A Response to Those Who Are Fanatical About the Schools of Jurisprudence and Reject the Established Prophetic Texts with the Sayings of the Schools

Question : But if someone asks, how do you reconcile what you said about returning to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), when we find people who follow the books written on the schools of jurisprudence, saying, "My school is such and such," "My school is such and such," "My school is such and such," until you issue a ruling to a man and say, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said such and such," and he replies, "My school is Hanafi," "My school is Maliki," "My school is Shafi'i," "My school is Hanbali," and so on? What do we say to these people?

Answer : The answer is that we make these people see the truth and say to them: We all testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. What is the meaning of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah? The scholars said its meaning is to obey him in what he commanded, to avoid what he forbade and warned against, and to believe him in what he reported. This is the meaning of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. So if a person says to you, "This is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)," do not contradict it with the saying of anyone, even the imams of the schools of jurisprudence. They warn against following them blindly and say that when the truth becomes clear, it is obligatory to return to it. So we say to this brother who contradicted us with the school of so-and-so or so-and-so: You and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and the implication of this testimony is that we do not follow anyone except whom? Except the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And this Sunnah is before us, clear and evident.