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

‘For having believed, they
have to appoint you to be an arbitrator to settle the disputes
among them, admit your decision and surrender.’ This âyat
signifies that those who are not pleased with Rasûlulah’s (’alaihi ’s-
salâm) decision or with the commandments of Islam do not have
îmân. A hadîth sherîf declares, 
‘Do not quarrel or dispute in the
Messenger’s presence!’ Since the ’ulamâ’ are Rasûlullah’s (sall-
Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) inheritors, to quarrel or to dispute with
the ’ulamâ’ of his religion, to attempt to criticize their ijtihâds,
which are correct, means to dispute with him. As we have to
believe and confirm all the revelations which he brought even if we
cannot understand their ultimate divine causes and evidences, so
we have to believe and confirm the knowledge conveyed from our
a’immat al-madhâhib, even if we do not understand their
documentary evidences, since they are not against Islam. Despite
the fact that there are different, even opposite principles in the
religions of all prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâtu wa ’s-salâm), we
Muslims have to believe and acknowledge all of them as Prophets
of Allâhu ta’âlâ, since the ’ulamâ’ declared it unanimously. The
case is the same with the madhhabs. Non-mujtahids have to
believe and acknowledge all the four madhhabs though they see
that there are differences between them. A non-mujtahid’s finding
a madhhab as erroneous does not show that the madhhab is
erroneous. Instead, it shows that he understands little and that he
himself is erroneous. Al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î said, ‘To surrender
oneself is half of îmân.’ Upon this, Hadrat Rabî’ said, ‘Nay, it is the
whole of îmân,’ and al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î admitted it. Again, al-
Imâm ash-Shâfi’î said, ‘A person with perfect îmân does not speak
on the knowledge of usûl. That is, he does not ask why it is that
way and not this way.’ When asked what was the knowledge of
usûl, he said it covered the Book, the Sunna and ijmâ’ al-Umma.
This remark of his shows that we have to say that we believe all
knowledge that has come from Allâhu ta’âlâ and the Prophet as
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He has revealed. So should be the case with what has been
conveyed through the ’ulamâ’ of Islam; that is, we should say that
we believe the words of our a’immat al-madhâhib without
pronouncing on them, without arguing. Therefore, Imâm Ibn ’Abd
al-Birr (d. 463/1071) said, ‘None of our a’imma has been heard to
command his disciples to follow a certain madhhab. They told
them to follow fatwâs of any madhhab they liked, for all the
madhhabs are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s compassion. It was not stated in any
hadîth, sahîh or da’îf, that our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam) commanded anybody of his umma to recommend a certain
madhhab.’
“Al-Imâm al-Qurâfî says, ‘As it was witnessed unanimously by
as-Sahâbat al-kirâm, a person who followed Hadrat Abû Bakr and
Hadrat ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ) by adopting their fatwâs
would also ask other Sahâbîs about his other manners and would
act upon what he learned. Nobody would ask for witnesses or
documents.
[1]
And by the unanimous declaration of the ’ulamâ’, it
is necessary today for a new Muslim to learn and do by asking the
scholars of a single madhhab without asking for proofs, and if he
cannot find scholars of the same madhhab, to ask any scholar but
later, to learn one of the four madhhabs and follow it. A stubborn
person who refuses this unanimity has to find proofs for his
refutation.’ ”
[2]
’Allâma Sayyid Ahmad at-Tahtâwî, a great Hanafî fiqh scholar
of Egypt, wrote in the subject of ‘Zabâyih’ in his