Why Does One Have to Follow a Madzhab?
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
The following is taken
from Why
Does One Have to Follow a Madzhab?,
a debate between Imam Muhammad Sa’id ibn Muhammad Ramadhan al-Buwthi (r.a.), and a leading Salafi teacher, Muhammad Naswir ad-Din
al-Albani. The following was translated
by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller.
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “What is your method for
understanding the Rulings of Allah? Do
you take them from the Qur’an and sunnah,
or from the a’immah of ijtihad?”
al-Albani said, “I
examine the positions of the a’immah
and their evidences for them, and then take the closest of them to the evidence
of the Qur’an and sunnah.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “You have five thousand
Syrian pounds that you have saved for six months. You then buy merchandise and begin trading
with it. When do you pay zakat on the merchandise, after six
months, or after one year?”
al-Albani thought for a
moment, and then said, “Your question implies you believe zakat should be paid on business capital.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “I am just asking. You should answer in your own way. Here in front of you is a library containing
books of Qur’anic exegesis, hadits,
and the works of the mujtahid a’immah.”
al-Albani reflected for a
moment, and then said, “Brother, this is diyn,
and not simple matter. One could answer
from the top of one’s head, but it would require thought, research, and study;
all of which take time. And we have come
to discuss something else.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) dropped the question and said,
“All right. Is it obligatory for every
Muslim to examine the evidences for the positions of the a’immah, and adopt the closest of them to the Qur’an and sunnah?”
al-Albani said, “Yes.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “This means that all people
possess the same capacity for ijtihad
that the a’immah of the madzahib have; or even greater, since
without a doubt, anyone who can judge the positions of the a’immah and evaluate them according to the measure of the Qur’an
and sunnah must know more than all of
them.”
al-Albani said, “In
reality, people are of three categories: the muqallid or follower of qualified scholarship without knowing the
primary textual evidence; the muttabi’,
or follower of primary textual evidence; and the mujtahid, or scholar who can deduce rulings directly from the
primary textual evidence. He who
compares between madzahib and chooses
the closest of them to the Qur’an is a muttabi’,
a follower of primary textual evidence, which is an intermediate degree between
following scholarship, and deducing rulings from primary texts.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Then what is the follower
of scholarship obliged to do?”
al-Albani said, “To
follow the mujtahid he agrees with.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Is there any difficulty in
his following one of them, adhering to him, and not changing?”
al-Albani declared, “Yes,
there is. It is unlawful.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “What is the proof that it
is unlawful?”
al-Albani stated, “The
proof is that he is obliging himself to do something Allah (s.w.t.) has
not obligated him to.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Which of the seven
canonical readings do you recite the Qur’an in?”
al-Albani said, “That of
Hafsw.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Do you recite only in it,
or in a different canonical reading each day.”
al-Albani said “No, I
recite only in it.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) countered, “Why do you read only
it when Allah (s.w.t.) has not obliged you to do anything except to
recite the Qur’an as it has been conveyed with the total certainty of tawatur, from the Prophet (s.a.w.)?”
al-Albani replied,
“Because I have not had an opportunity to study other canonical readings, or
recite the Qur’an except in this way.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “But the individual who
learns the fiqh of the Shafi’i school,
he too has not been able to study other madzahib
or had the opportunity to understand the rules of his religion except from this
Imam. So, if you say that he must know
all the ijtihad of the a’immah so as to go by all of them, it
follows that you too must learn all the canonical readings so as to recite in
all of them. And if you excuse yourself
because you cannot, you should excuse him also.
