The four Madhabs

judda

Which Madhab do you follow and why?

What are the differences between the 4 madhabs? (I have not studied them in great detail)

I heard the 4 Madhabs had disagreements during the time of the prophet Muhammad, but why? Those guys were blessed with an honourable messenger and why didn’t Muhammad reconcile them?

What happens if you choose the wrong Madhab?

Please people keep your posts short and sweet and refrain from copy and pasting long stuff and please avoid going too sectarian.

w/salaam

Forum

yashmaki — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 13:19

my husband already asked some local scholars a while ago, coz we have been thinking about it for nearly a year now. they said if you have the resources and scholars readily available to teach you about the madhab that you want to switch to it's permitted so long as you remain firm on your decision.

Medarris — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 13:23

[quote="yashmaki"]my husband already asked some local scholars a while ago, coz we have been thinking about it for nearly a year now. they said if you have the resources and scholars readily available to teach you about the madhab that you want to switch to it's permitted so long as you remain firm on your decision.[/quote]

k, mashaALLAH.

*DUST* — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 13:32

[quote="yashmaki"]my husband already asked some local scholars a while ago, coz we have been thinking about it for nearly a year now. they said if you have the resources and scholars readily available to teach you about the madhab that you want to switch to it's permitted so long as you remain firm on your decision.[/quote]
...but u said u dont have the resources and shuyukh to teach u guys Hanbali fiqh right?

yashmaki — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 14:50

yep not much in this town so i don't think it would be wise right now, maybe in the future?

*DUST* — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 14:51

[quote="yashmaki"]yep not much in this town so i don't think it would be wise right now, maybe in the future?[/quote]
but once uv had kids wouldnt it make sense to keep teaching them along the fiqh of one madhab?

yashmaki — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 15:54

yeah wouldn't be a good idea to swap after i have kids i've thought that over, great minds think alike sis lol

*DUST* — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 16:01

[quote="yashmaki"]yeah wouldn't be a good idea to swap after i have kids i've thought that over, great minds think alike sis lol[/quote]
😉 8)

iRazor — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 - 16:17

Majority of Muslims are Hanafi, 67% according to one statistic.

I think this is becuz of Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa's teaching method was different to that of the other Imams. Imam Abu Hanifa and his students would discuss and debate an issue for long periods of time, then Imam Abu Hanifa would give a final verdict taking evrything discussed by the group into account.

Also Imam Abu Hanifa used to trade cloth in the market, so they would study people and their behaviour while they were sitting in the market. Then they would make legal rulings based on behavioural patterns. For these reasons the Hanafi Fiqh makes more sense to people and they find it easier to implement into their lives, especially for new converts.

Hanbali fiqh is possibly the "hardest" to follow as it is considered the most "strict".

Ive heard many people say Shaf'i fiqh is Most lenient on most issue. I know for a fact that Shaf'i fiqh gives women a lot of rights over men in marriage issues though so men beware 😂

And it is almost complsory to follow a madhab, most scholors would deem it so anyway.

Reason being, we are not scholors and havent studied sharia in detail. Definatly not enough to make legal rulings on issues. So it is best for us to follow the madhabs and those Imams of the madhabs. That way on every issue that might come up, there is a legal ruling already for it.

Also another thing about madhabs which many people dunt understand, which hasnt been mentioned it that the imams of the madhabs, after whom they are named, were the foundational figures. After these imams came other imams who would use the foundational work set up already, to give legal rulings on other issues which would come up 100's of years after the imams.

Examples of these are legal rulings on Cigerettes, Marijuana, Television etc, all of which didnt exist in the times of the foundational Imams of the Madhabs.

(I get my info from lectures by Shaykh Nu Ha Mim Keller, Shaykh Zahid Shakir and Shaykh Hisham Khabbani)

Apoligies for incorrect info I may have wrote, please correct me if i Is incorrect

judda — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 09:13

i dont read books, not even short ones. so can sum1 briefly tell me when the 4 madhabs cropt up and what are the major differences between them...

*DUST* — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 12:00

[quote="2"]i dont read books, not even short ones. so can sum1 briefly tell me when the 4 madhabs cropt up and what are the major differences between them...[/quote]
Judda, i'm gonna b honest with u now so dont see at as harsh, its the truth:

on two threads u recently asked to know more about something and u got plenty of answers from the other members. yet after all those answers in both threads, u come back and leave a little message at the bottom saying 'summarize. i am too lazy to read'. well guess what: if u want to learn, u have to read, or go to a scholar. noone gains knowledge by sitting on their backside all day. people are dying in Chechnya even now, and u cannot be bothered to read a single article about their plight?
and again, on this issue of madhabs. its a complex topic. many of us have given summaries on it, but we all ended with something along the lines of 'we may be wrong about certain things, u have to go and read a book'.

bottomline: start reading. dont expect to learn anything from 'a summary'.

judda — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 12:29

assia u can learn A LOT from a summery 😉

*DUST* — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 12:32

[quote="2"]assia u can learn A LOT from a summery :wink:[/quote]
yea maybe the first thing ud learn is its correct spelling 😉

judda — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 12:45

lol tru i spell EVERYTHING incorrect and when EVER i spot a spelling mistsake i can't be bothered to edit it.... thats how bloody lazy i am!

so a qick summery...?

judda — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 12:51

i am very confused by the fact that they were there at the time of the prophet muhammad and they still had diffrences. a sheik on islam channel sed dat. :|

sum1 sed da 4 imams r responsable for da division in da ummah....

You — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 - 18:22

ok I wil summarise.

Originally there was the prophet (saw), and he directly preached to the sahabah. If they had any questions he ﷺ answered them.

Then there were the sahabah. if someone had a question, they answered them.

Then there were neither, and diferent people would give diferent advice. At this time there were scholars of a very high repute who would fully study an issue before giving a verdict. They also compiled hadith (this is upto 100 years before the time Imam Bukhari...) for evidence.

There a number of these scholars. The ones who were trusted became popular, and had a following of other great scholars. Now these scholars gave verdicts from the ahadith and the qur'an.

The next generation did not have the same amount of knowledge, so they just followed a 'Madhab'. The generation after that had even less direct knowledge, adn thus also followed a 'Madhab'.

These are not sources of divisiion as all four acknowledge each other as correct interpretations.