Is it permissible to adhere to a specific school of jurisprudence at the beginning of one's studies, and then broaden one's study of the Sunnah afterwards?

The Shaykh : ... And for this reason, it was a distinguishing feature of the later Muslim scholars that they gathered more from the Sunnah than the imam who came before them. Therefore, we find that reality bears witness that the one who gathered the most was the last in era. The one who gathered the most hadith and Sunnah among the four imams was Imam Ahmad, then his teacher al-Shafi'i, then his teacher, Imam Malik. Last comes the first imam in terms of era, Abu Hanifah. He had the least hadith because he did not leave Kufa, where he was raised, grew up, and learned, except very rarely on the occasion of Hajj or 'Umrah. So he did not travel around the lands to gather the Sunnah as al-Shafi'i did in his journey to Egypt, and as his student Imam Ahmad did, where he traveled around the lands. The point is that his statement in the hadith, "he did not rebuke a group of them," is fully consistent with the observation that they were exercising independent legal reasoning. As for him approving them in that? No. Because the secret of this issue is that it was not clarified. Here a traditional question arises, or as they say today, it poses itself: Why did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not clarify the group that was right and the group that was wrong? Meanwhile, we find the exact opposite in another issue. It is reported in Sunan Abu Dawud and others that two men from the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out traveling, and then the time for prayer came upon them and they did not find water, so they performed dry ablution with clean earth and prayed. Then they found water. One of them repeated the prayer, and the other did not repeat it. When they returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said to the one who repeated the prayer , and to the one who did not repeat it . Also, this hadith and the hadith are closely related. Do you think the one who repeated it was better? Or the one who did not repeat it? Or in other words, if this story happened to some people afterwards—and this, of course, happens often—and here is the point: is the Sunnah, or is the correct view, that the one who prayed with dry ablution should repeat the prayer after finding water, or should he stick to the prayer he performed and not repeat it? If we stop without reflecting on what is in the previous hadith, it might come to mind that it is better to repeat it, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said . But this answer is wrong. We say he told him, "You have two rewards," because he exercised independent legal reasoning, and because the Sunnah was not before him. But our reality today is that we know the Sunnah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the one who did not repeat it, "You hit the Sunnah." So if someone is afflicted with what the one who repeated it was afflicted with, he does not repeat it today, because that person was excused as one exercising independent legal reasoning, and there is no independent legal reasoning where there is an explicit text, and it is not permissible to contradict the Sunnah. And he (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . So in this incident, we understand that the one who prayed with dry ablution and then found water does not repeat it, because that contradicts the Sunnah. The point of this incident is that the Messenger said to so-and-so, "You have two rewards," and to so-and-so, "You hit the Sunnah." And why did he not say, "You all hit the Sunnah" and "You all have two rewards"? The answer is that this incident did not recur. An incident of contradicting the system of prayer , and whoever catches the time and whoever does not catch it has no prayer. This incident did not recur, and therefore he (peace be upon him) was content with not rebuking them. Why did it not recur? Suppose now that exactly this incident happened to the first caliph, the Rightly Guided Caliph, who says to those he sends to a certain place, "Do not pray 'Asr except in that place." These Muslims would not differ if the time caught up with them, because they know that Islam has been completed, as Allah the Exalted said: . So if it was possible for rulings to change in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) because revelation was still descending upon him in succession, that is not possible after the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So if a Muslim caliph, indeed a Qurayshi Rightly Guided one, said to a group of them, "Do not pray 'Asr except in such-and-such a place," and then the time for 'Asr became tight for them, it would be obligatory for all of them, and no difference would occur between them at all, because they are praying now, or they are praying in that place. The reason is that in the incident of Banu Qaynuqa, there was a doubt among some of them that this was a new ruling. The Messenger said . But if something like that happened after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), no one has the right to introduce a specification or restriction into a general text and a general principle after the death of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), because Islam has been completed, so there is no room for correction.