In any case, what I say is where did you get that it is obligatory for a
follower of scholarship to keep changing from one madzhab to another, when Allah has not obliged him to? That is, just as he is not obliged to adhere
to a particular madzhab, neither is
he obliged to keep changing.”
al-Albani replied, “What
is unlawful for him is adhering to one while believing that Allah has Commanded
him to do so.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) replied, “That is something else,
and is true without a doubt and without any disagreement among scholars. But is there any problem with his following a
particular mujtahid, knowing that
Allah has not obliged him to do that?”
al-Albani agreed, “There
is no problem.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “al-Karras, which you teach from, contradicts you. It says this is unlawful, in some places
actually asserting that someone who adheres to a particular imam and no other
is a kafir.”
al-Albani was surprised
and asked, “Where?” and then began looking through al-Karras, considering its texts and expressions, reflecting on the
words of the author, “Whoever follows one of them in particular in all
questions is a blind, imitating, mistaken bigot, and is among ‘those who have
divided their religion and are parties’.”
سُوۡرَةُ
الرُّوم
مِنَ
ٱلَّذِينَ فَرَّقُواْ دِينَهُمۡ وَڪَانُواْ شِيَعً۬اۖ كُلُّ حِزۡبِۭ بِمَا
لَدَيۡہِمۡ فَرِحُونَ (٣٢)
Those who split up their religion,
and become (mere) sects each party rejoicing in that which is with itself!
(Surah ar-Rum:32)
He said, “By ‘follows,’
he means someone who believes it legally obligatory for him to do so. The wording is a little incomplete.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “What evidence is there that
that is what he meant? Why do you not just
say the author was mistaken?”
al-Albani insisted that
the expression was correct, that it should be understood as containing an
unexpressed condition, “provided one believes it is legally obligatory,” and he
exonerated the writer from any mistake in it.
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “But interpreted in this
fashion, the expression does not address any opponent or have any significance.
Not a single Muslim is unaware that
following such and such a particular Imam is not legally obligatory. No Muslim does so except from his own free
will and choice.”
al-Albani asked, “How
should this be, when I hear from many common people and some scholars that it
is legally obligatory to follow one particular school, and that a person may
not change to another?”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) countered, “Name one person from
the ordinary people or scholars who said that to you.”
He said nothing and
seemed surprised that what Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.)
said could be true, and kept repeating that he had thought that many people
considered it unlawful to change from one madzhab
to another.
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) repeated, “You will not find
anyone today who believes this misconception, though it is related from the
latter times of the Ottoman period that they considered a Hanafi changing from
his own school to another to be an enormity. And without a doubt, if true, this was
something that was complete nonsense from them; a blind, hateful bigotry.” Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) then said, “Where did you get this distinction between the muqallid, follower of scholarship, and
the muttabi’, follower of evidence? Is there an original, lexical distinction, or
is it merely terminological?”
al-Albani said, “There is
a lexical difference.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) brought him lexicons with which to
establish the lexical difference between the two words, and he could not find
anything. Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) then said, “Abu Bakr (r.a.) said to a desert Arab who had objected
to the allotment for him agreed upon by the Muslims, ‘If the Emigrants accept,
you are but followers’ — using the word,
‘followers’ to mean ‘without any prerogative to consider, question, or
discuss.’” Similar to this is the Word
of Allah (s.w.t.):
سُوۡرَةُ
البَقَرَة
إِذۡ
تَبَرَّأَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتُّبِعُواْ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُواْ وَرَأَوُاْ
ٱلۡعَذَابَ وَتَقَطَّعَتۡ بِهِمُ ٱلۡأَسۡبَابُ (١٦٦)
Then would those who are followed
clear themselves of those who follow (them); they would see the Chastisement
and all relations between them would be cut off. (Surah al-Baqarah:166)
‘Those who were followed’
is ‘uttubi’u,’ and ‘those who
followed’ is ‘attaba’u.’ This ayat
of the Qur’an uses ‘follow,’ ‘ittiba’’
for the most basic blind imitation.”
al-Albani said, “Then let
it be a technical difference. Do I not have
a right to establish a terminological usage?”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “Of course. But this term of yours does not alter the
facts. This person you term a muttabi’, a follower of scholarly
evidence, will either be an expert in evidences, and the means of textual
deduction from them, in which case he is a mujtahid.
