It actually is shirk to follow a scholar when he makes halal haram and haram halal. Don’t expect to be excused, fear Allah.

The People of the Book who came before us committed shirk, taking their rabbis and monks and Isa alyhisalam as lords besides Allah. But Allah azzawajal is our Lord and we are not allowed to associate with him anything.

﴿اتَّخَذُواْ أَحْبَـرَهُمْ وَرُهْبَـنَهُمْ أَرْبَاباً مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ﴾
They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Maryam) ﴿9:31

Imam Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Jarir At-Tabari recorded a Hadith via several chains of narration, from `Adi bin Hatim, may Allah be pleased with him, who became Christian during the time of Jahiliyyah. When the call of the Messenger of Allah reached his area, `Adi ran away to Ash-Sham, and his sister and several of his people were captured. The Messenger of Allah freed his sister and gave her gifts. So she went to her brother and encouraged him to become Muslim and to go to the Messenger of Allah . `Adi, who was one of the chiefs of his people (the tribe of Tai’) and whose father, Hatim At-Ta’i, was known for his generosity, went to Al-Madinah. When the people announced his arrival, `Adi went to the Messenger of Allah wearing a silver cross around his neck.

The Messenger of Allah recited this Ayah;

﴿اتَّخَذُواْ أَحْبَـرَهُمْ وَرُهْبَـنَهُمْ أَرْبَاباً مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ﴾

(They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah). `Adi commented, “I said, `They did not worship them.”’ The Prophet said,

«بَلَى إِنَّهُمْ حَرَّمُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْحَلَالَ وَأَحَلُّوا لَهُمُ الْحَرَامَ فَاتَّبَعُوهُمْ فَذَلِكَ عِبَادَتُهُمْ إِيَّاهُم»

(Yes they did. They (rabbis and monks) prohibited the allowed for them (Christians and Jews) and allowed the prohibited, and they obeyed them. This is how they worshipped them.)

Nahmadahu wa nusali wa nusalim `alayka ya RasuliHil karim

Ama ba`ad:

You said:

“Regarding the objections that you have raised, they manifest EXACTLY the kind of fanaticism that Sh. Abu Majeed was talking about in this article. I find it amusing that people call them Maliki or Shafi or Hanafi or Hanbali and just care about the Fiqh of these great Imams, but leave the aqeedah of the great Imams. None of the Imams and madhabs asked for this blind following – rather it is only prudent for an educated mind to take the best from all madhabs and whenever an authentic hadith is presented, to follow the tradition in the hadith over the specific Imam/madhab. This was the Fiqh of each Imam, including Imam Abu Hanifa.”

My response:

Dear brother, if you really want to go into that route, then I have no choice but to tell you the perils of such a method.

Firstly, our deen is not your play-toy that you can decide what is what.

Secondly, do you know the qawanin of the Arabic language, like what is al-fa`il al-lazim, etc. or anything about harf like harf al-nida, harf al-tahkik, etc. or itlaq and iqiyad and how each word in Arabic has a different meaning, and how the actual meaning may be different from the dhahir. Have you studied any of the books of Hanafi `usul like `Usul al-Shashi or Nur al-Anwar? Do you know what al-mutlaqu yajri `ala al-itlaqi means or what its implications are? Do you really think you can make better rulings than the fuqaha? Did you know that the Hanafi fiqh is not simply the rulings of Imam al-`Azam but the fuqaha who came later as well such as Imam Ibn `Abidin (who wrote Radd al-Muhtar) and Imam al-Haskafi (who wrote Durr al-Mukhtar) and Imam Ahmad Ridha Khan (who wrote al-Fatawa al-Ridawiyya)?

Please think about these questions and about this quote from Sayyiduna Sufyan ibn `Uyana (radhiyAllahu anhu wa qaddasa li sirruhul `aziz): “The hadiths are a source of error except for the jurists.”

You then continued in saying:

Regarding the myth that some people have about ‘wahabi’ (and that you have pointed out regarding Dr. Bilal Philips), I would recommend you to read Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab’s most famous book ‘Kitab At-Tawheed’ , and see for yourself how much of the book is from the author, and how much is from the Quran and Sunnah. In Sha Allah a thorough and unprejudiced reading will enlighten and clear away the misconceptions that you have about ‘wahabi’ (or any other name that you coin for an imaginary ‘madhab’!)

