Does the statement that one should follow the Book and the Sunnah mean abandoning the madhhab? And who are the people of knowledge whom we are commanded to ask?

The questioner : Shaykh, regarding the madhahib, does the statement that one should follow the Book and the Sunnah mean that the madhhab should be abandoned?

The Shaykh : If the intention is to abandon the madhhab entirely, that is not possible; and this is connected to my previous answer. Even the greatest scholar must follow one who is more knowledgeable than him. However, if the intention is to abandon certain issues adopted from a madhhab when it becomes clear to him that the correct ruling is in another madhhab, then here comes our statement that it is not permissible to practice religion by following a madhhab or by taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) of a madhhab. This is because Allah Blessed and Exalted is He has not obligated any person to follow a specific individual, imam, or group for their own sake. This is explicit in the Book of Allah the Glorious and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), such as His saying, for example: . Ask the people of knowledge. The people of knowledge are undoubtedly the people of the Qur'an. The intention here with "knowledge" is not that one should say, for example, "Subhan Allah" (Glory be to Allah) and "Alhamdulillah" (Praise be to Allah), which is shared by the general public, whether they are scholars, followers, or ignorant people. Rather, this verse is explained by His saying: . The "knowledge" with the definite article in this verse, which cannot be interpreted as glorification, magnification, praise, or similar dhikr (remembrance of Allah), is exactly what is intended by the previous verse: . This is obligatory for the one who does not know. In reality, this verse establishes a methodology for all Muslims, both the knowledgeable and the ignorant. It obligates these people to do what it does not obligate those people to do, and it obligates those people to do what it does not obligate these people to do. It obligates the one who does not know to ask the people of knowledge: . And it obligates those people to answer and not to conceal knowledge, as came in the authentic hadith: . So His saying: means the people of knowledge of the Book of Allah, and consequently of the explanation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned in the previous verse: . This explanation is the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, it is obligatory for every Muslim to receive the Qur'an along with its explanation, meaning to receive the Qur'an along with the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Because this Sunnah is the explanation of the Qur'an, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was commanded in the previous verse to perform this obligation: . For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, explaining the obligation to hold fast to the Qur'an and its explanation: . So, if you are a scholar, you must follow the knowledge, which is "Allah said" and "The Messenger of Allah said." If you are ignorant, you must ask the people of knowledge, who are the people of knowledge: . For this reason, it is forbidden for one who is not a scholar to issue fatwas to people without knowledge, as Allah the Exalted said: . And as came in the hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud and others: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a military expedition, and a man was wounded in it. When morning came, he found himself in a state of janabah (major ritual impurity) and knew that he was obligated to perform ghusl (the full ritual bath). But he had many wounds. So he asked those around him if he had a dispensation not to perform ghusl because of his wounds. They said, "No, you must perform ghusl." So he performed ghusl and died. When the news reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he cursed those who issued the fatwa for him, which was the cause of his death, by saying: قتلوه قاتلهم الله ألا سألوا حين جهلوا فإنما شفاء العي السؤال They killed him, may Allah kill them. Did they not ask when they were ignorant? Indeed, the cure for ignorance is asking. In this hadith, there is the obligation for the non-scholar to ask the scholar, and the prohibition of issuing fatwas by the non-scholar. Those who issued the fatwa for him that ghusl was obligatory despite the presence of wounds on his body were not scholars, so it was obligatory for them to return to the scholars in that military expedition and ask them, so that they would not fall into such a fatal fatwa: قتلوه قاتلهم الله ألا سألوا حين جهلوا فإنما شفاء العي السؤال They killed him, may Allah kill them. Did they not ask when they were ignorant? Indeed, the cure for ignorance is asking. So we distinguish between a Muslim practicing religion by following a madhhab from its beginning to its end, not deviating from it by a hair's breadth, as if it were the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to which one must submit completely. That is not the case. Because any madhhab that Muslims are upon today is, first and foremost, the ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of an imam from the imams of the Muslims, and ultimately, hundreds or thousands of opinions and statements of those who belong to the imam have entered this madhhab. So the issues present now in every madhhab are not as many people imagine; that these issues were issued and originated from the imam himself. No, the foundations and main principles of these issues are from the imam, whether it is Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, or Ahmad. But with time, these many and very many issues expanded. Therefore, if one of those who hold fast to a madhhab deviates from a certain issue by following a certain hadith or verse, he does not necessarily contradict the imam in that. It is possible that he contradicted someone who came after the imam by hundreds of years. Then, even if he contradicted the imam, he contradicted the lower imam by following the higher imam, after whom there is no imam, which is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, how beautiful is the statement of one of the Hanafi scholars of India, Abu al-Hasan al-Laknawi, when he translated for one of the students of Abu Yusuf, a student of Abu Hanifa, who is 'Isam. "In the name of Allah," 'Isam al-Balkhi. He is a Hanafi, a student of Abu Yusuf, who is a student of the Imam Abu Hanifa. He used to raise his hands in prayer. 'Isam al-Balkhi, the student of Abu Yusuf, who is the student of Abu Hanifa, used to raise his hands in prayer, meaning at the ruku' (bowing) and when rising from it. And this is makruh (disliked) tahriman (severely disliked) among the Hanafis. The author of the book, Abu al-Hasan al-Laknawi, comments, and he says well, saying: "From this we take that if the Hanafis leave an issue from the issues of their imam by following the evidence, they do not thereby exit taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence). Rather, he remains in the softness of taqlid in the form of leaving taqlid." This is a bit of the speech of the fuqaha (jurists), difficult to understand, but it is very clear: "He remains in the softness of taqlid in the form of leaving taqlid." He indicates that there are two types of taqlid: taqlid in the principles, and taqlid in the branches. From the principles is the statement of all the imams: "If the hadith is authentic, then it is my madhhab." And "If a hadith from me comes to you that contradicts the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then take it and cast my statement to the wall." This is the affair of every Muslim. This rule, "If the hadith is authentic, then it is my madhhab," when 'Isam al-Balkhi raised his hands, he took the hadiths that the Imam al-Hafiz al-Zayla'i, the Hanafi, transmitted, about fifteen hadiths from fifteen Companions, that the Messenger used to raise his hands at the ruku' and when rising from it. When 'Isam al-Balkhi did this and contradicted his imam in this branch, he left his taqlid in the branch, but he remained a muqallid (one who follows) in the principle. Therefore, he said that 'Isam, when he raised his hands, did not exit taqlid, even though he remained in the softness of taqlid in the principle in the form of leaving taqlid in the branch. This is the position of the scholars: that they do not turn away from the Sunnah for the sake of the statements of the imams, nor do they turn away from all the statements of the imams if they do not contradict the Sunnah. But as we said earlier, the one who has no knowledge must follow the one who has knowledge, except in contradiction to the Sunnah. "In the name of Allah."