Or, if not an expert or unable to deduce
rulings from them, then he is muqallid,
a follower of scholarly conclusions. And
if he is one of these on some questions, and the other on others, then he is a muqallid for some and a mujtahid for others. In any case, it is an either-or distinction,
and the ruling for each is clear and plain.”
al-Albani said, “The muttabi’ is someone able to distinguish
between scholarly positions and the evidences for them, and to judge one to be
stronger than others. This is a level
different to merely accepting scholarly conclusions.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “If you mean, by
distinguishing between positions differentiating them according to the strength
or weakness of the evidence, this is the highest level of ijtihad. Are you personally
able to do this?”
al-Albani replied, “I do
so as much as I can.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “I am aware that you give,
as a fatwa, that a threefold
pronouncement of divorce on a single occasion only counts as one time. Did you check, before this fatwa of yours, the positions of the a’immah and their evidences on this,
then differentiate between them, so to give the fatwa accordingly? Now,
‘Uwaymir al-‘Ajlani pronounced a threefold divorce at one time in the presence
of the Prophet (s.a.w.) after he had
made public imprecation against her for adultery, saying, ‘If I retain her, O
Messenger of Allah, I will have lied against her: she is thrice divorced.’ What do you know about this hadits and its relation to this
question, and its bearing as evidence for the position of the scholarly
majority as opposed to the position of ibn Taymiyyah?”
al-Albani admitted, “I
did not know this hadits.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “Then how could you give a fatwa on this question that contradicts
what the four madzahib unanimously
concur upon, without even knowing their evidence, or how strong or weak it was?
Here you are, discarding the principle
you say you have enjoined on yourself and mean to enjoin on us, the principle
of ‘following scholarly evidence’ in the meaning you have terminologically
adopted.”
al-Albani said, “At the
time, I did not own enough books to review the positions of the a’immah and their evidence.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Then what made you rush
into giving a fatwa contravening the
vast majority of Muslims, when you had not even seen any of their evidences?”
al-Albani said, “What
else could I do? I asked and I only had
a limited amount of scholarly resources.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “You could have done what
all scholars and a’immah have done;
namely, say ‘I did not know,’ or told the questioner the position of both the
four madzahib and the position of
those who contravene them; without giving a fatwa
for either side. You could have done
this, or rather, this was what was obligatory for you, especially since the problem
was not personally yours so as to force you to reach some solution or another. As for your giving a fatwa
contradicting the consensus of the four a’immah
without knowing, — by your own admission — their evidences, sufficing yourself
with the agreement in your heart for the evidences of the opposition, this is
the very utmost of the kind of bigotry you accuse us of.”
al-Albani said, “I read
the a’immah opinions in Shawkani, Subul as-Salam, and Fiqh as-Sunnah by Sayyid Sabiq.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, These are the books of the
opponents of the four a’immah on this
question. All of them speak from one
side of the question, mentioning the proofs that buttress their side. Would you be willing to judge one litigant on
the basis of his words alone, and that of his witnesses and relatives?”
al-Albani replied, “I see
nothing blameworthy in what I have done. I was obliged to give the questioner an
answer, and this was as much as I was able to reach with my understanding.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) then said, “You say you are a follower
of scholarly evidence and we should all be likewise. You have explained ‘following evidence’ as
reviewing the positions of all madzahib,
studying their evidences, and adopting the closest of them to the correct
evidence. While in doing what you have
done, you have discarded the principle completely. You know that the unanimous consensus of the
four madzahib is that a threefold
pronouncement of divorce on one occasion counts as a threefold, finalised
divorce, and you know that they have evidences for this that you are unaware
of, despite which you turn from their consensus to the opinion that your
personal preference desires. Were you
certain beforehand that the evidence of the four a’immah deserved to be rejected?”
