What is your opinion of those who say that the Salafis do not respect the four schools of jurisprudence, as evidenced by their criticism of Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man and their mention of the defects of the Imams regarding him?

Al-Hawini: Our Shaykh, they say that the Salafis do not give the four schools of jurisprudence their due, as evidenced by their disparaging of Imam Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man, their mention of the defects of some hadith scholars regarding him, and their criticism of many issues in the Hanafi school, even though the majority of Muslims follow this school. What is the position of the Salafis regarding the four Imams?

The Shaykh : This accusation follows in the footsteps of previous ones. The Salafis in all parts of the world recognize the worth of scholars; they do not belittle people's rights, nor do they spread corruption on earth. At the same time, they do not elevate scholars above the status that Allah has placed them in. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the master of mankind, used to say to his Companions: . If this was the conduct of Muhammad the Chosen One (peace and blessings be upon him), then the Salafis adhere to this middle path with their scholars. For example, they do not elevate Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani—just as an example!—to the point of saying that, because he is a memorizer among the famous hadith scholars known for his extensive narration, he is like Imam al-Bukhari in his knowledge of authentic and weak hadith. Rather, they believe he is a memorizer among the memorizers of the Muslims, and that we, the later generations, benefit greatly from his books and the chains of narration through which he transmits the hadiths in his books, a benefit from which we cannot do without. Furthermore, they do not consider Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani to be among the Imams who exercise independent legal reasoning in jurisprudence. As we all know, he may have had Sufi tendencies, and he may have narrated a great deal of fabricated hadiths. So we give every person his due. I give this example from our Imams, we the people of hadith, so that everyone knows that we have no fanaticism for anyone or against anyone. Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) is the first of the four Imams in terms of generation, and he is famous for his jurisprudence (may Allah have mercy on him). We undoubtedly benefit from his knowledge in jurisprudence, but we do not rank him with the six Imams. We rank him with the four Imams in jurisprudence, but we do not rank him with the six Imams in terms of memorization, authentication, and weakening of hadith. This is because it is not known that Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) concerned himself with traveling and touring the lands to collect the Sunnah and hadiths from various narrators, as happened with many of the Imams of hadith, especially the six Imams: al-Bukhari and the rest. However, as I said earlier, we rank him with the four Imams in jurisprudence, but we also do not elevate him above the status that Allah has placed him in. We do not say he is like Ahmad, the Imam of the Sunnah, in his extensive narration of hadith and his knowledge of the men, in terms of authentication and criticism. Nor do we associate him with Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him), from whom it is authentically reported that he used to say to his student, Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), "When a hadith comes to you as authentic, let me know, whether it is from Kufa or not."