The Shaykh's response to those who accused him of disparaging the Hanafi school, due to what he said
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Yesterday I told you: Some people from Homs came to us and raised an objection, which was: How can these people understand Islam?!
So I explained to them:[An-Nahl 16:43], then they brought up the fuss that more than one person stirred up: that I had written a comment on Sahih Muslim regarding his (peace be upon him) saying: Sahih Muslim 155e: I wrote a very small footnote, two lines: "In this is evidence that 'Isa (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him), when he descends in the end times, will not rule by the Torah, nor by the Gospel, nor by the Hanafi school or any other". The fury of some malicious people rose, and they published a writing about it, saying: He disparaged the Hanafi school, equating it with the Torah and the Gospel. I say: My intention with this word was: to respond to the extremists of the Hanafis and others, and specifically the Hanafis who stated in their books that 'Isa (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him), when he descends in the end times, will rule by the school of Abu Hanifa!!
So I drew attention to the fact that this hadith:: means he rules by the Book and the Sunnah, this is how the Imams interpreted it, so he does not rule by the Hanafi school.
And I responded to the Jews and Christians that he also does not rule by the Torah by which 'Isa used to rule while he was alive, because the Torah was not abrogated by the Book of the Gospel, but rather some rulings in it were modified, nor by the Gospel either, because when he descends he will be an individual from the individuals of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), so he rules by the Book and the Sunnah, so it is even more so that he does not rule by the Hanafi school. So they came and changed the intended meaning of this word, and attributed to my speech what had not crossed my mind.
Then I said to this brother and others, I said: If we look at the matter, if the issue is one of preference, and I did not intend preference, I only intended to purify 'Isa from being made a follower of a school on one hand, and to purify 'Isa from having contradicted the Shari'ah of Islam by following his previous abrogated law—this is all that I intended. But they said: No, he equated the Hanafi school with the Torah and the Gospel. If I had intended that, I would have erred in another way, because if I made the Hanafi school, which is the ijtihad of this Imam, and there is no doubt that he hit the mark much and erred little or much, this is knowledge with my Lord, but it is not all correct, and it is not the revelation of the sky like the Gospel and the Torah, so if I made the Hanafi school like the Torah and the Gospel, I would be wrong without a doubt, because either I elevated the ijtihad of Imam Abu Hanifa and equated it with the Book revealed to a Messenger of the Messengers of Allah in the Torah and the Gospel, or I lowered the two noble books, the Torah and the Gospel, to the level of the ijtihad of an Imam of the Imams of the Muslims, and this is something no Muslim says or sees at all. But the reality is, all that I intended was:
The response to the extremists of the Hanafis who say that 'Isa rules by the Hanafi school. And whoever has doubt about this statement, I show him the text in printed and respectable books: that 'Isa rules by the school of Abu Hanifa, and they have fictional stories in this area.
So then, my brother, our call is directed, in brief, the summary, for the speech has lengthened, and I in reality do not want to lengthen it for my personal sake, but the topic required it, unfortunately.
So I explained to them:
So ask the people of the message if you do not know.
فاسألوا أهل الذكر إن كنتم لا تعلمونWhat would you do when the son of Mary would descend and lead you?
كيف أنتم إذا نزل ابن مريم فيكم وأَمَّكم منكمSo I drew attention to the fact that this hadith:
And leads you in prayer from among you
وأَمَّكم مِنكمAnd I responded to the Jews and Christians that he also does not rule by the Torah by which 'Isa used to rule while he was alive, because the Torah was not abrogated by the Book of the Gospel, but rather some rulings in it were modified, nor by the Gospel either, because when he descends he will be an individual from the individuals of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), so he rules by the Book and the Sunnah, so it is even more so that he does not rule by the Hanafi school. So they came and changed the intended meaning of this word, and attributed to my speech what had not crossed my mind.
Then I said to this brother and others, I said: If we look at the matter, if the issue is one of preference, and I did not intend preference, I only intended to purify 'Isa from being made a follower of a school on one hand, and to purify 'Isa from having contradicted the Shari'ah of Islam by following his previous abrogated law—this is all that I intended. But they said: No, he equated the Hanafi school with the Torah and the Gospel. If I had intended that, I would have erred in another way, because if I made the Hanafi school, which is the ijtihad of this Imam, and there is no doubt that he hit the mark much and erred little or much, this is knowledge with my Lord, but it is not all correct, and it is not the revelation of the sky like the Gospel and the Torah, so if I made the Hanafi school like the Torah and the Gospel, I would be wrong without a doubt, because either I elevated the ijtihad of Imam Abu Hanifa and equated it with the Book revealed to a Messenger of the Messengers of Allah in the Torah and the Gospel, or I lowered the two noble books, the Torah and the Gospel, to the level of the ijtihad of an Imam of the Imams of the Muslims, and this is something no Muslim says or sees at all. But the reality is, all that I intended was:
The response to the extremists of the Hanafis who say that 'Isa rules by the Hanafi school. And whoever has doubt about this statement, I show him the text in printed and respectable books: that 'Isa rules by the school of Abu Hanifa, and they have fictional stories in this area.
So then, my brother, our call is directed, in brief, the summary, for the speech has lengthened, and I in reality do not want to lengthen it for my personal sake, but the topic required it, unfortunately.