al-Albani replied, “No;
but I was not aware of them, since I did not have any reference works on them.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “Then why did you not wait? Why rush into it, when Allah never obligated
you to do anything of the sort? Was your
not knowing the evidences of the scholarly majority a proof that ibn Taymiyyah
was right? Is the bigotry you wrongly
accuse us of anything besides this?”
al-Albani said, “I read
evidences in the books available to me that convinced me. Allah has not enjoined me to do more than
that.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “If a Muslim sees a proof
for something in the books he reads, is that a sufficient reason to disregard
the madzahib that contradict his
understanding, even if he does not know their evidences?”
al-Albani answered, “It
is sufficient.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) questioned further, “A young man,
newly religious, without any Islamic education, reads the word of Allah (s.w.t.):
سُوۡرَةُ
البَقَرَة
وَلِلَّهِ
ٱلۡمَشۡرِقُ وَٱلۡمَغۡرِبُۚ فَأَيۡنَمَا تُوَلُّواْ فَثَمَّ وَجۡهُ ٱللَّهِۚ
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَٲسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ۬ (١١٥)
To Allah Belongs the east and the west;
whithersoever ye turn, there is Allah’s Countenance. For Allah is All-Embracing All-Knowing.
(Surah al-Baqarah:115)
And gathers from it that
a Muslim may face any direction he wishes in his prescribed prayers, as the
ostensive purport of the verse implies. But
he has heard that the four a’immah
unanimously concur upon the necessity of his facing towards the Ka’bah, and he
knows they have evidences for it that he is unaware of. What should he do when he wants to pray? Should he follow his conviction from the
evidence available to him, or follow the a’immah
who unanimously concur on the contrary of what he has understood?”
al-Albani replied, “He
should follow his conviction.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) stated, “And pray towards the east
for example. And his prayer would be
legally valid?”
al-Albani retorted, “Yes.
He is morally responsible for following
his personal conviction.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “What if his personal
conviction leads him to believe there is no harm in making love to his neighbour’s
wife, or to fill his belly with wine, or wrongfully take others’ property: will
all this be mitigated in Allah’s Reckoning by ‘personal conviction’?”
al-Albani was silent for
a moment, then said, “Anyway, the examples you ask about are all fantasies that
do not occur.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) replied, “They are not fantasies;
how often the like of them occurs, or even stranger. A young man without any knowledge of Islam,
its Book, its sunnah, who happens to
hear or read this verse by chance, and understands from it what any Arab would
from its outward purport, that there is no harm in someone praying facing any
direction he wants, despite seeing people’s facing towards the Ka’bah rather
than any other direction. This is an
ordinary matter, theoretically and practically, as long as there are those among
Muslims who do not know a thing about Islam. In any event, you have pronounced upon this
example — imaginary or real — a judgement that is not imaginary, and have
judged ‘personal conviction’ to be the decisive criterion in any event. This contradicts your differentiating people
into three groups: followers of scholars without knowing their evidence,
followers of scholars’ evidence, and mujtahidin.”
al-Albani said, “Such a
person is obliged to investigate. Did he
not read any hadits, or any other
Qur’anic verse?”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) replied, “He did not have any
reference works available to him, just as you did not have any when you gave
your fatwa on the question of
divorce. And he was unable to read
anything other than this verse connected with facing the qiblah and its obligatory character. Do you still insist that he must follow his
personal conviction and disregard the a’immah’s
consensus?”
al-Albani said, “Yes. If he is unable to evaluate and investigate
further, he is excused, and it is enough for him to rely on the conclusions his
evaluation and investigation lead him to.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “I intend to publish these
remarks as yours. They are dangerous,
and strange.”
al-Albani said, “Publish
whatever you want. I am not afraid.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) retorted, “How should you be
afraid of me, when you are not afraid of Allah (s.w.t.), utterly
discarding by these words, the Word of Allah (s.w.t.): ‘Ask those who
recall if you know not.’”
سُوۡرَةُ
النّحل
...
