Ya'qub wrote:

For me, there are things which are SOOO complicate and technical, like when wudhu is broken etc, that we could never begin to work out the rulings for ourselves.

aye, may Allaah bless the four imams and raise their ranks, ameen. i can honestly say i'd be lost if i didn't follow the hanafi madhab.

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Anyway, why bother when they're already there for us? It would waste time when we could be doing good deeds!!

you can't say someone is wasting their time. every action is judged according to intention. if they think they are doing something feesabilillah then who is anyone to say they are wasting their time?

Noor wrote:

Quote:

Anyway, why bother when they're already there for us? It would waste time when we could be doing good deeds!!

you can't say someone is wasting their time. every action is judged according to intention. if they think they are doing something feesabilillah then who is anyone to say they are wasting their time?

If someone spent days and days re-inventing the wheel, I think it would be right for me to say that he was wasting his time, even if it was fisabillah.

I would still say 'may Allah (swt) still reward him', but just think what good could be achieved if he used his time to invent something else instead! This would mean that people could progress over generations instead of having to do the same work over and over again (any parallels with the Muslim Ummah in this? hmm...).

The above applies only to things that are unchanging in Islam, namely fundamentals of faith, how to worship, etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand there are a great many fatawa from traditional madhabs which are completely irrelevant for life in modern-day Britain, and they need to be evaluated. This is called ijtihad. But it should be qualified scholars who understand life in modern day Britain who do this, not every individual person picks and chooses and stumbles along hoping for the best.

IF there are absolutely no qualified scholars who understand life in modern day Britain (this is a possibility) then what do we do?
Is it then ok to come up with rulings ourselves?
Or this better than following sheikhs and imams who live halfway across the world and who grew up in a village?

This is an individual choice, I guess. Most people on the forum fall on one side or the other.

I was speaking to an American sheikh at IslamExpo, and asked him which approach he thought we should take if we can't find any qualified scholars who understand our society.

He said 'keep looking.'

Ya'qub wrote:

Naz wrote:

@ Yaqub if you want to translate that article as meaning that you should declare jihad on your neighbours then thats your interpretation. My interpretation of that Hadith is go forth and spread Islam to the non Muslims WITHOUT using physical violence. After all Islam means peace. If I choose to be my own sheikh I dont see why all you lot have a problem with it. If im “sinning” by not following a madhab thats between me and Allah(swt). I have my reasons for not a madhab and you have your reason for following one. We will all be judged accordingly.

2 things: Firstly, your response is NOTHING to do with the hadith. It does not say 'tell' people about Islam, it says 'fight them until they accept Islam and pray and pay zakat' etc. This is a Shahih hadith and nobody disputes its translation, you certainly can't since you don't speak Arabic. You can't ignore this hadith OR ANY HADITH if you want to come up with rulings on how to live you life.

So how do you deal with a hadith like this (Naz/admin whoever else)?

Secondly, It is NOT my interpretation that the hadith relates to Jihad. I have looked at scholarly tafsir of this and understand the context in which it was said, and it makes perfect sense. But if ALL I had was the Qur'an and hadith to read from, what answer would I be forced to come up with?

Firstly if i came across this hadith i would never dismiss it. Secondly i dont consider the term "fighting" to mean physical fighting.

Yaqub how would YOU interpret it?

ok, waking up an old topic (again :D, its better than creating a new one right?)

just wanted to say, I love what Ya'qub said!

i've just got a few questions...and they keep coming and going in my mind, so forgive if i dont ask all in one post.

So, are the 4 school of thoughts most of time agreeing with each other? (if no, ignore this next question) If yes, then, if three madhabs have opinion A and mdhab 4 has opinion B and you're following madhab 4, do you still follow their opinion even though its in minority?
(btw, this is a genuine question, im not trying to be a smart ass or trying to point out "holes" or whatever, my intention is to gain knowledge, please dont bite my head off =/)

well..i did say questionS but i think i want answer to this question and then ask more if needed...

All 4 have a different methodology that is followed, different criteria in strictness etc

So yes, you follow the one, even if the other three say otherwise.

(PS I have no idea how many followers each one has and its possible that the hanafi madhab has more followers than the others combined, so strictly 1 vs 3 may not represent a greater of lesser body of acceptance.)

I've had a few discussion on this topic.

This is one which I found.