One day, while I
was writing al-Imâm al-a’zam’s biography, a man came in and
showed me a piece of paper. It wrote ill of al-Imâm al-a’zam. I
told him that it had been written by somebody who had not
understood al-Imâm al-a’zam’s ijtihâds. He said he had taken it
from Fakhr ad-dîn ar-Râzî’s book. ‘Fakhr ad-dîn ar-Râzî (d.
606/1209) is like a student when compared to al-Imâm al-a’zam.
Or he is like a villager compared to a sultan, or like a star which
cannot be seen in a sunny sky. As it is harâm for a villager to
blame the sultan without any evidence, so it is harâm for us, the
muqallids, to disagree with the imâm al-madhhab’s ijtihâd or to
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say groundless words against him unless there is a clear âyat that
cannot be explained away,’ I said.
[1]
It is wâjib for a muqallid who
cannot understand one of the decisions which al-Imâm al’a’zam
made through ijtihâd to act in accordance with it unless its
opposite is proved.
“Abû Mutî’ related that while he was with al-Imâm al-a’zam in
the Kûfa Mosque, Sufyân ath-Thawrî, Imâm Muqâtil, Hammâd
ibn Salama, Imâm Ja’far as-Sâdiq and some other ’ulamâ’ came in.
‘We have heard that you employ qiyâs in religious matters. This
will harm you very much, for it was the Devil who employed it
first,’ they said. Al-Imâm al-a’zam answered them from morning
till the time of the Friday prayer. He explained his madhhab. ‘First
I look in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. If I cannot find in it, I look in the
hadîth ash-sherîf. If I cannot find it again, I look in the ijmâ’ of as-
Sahâbat al-kirâm. If I cannot find it, either, I prefer one of [their
opinions about] those [matters] on which they disagreed. If I
cannot find it, either, I then employ qiyâs,’ he said and showed
some examples. They all stood up, kissed his hand and said, ‘You
are the master of the ’ulamâ’. Forgive us, please! Inadvertently, we
have bothered you.’ And he replied, ‘May Allâhu ta’âlâ forgive me
and you.’
“O my brother! Refrain from speaking ill of al-Imâm al-a’zam
Abû Hanîfa and the ’ulamâ’ of fiqh who have been following his
madhhab! Do not believe what the ignorant say or write! If you
follow religion reformers who do not know the ahwâl, zuhd, wara’
and the prudence and strictness in religious matters of that exalted
imâm and say that his documentation is unsound, you will suffer
perdition with them in the next world. If you, as I do, study his
documentation, you will realize that all the four madhhabs are
sahîh (valid)! If you want to see the correctness of the four
madhhabs as clearly as the noon sun, cling to the path of the men
of Allâhu ta’âlâ! Advance on the way of tasawwuf, thus guarantee
your knowledge and worship to be only for Allâhu ta’âlâ’s sake.
Then you will see the source of the teachings of Islam. You will
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[1] Please note how Hadrat ’Abd al-Wahhâb ash-Sha’rânî, who was a
Shâfi’î, censured Fakhr ad-dîn ar-Râzî, who also was a Shâfi’î, because
ar-Râzî spoke ill of al-Imâm al-a’zam. We suggest that religion
reformers who have tried to deceive Muslims by saying that the
Hanafîs and the Shâfi’îs fought each other and caused Islam to go
backwards shall read the lines above carefully and wake up from
unawareness.

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realize that all the four madhhabs have spread by originating from
this same source and that none of them contains any rule outside
of Islam. How lucky for those who behave properly and
respectfully towards the a’immat al-madhâhib and the ’ulamâ’ who
have followed them! Allâhu ta’âlâ made them guides (imâms) to
show His human creatures the way to happiness. They are His
great blessings upon people. They are the pioneers of the way
leading to Paradise.”
[1]
]
2) Imâm Mâlik ibn Anas (rahmatullâhi ’alaihimâ) was born in
Medina in 95 A.H. [715] and died there in 179 [795]. He said that
he had begun to issue fatwâ after seventy imâms had urged him.
“Of my masters from whom I learned, there are very few who
have not taken fatwâs from me,” he said. As al-Imâm al-Yâfi’î
said, this statement of the imâm was not intended for boasting. It
was intended to reveal Allâhu ta’âlâ’s blessings. Az-Zarkânî
wrote in his commentary on