Do the four schools of jurisprudence follow the Sunnah?
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Question:
This questioner, who used the initials (M. S. Sh.) for his name, is a Yemeni from Jeddah, residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He says: Do the four well-known schools of jurisprudence follow the Prophetic Sunnah, and is everything contained in them in accordance with the noble Prophetic Sunnah? Please guide us in light of this question, Your Eminence the Shaykh.
Answer:
The four imams are among the best of scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), namely Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man ibn Thabit, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal. These four are the four imams, and there were other imams in their time, before them, and after them, such as al-Awza'i, Sufyan al-Thawri, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, and Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, among other imams of Islam; Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, among others. They are imams who seek the truth and seek the Sunnah, they care for that, and their fatwas are based on the Book and the Sunnah, saying "Allah said" and "His Messenger said," and they seek the principles indicated by the Book and the Sunnah, and by what is established from the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) in terms of fatwas. So their fatwas are based on the great Qur'an, the pure Sunnah, the principles derived from the Book and the Sunnah, and the fatwas of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction). Every one of them makes mistakes and hits the mark; none of them is infallible. Every one of them makes mistakes and hits the mark; every one of them has errors, mistakes that did not conform to the Sunnah. And so it is with the other imams; they have errors, and they have correctness.
Therefore, it is obligatory to refer their statements to the Book and the Sunnah when they differ. As for when the scholars agree, consensus is a proof, and consensus does not occur except based on an explicit text. If they differ, it is obligatory for the student of knowledge and for the jurist to refer the disputed issue to the scriptural evidence, and to exert independent legal reasoning, and to seek what is supported by evidence; so he takes that. He must seek what the evidence prefers from the great Qur'an, the pure Sunnah, or from the fatwas of the Companions, until he is reassured by the strongest of the two opinions, or the strongest of the opinions, and then he takes that. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
This questioner, who used the initials (M. S. Sh.) for his name, is a Yemeni from Jeddah, residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He says: Do the four well-known schools of jurisprudence follow the Prophetic Sunnah, and is everything contained in them in accordance with the noble Prophetic Sunnah? Please guide us in light of this question, Your Eminence the Shaykh.
Answer:
The four imams are among the best of scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), namely Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man ibn Thabit, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal. These four are the four imams, and there were other imams in their time, before them, and after them, such as al-Awza'i, Sufyan al-Thawri, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, and Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, among other imams of Islam; Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, among others. They are imams who seek the truth and seek the Sunnah, they care for that, and their fatwas are based on the Book and the Sunnah, saying "Allah said" and "His Messenger said," and they seek the principles indicated by the Book and the Sunnah, and by what is established from the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) in terms of fatwas. So their fatwas are based on the great Qur'an, the pure Sunnah, the principles derived from the Book and the Sunnah, and the fatwas of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction). Every one of them makes mistakes and hits the mark; none of them is infallible. Every one of them makes mistakes and hits the mark; every one of them has errors, mistakes that did not conform to the Sunnah. And so it is with the other imams; they have errors, and they have correctness.
Therefore, it is obligatory to refer their statements to the Book and the Sunnah when they differ. As for when the scholars agree, consensus is a proof, and consensus does not occur except based on an explicit text. If they differ, it is obligatory for the student of knowledge and for the jurist to refer the disputed issue to the scriptural evidence, and to exert independent legal reasoning, and to seek what is supported by evidence; so he takes that. He must seek what the evidence prefers from the great Qur'an, the pure Sunnah, or from the fatwas of the Companions, until he is reassured by the strongest of the two opinions, or the strongest of the opinions, and then he takes that. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.