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

‘Those who are capable of
inferring conclusion from them know the matter.’ Hadrat
Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) explained in a hadîth
to Ma’âdh that he liked and approved the ijtihâd of those
who were capable of doing it. Ma’âdh ibn Jabal’s saying, ‘If
I cannot find in the Book or the Sunna, I judge according to
my own opinion and employ ijtihâd,’ took place before
Hadrat Prophet’s (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam)
commanding and permitting ijtihâd. Both mujtahids and
those who follow them are excusable. Some of them have
hit the right way, the Divine Meaning, while others have
won one out of the two rewards. Since it is not known who
has hit the right way, they are not obstinate for fanatical
against one another. Only, each of them thinks that he has
hit the right way. I admit that it is wrong for everybody to
draw rules through his own opinion and qiyâs. If you
abandon Bâtinism, which you have been imitating blindly, I
can teach you the knowledge in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Which
would you prefer, learning from me or your Bâtinî
comrades?”
He adds that the preacher, upon hearing this, says,
“Now we see that al-Imâm al-Ghazâlî admits taqlîd and
considers it necessary for all people.”
These words of al-Imâm al-Ghazâlî as reported by the religion
reformer shows clearly that he agreed with what the ’ulamâ’ of Ahl
as-Sunna and a’immat al-madhâhib said unanimously. There is no
need to explain the above-quoted words of the great imâm of Ahl
as-Sunna (rahmatullâhi ’alaihim ajma’în). Our purpose, too, is to
tell our brothers-in-Islam what Hadrat Imâm said. Al-Imâm al-
Ghazâlî’s words rebut the religion reformer’s claims by the roots.
They show that taqlîd is compatible with Islam.
32– The religion reformer writes in the ninth dialogue:
“I have already explained my views on how Muslims will
slip out of the obscurities of discordance, the cause and virus
responsible for the disease which they caught. My opinion is
in agreement with that of the great Islamic scholar al-Imâm
al-Ghazâlî. He says that it will be enough for them
– 46 –

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[Muslims] to believe in the Qur’ân al-kerîm only, in
addition to doing what Muslims have heretofore agreed on.
What damages Islam is the parting of Muslims into groups
and each group’s following only the imâm which they prefer
and those scholars who follow him, and being bigoted
against those who follow other mujtahid imâms. This
breaking into groups may go as far as abandoning the Book
and the Sunna. I have shown more facility in these sort of
matters. I have given the liable person the freedom to
accept whichever point of view he wishes, provided he will
not follow the desires of the nafs and he will be as cautious
as he can. But, al-Imâm al-Ghazâlî, though deeming it
permissible to abandon these matters completely, puts a
limit to the field of activity for those who want to follow
religious practices. He almost compels them to employ
ijtihâd.”
The religion reformer’s greatest error is his confusing the
breaking of Muslims into groups in i’tiqâd (belief) with the parting
of Ahl as-Sunna into madhhabs. He speaks ill of the four
madhhabs as he does of the groups of bid’a and blemishes Muslims
as if they have dissented from the Book and the Sunna. All the
seventy-two groups who have deviated in i’tiqâd are certainly
heretical. It is stated in a hadîth sherîf that they will all go to Hell.
Yet, if not hostility against Islam, what else may his attacking the
four a’immat al-madhâhib of Ahl as-Sunna be, who were praised
in the Hadîth ash-sherîf and who won Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Love and
Approval because they obeyed Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm)? Such
an enemy of Islam who appears as a man of religious ranking is
called a