My response:

The term “Wahhabi” was used by Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab’s own brother, Sulayman ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, who refuted him in a book called “al-Ftinah al-Wahhabiya”

In addition, Imam al-Sawi refuted Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab in al-Hashiya al-Sawi `ala al-Tafsir al-Jalalayn and Imam Ibn `Abidin in his Radd al-Muhtar.

As far as Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab, I have already mentioned his kufr in insulting Sayyiduna Adam (alayhi salam) and accusing him of shirk (wa `iyadhbillah wa astaghfirAllah). The burnable book that stinks of kufr and blasphemy (Kitab al-Tawheen) can be found here:

http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/kitab_ut_tawheed.pdf

Abu Abbas al-Ridawi al-Uwaysi

Interesting discussion so far. But I think the sociology of fiqh and madhahib should also be pondered over. Madhabs are not monolithic, but rather are comprised of many opinions and scholars. Some opinions become the “established” opinions over time. How does this process work? Has the ‘established’ opinion in vogue today always been the ‘established’ opinion historically? How does the geographic spread of a madhab affect its rulings (example the differences between Hanafis of Misr, Shaam, Turkey, and South Asia)?

Also, all scholars are humans, and thus are products of their times, without exception. Fiqh rulings are not simply a process of taking Quran and Hadith and interpreting them according to this or that formula. Invariably, human biases of scholars play an important role in how they choose to interpret evidences, or what they choose to highlight from the plethora of islamic literature and what they choose to gloss over. These hidden biases are entirely a human phenomenon. Over time, as certain assumptions regarding the nature of Man and society are challenged (like patriarchy), the fiqh rulings that were representative of that assumption are also challenged.

I think the discussion regarding madhabs is not just whether to follow one or not. Even for those who choose to stick to a madhabh (i’m hanafi btw), another important issue is recognizing the limitations of the madhabs, and not being afraid to ask important questions challenging hidden assumptions that much of the fiqh rulings rely upon.

some of my reflections if sh Abu Majeed don’t mind:

1-The problem is when Muslims are taught directly or indirectly that madhabs are the GOAL of Islam and pleasure of Allah rather than a MEANS learn systematicallyand gradually how to please Allah.

2- The problem likes when some scholars terrorize some Muslims about the “truth” on issues of valid opinions and make some lay people feel they are committing amajorsin to do something that not only anothermadhab allows but at times is is the view of majority

3- The problem is when people are not taught to appreciate (I dont like the word tolerate b/ctomeit i putting upwith something and not necessarily value it and FIQH an dDEEN are VALUABLE) so anyone that teaches fiqh should when the level is appropiate or when speaking to an audience at least create an atmosphere or respect and use a tone of naseeha and advice and mention at leastsoemthing like “there are also other info about this” “please consult your madhabs for other details”or “this is the opinion I advocate for because it is morebeneficial for the ummah but I respect other opinions of course!” etc…

Salam Bro Hamayoun, I hope there exists a hadith for people being held accountable for being busybodies? If there is, this would be my ultimate response dealing with some people 🙂 I’m currently reading Rememberance of Death and the Afterlife by Ghazali (mashallah can only recommend that), can they know what other people will be held accountable for and what not? I just find it awful when people argue with that “whip” and it repels me.
You have great knowledge and follow Islam in a beautiful way, don’t see anything wrong with it at all.

ya Shaykh Abu Majeed, wa aleykum asalam!
no, I hope I understood what you were trying to convey here and i agree with it, I was merely analyzing the given options for my personal situation and probably started rambling. I pledged my soul not to a madhab but to Allah swt, and I think at this stage (muslim greenhorn) it might be better for me to follow a school for the moment as I’m a very beginner (and maybe we are communicating at different levels here, i’m on muslim level 1 and you on level 9, out of 10 :)).
I know myself, and I easily get very confused when given several different options, and very bad at decision making – everyone to his own intellectual abilities, I’d say. And yes, I did notice that people that don’t follow a madhab tend to look down on followers of a madhab and vice versa and try to convince each other that their way is the best. Your article makes sense but at what point is considering different hadiths that are opposed to a certain practice in a madhab abandoning the madhab then?
I like your suggestion for the next article, looking forward to that, inshallah!

AA Ustadh,

Point well taken.