فَسۡـَٔلُوٓاْ أَهۡلَ ٱلذِّكۡرِ إِن كُنتُمۡ لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ (٤٣)
… if you realise this not, ask of
those who possess the Message. (Surah an-Nahl:43)
al-Albani said, “My
brother, these a’immah are not Divinely
protected from error. As for the Qur'anic
verse that this person followed, it is the Word of Him Who is Protected from
All Error, may His Glory be Exalted. How
should he leave the Divinely Protected and attach himself to the tail of the
non-divinely-protected?”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) replied, “Good man, what is Divinely
Protected from error is the true meaning that Allah Intended by saying, ‘To
Allah Belongs the place where the Sun rises and where it sets …’ — not the
understanding of the young man who is as far as can be from knowing Islam, its
rulings, and the nature of its Qur’an. That
is to say, the comparison I am asking you to make is between two
understandings: the understanding of this ignorant youth, and the understanding
of the mujtahid a’immah, neither of which is Divinely Protected from error, but one
of which is rooted in ignorance and superficiality, and the other of which is
rooted in investigation, knowledge, and accuracy.”
al-Albani replied, “Allah
does not make him responsible for more than his effort can do.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) asked, “Then answer me this
question. A man has a child who suffers
from some infections, and is under the care of all the doctors in town, who
agree he should have a certain medicine, and warn his father against giving him
an injection of penicillin, and that if he does, he will be exposing the
child’s life to destruction. Now, the
father knows from having read a medical publication that penicillin helps in
cases of infection. So, he relies on his
own knowledge about it, disregards the advice of the doctors since he does not
know the proof for what they say, and employing instead his own personal
conviction, treats the child with a penicillin injection, and thereafter the
child dies. Should such a person be
tried, and is he guilty of a wrong for what he did, or not?”
al-Albani thought for a
moment and then said, “This is not the same as that.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) declared, “It is exactly the same.
The father has heard the unanimous
judgement of the doctors, just as the young man has heard the unanimous
judgement of the a’immah. One has followed a single text he read in a
medical publication; the other has followed a single text he has read in the
Book of Allah (s.w.t.). This one
has gone by personal conviction, and so has that.”
al-Albani said, “Brother,
the Qur’an is Light. Light. In its clarity as evidence, is light like any
other words?”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) replied, “And the Light of the
Qur’an is reflected by anyone who looks into it or recites it, such that he
understands it as light, as Allah Meant it? Then what is the difference between those who
recall and anyone else, as long as all partake of this light? Rather, the two above examples are comparable,
there is no difference between them at all. You must answer me: does the person
investigating — in each of the two examples — follow his personal conviction,
or does he follow and imitate specialists?”
al-Albani stated, “Personal
conviction is the basis.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.)
replied, “He used personal conviction, and it resulted in the death of the
child. Does this entail any responsibility,
moral or legal?”
al-Albani said, “It does not
entail any responsibility at all.”
Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) said, “Then let us end the
investigation and discussion on this last remark of yours, since it closes the
way to any common ground between you and me on which we can base a discussion. It is sufficient that with this bizarre answer
of yours, you have departed from the consensus of the entire Islamic religion. By Allah, there is no meaning on the face of
the earth for disgusting bigotry if it is not what you people have.”
All this was recorded in al-Lamadzhabiyyah. Imam al-Buwthi (r.a.) concluded the story by saying, “I do not know then, why these
people do not just let us be, to use our own ‘personal conviction’ that someone
ignorant of the rules of religion and the proofs for them must adhere to one of
the mujtahid a’immah, imitating him because of the latter’s being more aware
than himself of the Book of Allah and sunnah
of His messenger. Whatever the mistake in
this opinion in their view let it be given the general amnesty of ‘personal
conviction,’ like the example of him who turns his back to the qiblah and is his prayer is valid, or
him who kills a child and the killing is ‘ijtihad’
and ‘medical treatment.’”
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