The Shaykh's answer to the statement of some: The disagreement of the four Imams in the branches is a mercy.

The Shaykh : They say that their disagreement is a mercy. It is possible that this was said, and it has been said that this is regarding the rulings; their disagreement in the rulings is a mercy because it involves facilitation. As some ignorant people say, on the Day of Resurrection, the four Imams will stand at the beginning of the Sirat, as if they are the ones who will account for the people. A man, for example, who is of the Hanafi school, prays a prayer that is messed up, but it is valid in a second school. The second Imam says to him, "Come here, your prayer is valid according to my school."
Laughter.The Shaykh : And the students, may Allah have mercy on them.
And so on. This is the clear misguidance. So I said, it is possible to say that the disagreement in the branches contains ease, and they built upon this the superstition we mentioned regarding the Sirat. Nevertheless, the disagreement is not a mercy, even in the branches, so how can we say there are three schools in the creed? It is not possible to imagine two forms of creed in some of the rulings of the Shari'ah. It is possible for there to be two aspects, meaning, as the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, expresses it, he says: Disagreement is of two types: disagreement of contradiction and disagreement of diversity. Disagreement of contradiction means, for example, a man performed wudu' and touched a woman; what is the ruling on his wudu'? It is said his wudu' was invalidated, and it is said his wudu' was not invalidated. This is disagreement of contradiction; it is not possible for both statements to be correct in the reality of the Shari'ah, rather one of them is the correct one. Which one is correct? The people of knowledge know, and the people of knowledge are those who draw their knowledge from the Book and the Sunnah. This is disagreement of contradiction where it is not possible for both statements to be correct. Disagreement of diversity: Imam al-Shafi'i says the opening supplication is: "I direct my face to He who created the heavens and the earth..." and so on. Imam Abu Hanifah says: "Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise." The hadith scholars say: "O Allah, distance me from my sins..." and so on. Is there any contradiction or conflict? There is no contradiction or conflict. If you open with "I direct my face," it is permissible; "Glory be to You," it is permissible; and "O Allah, distance me," it is permissible. And there are many supplications mentioned in the description of the prayer. This is disagreement of diversity. As for the creed, it is not possible to imagine disagreement in any way whatsoever. Meaning, our Lord either descends or He does not descend, He comes or He does not come, He rose above the Throne or He did not rise above the Throne, and the like of that. And yet, three schools were found in this creed. How can we imagine these three schools in the creed being true? And our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says: Therefore, in order to be safe from falling into such disagreement, and safe from falling into such deviation from the Book and the Sunnah in understanding, not in faith in the Book and the Sunnah, all Islamic sects believe in the Book and the Sunnah, but many of them do not believe in the Book and the Sunnah. They believe in it verbally, but they do not believe in it in meaning. So what is the benefit of believing in the word without believing in the meaning? And you have known how they believe in the word but do not believe in the meaning. Therefore, to avoid falling into such deviation, we call for following the Book and the Sunnah, and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf.