Continuation of the response to the objection of those who describe the hadith scholars as mere transmitters of reports rather than jurists
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The Shaykh : We know today the Imams of the four schools of jurisprudence: Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam al-Shafi'i, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. And, glory be to Allah! We find that jurisprudence is the opposite of this classification, the opposite of this hierarchical classification. Abu Hanifah is the first in rank, followed by Imam Malik, then al-Shafi'i, then Ahmad. But in terms of hitting the truth and knowledge of the Sunnah, it is the opposite: we start with Imam Ahmad, then Imam al-Shafi'i, then Imam Malik, and then we return to the first one, the fourth, and say Abu Hanifah. Why?
Because Imam Abu Hanifah, although he was considered superior in terms of understanding and jurisprudence to many of the Imams of the Muslims, as is narrated from Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "People, or scholars, are dependents in jurisprudence upon Abu Hanifah", but despite that, he was in the fourth rank in terms of his knowledge of correct jurisprudence. This is because this jurisprudence cannot be derived by opinion and independent legal reasoning, no matter how great the holder of that opinion and that independent legal reasoning is as a jurist, even if he is the example cited, like Abu Hanifah, as al-Shafi'i said: "People are dependents in jurisprudence upon Abu Hanifah".
And in contrast to that, we find that Imam Ahmad, as we mentioned, is the closest of the four Imams to hitting the truth. We do not say he is more knowledgeable in jurisprudence than Abu Hanifah, but we say he has more knowledge of the Sunnah than Abu Hanifah by a proportion, no, not a proportion, a proportion that cannot be mentioned or limited. So Abu Hanifah, some scholars say, has hadiths that do not reach four hundred, with the ruling of weakness on many of them, if not on most of them.
As for Imam Ahmad, one book, which is his most famous book, *Musnad of Imam Ahmad*, contains forty thousand hadiths, this with repetition. And by removing the repeated ones, this number suffices you: thirty thousand hadiths. So where are thirty thousand compared to three hundred? There is no proportion at all.
So we take from this: whoever possesses the previous conditions and adds one condition to them, which is that his knowledge of the Sunnah is more than that of the others, he is the most knowledgeable in the Shari'ah, and he is the one intended by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih Muslim 1037a.
And therefore it was reported from Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "Whoever does not know the Sunnah does not know analogical reasoning", because the one who wants to perform analogical reasoning must necessarily have encompassed the greater part of the Sunnah.
Because Imam Abu Hanifah, although he was considered superior in terms of understanding and jurisprudence to many of the Imams of the Muslims, as is narrated from Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "People, or scholars, are dependents in jurisprudence upon Abu Hanifah", but despite that, he was in the fourth rank in terms of his knowledge of correct jurisprudence. This is because this jurisprudence cannot be derived by opinion and independent legal reasoning, no matter how great the holder of that opinion and that independent legal reasoning is as a jurist, even if he is the example cited, like Abu Hanifah, as al-Shafi'i said: "People are dependents in jurisprudence upon Abu Hanifah".
And in contrast to that, we find that Imam Ahmad, as we mentioned, is the closest of the four Imams to hitting the truth. We do not say he is more knowledgeable in jurisprudence than Abu Hanifah, but we say he has more knowledge of the Sunnah than Abu Hanifah by a proportion, no, not a proportion, a proportion that cannot be mentioned or limited. So Abu Hanifah, some scholars say, has hadiths that do not reach four hundred, with the ruling of weakness on many of them, if not on most of them.
As for Imam Ahmad, one book, which is his most famous book, *Musnad of Imam Ahmad*, contains forty thousand hadiths, this with repetition. And by removing the repeated ones, this number suffices you: thirty thousand hadiths. So where are thirty thousand compared to three hundred? There is no proportion at all.
So we take from this: whoever possesses the previous conditions and adds one condition to them, which is that his knowledge of the Sunnah is more than that of the others, he is the most knowledgeable in the Shari'ah, and he is the one intended by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
He upon whom Allah intends to bestow goodness, He confers upon him an insight in religion
مَن يُرد الله به خيرًا يُفقهه في الدينAnd therefore it was reported from Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "Whoever does not know the Sunnah does not know analogical reasoning", because the one who wants to perform analogical reasoning must necessarily have encompassed the greater part of the Sunnah.