The questioner : A question regarding, or completing this topic, even if from later, saying in it:The questioner : Some say that it is necessary to adhere to a school of jurisprudence at the beginning of the path of knowledge, without fanaticism, so that the matter is regulated for you and the technical terms are regulated for you according to the people of knowledge. Then afterwards, you look and research with preference, proof, and evidence. What is your opinion?

The Shaykh : This is the opinion with a condition. We always emphasize that the obligatory duty of true Islamic callers is to return their communities to the guidance of the first community. How was the first community? Were there schools of jurisprudence? Was there a school for some of the Companions? A school called Bakri, another called 'Umar, a third called 'Uthmani, and a fourth called 'Ali? The answer is no. Rather, they were truly one community, and there is no doubt that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were not all scholars, but as we understand from the books of the people of knowledge, the least of them were from the people of knowledge. As for the majority of them, it was as the Qur'an indicated . The majority were asking, did they intend in their asking a man from among them and become fanatical for him over the others? The answer is no. They asked whoever from the people of knowledge among the Companions was made easy for them, without bias toward one of them. It must be as they say, history repeats itself, but history repeats itself by the action of the people of history. So I want to say the condition is correct: what came in the question is that in the present era, a person should study a systematic school-based study. But the condition I want to say is this: in the general communities known today by school adherence. But if it is restricted to a man who lives in a country or a village where there are individuals from the people of knowledge who do not become fanatical for one of the four schools of jurisprudence, but rather their methodology is the Book and the Sunnah, then this person residing in this country does not have the right to study this study that we said is the one today. Rather, he must study under these scholars a study based on the Book and the Sunnah in all the rulings of the Shari'ah. But if there are not, as is the reality, unfortunately, in most of the lands of Islam, except school-based scholars, then he has no choice but to study under one of them, and then afterwards broaden his study of the Sunnah and the details of the imams to know the evidence of the Shari'ah and what each school went to in derivation, and he works on preference when he reaches this level. This is the condition I wanted to add to that question which I affirmed, but with this addition and to this extent is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The Shaykh : Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can mislead him, and whom He misleads, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, I request from our brothers present who moved from the camp to this camp to make room for the people of this camp to direct their questions so that we can answer them, because they are more deserving of that than others, especially since we spent many hours in our camp there. And therefore, I hope that they do not encroachThose present : on the present ones here, and that they make room for their questions. If they run out of questions, then it is your turn, and perhaps they are rich, if Allah wills. Rich with their questions. So bring out what you have, O people of the camp?
Abu Layla : O Doctor, even you are asking questions, meaning write, O brothers, the questions on the papers.

The Shaykh : Are you making room for encroachment?
Abu Layla : And O our Shaykh, the ones concerned are the people of this camp.

The Shaykh : This is a nice patch, but you need someone to understand it. The first to respond to your call were the people of the camp. Seize the opportunity.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the best of the prophets and messengers, our master Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, we are seizing this appropriate opportunity for the presence of the honorableThe Shaykh : scholar Muhammad al-Nasir al-Din al-Albani, who is a well-known man. Were it not that it is not permissible for a Muslim to engage in mutual praise before his brother, we would have described himThe Shaykh : with what he deserves. However, this is not permissible, norThe Shaykh : would he be pleased with it. Nevertheless, we say thatThe Shaykh : he has spent more than half a century in the service of the Prophetic Sunnah and in verifying hadiths. We do not think thatThe Shaykh : he is among the renewers of this Ummah in matters of its religion in the science of hadith. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to accept this from him and to reward him with great reward and abundant recompense for what he provides and has provided for students of knowledge and for the Ummah. Before we answer the questions that our brothers will askThe Shaykh : regarding matters concerning them, whether related to issues of Hajj or general issues, we would like a word fromThe Shaykh : him, which he may choose, either as advice for students of knowledge or for the people in general, as he sees fit. So please come forward, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : Indeed, praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none who can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, there is none who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. ... .