The Meaning of Imam Ahmad’s Statement: “Do not hold a position on an issue for which you have no imam”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah reward you with the best and most complete reward, and may He bless you along with your noble parents, our shaykhs, our religion, our Muslim brothers, and our brothers upon the path of the Sunnah. The situation is that a person has rebuked an innovator who met the conditions for such a ruling and in whom the impediments were absent, but an objector raised an objection based on Imam Ahmad’s statement: “Do not hold a position on an issue unless you have an imam in it.” The question is: Is his objection valid or not? And what is the meaning of Imam Ahmad’s statement?
Answer:
Just as the poet said: “Do not hasten to declare someone a disbeliever or to judge them, until you know what truth and falsehood are with the person. If you rush, you will regret it. But if you are careful, deliberate, and look into the words of the imams, you will not end up with a third of the truth. Look at the words of the imams: Is this a bid'ah (religious innovation) or is it not a bid'ah? Look at the evidence, then look at the words of the imams. Do not hasten to judge a person, a doctrine, or an issue. Do not hasten to judge until you pause, know the evidence, and know the statement of the scholars of knowledge who came before you. You may understand it incorrectly, while those before you understood the correct meaning of this evidence you are citing.
There is no doubt that returning to the words of the trustworthy scholars of knowledge, the words of the Salaf (the earliest generations), is a guarantee, by the permission of Allah, a guarantee against error and mistake. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah reward you with the best and most complete reward, and may He bless you along with your noble parents, our shaykhs, our religion, our Muslim brothers, and our brothers upon the path of the Sunnah. The situation is that a person has rebuked an innovator who met the conditions for such a ruling and in whom the impediments were absent, but an objector raised an objection based on Imam Ahmad’s statement: “Do not hold a position on an issue unless you have an imam in it.” The question is: Is his objection valid or not? And what is the meaning of Imam Ahmad’s statement?
Answer:
Just as the poet said: “Do not hasten to declare someone a disbeliever or to judge them, until you know what truth and falsehood are with the person. If you rush, you will regret it. But if you are careful, deliberate, and look into the words of the imams, you will not end up with a third of the truth. Look at the words of the imams: Is this a bid'ah (religious innovation) or is it not a bid'ah? Look at the evidence, then look at the words of the imams. Do not hasten to judge a person, a doctrine, or an issue. Do not hasten to judge until you pause, know the evidence, and know the statement of the scholars of knowledge who came before you. You may understand it incorrectly, while those before you understood the correct meaning of this evidence you are citing.
There is no doubt that returning to the words of the trustworthy scholars of knowledge, the words of the Salaf (the earliest generations), is a guarantee, by the permission of Allah, a guarantee against error and mistake. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
شرح الكافية الشافية في الانتصار للفرقة الناجية [ القصيدة النونية ] [ صالح الفوزان ]، فصل : في رغبة قائلها إلى من يقف عليها من أهل العلم والإيمان أن يتجرد إلى الله ويحكم عليها بما يوجبه الدليل والبرهان — islamhouse.com (43:36)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.