Article on Taqleed
10. Why Taqleed of one of Four Schools only?
There were many mujtahids and hence people often ask why an imam from among only the four schools be chosen. Some of the mujtahids were Sufyan Thawri, Layth ibn S’ad, Awza’i, Abdullah ibn Mubarak, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah رحمۃ اللہ علیھم and many others. Yet people talk of following one of the four schools only.
The reason is quite simple. In theory there is no reason why the number has to be four. However, only these four have sufficient detailed literature available. All other madhhaib apart from these four died out over time. Their rulings are not available neither are any scholars representing them. One can say this is purely a matter of coincidence.
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in Jawahir ul Fiqh writes:
“Even if 2, 4, 10, 20, 50 or 100 rulings of these others were available today, it cannot be given a shape of a Madhhab so that people can follow them. This is because even if one will follow them in these available rulings, what will they do for the thousands of other matters? Now when it is seen that only 4 madhhaib survived, taqleed got confined to either of the four madhhaib.”
Imam Nawawi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ writes in al-Majmoo’:
“Although the Sahabah and the elders of the first generation were superior to later day jurists and mujtahids, yet they did not get an opportunity to compile and arrange their knowledge and its principles and branches. So. It is not proper to make taqleed of them because none of their teachings can be pinpointed for sure. Compilation began later on by the imams who had benefited from the Madhhab of the Sahabah and tabi’een. They compiled their commands and explained their own basic principles and branches, like Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifa رحمۃ اللہ علیھما.”
Ibn Taymiyyah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ states in al-Fatawa al-Kubra:
“From the point of view of the Book and Sunnah, there is no difference among the mujtahid imams. So, Imam Malik, Layth ibn Sa’d, Imam Awza’i, Sufyan Thawri رحمۃ اللہ علیھم were all imams of their times and the same command applies in each case for taqleed.
No Muslim argues that taqleed of any of them is disallowed. But, if anyone has forbidden taqleed of anyone then he has done that for one of the two reasons:
1. There are no more men surviving who might be fully aware of the Madhhab of any of them. There is bound to be differences in taqleed of a dead imam. While those who allow taqleed of a dead imam permit it only if any of the living ‘ulema possess knowledge of the dead imam’s Madhhab. (Since none of them survives, it is not proper to make taqleed of those imams.)
2. There is a consensus against the teachings (of those whose Madhhab is extinct).....But, if any of their sayings is available which is according to the surviving mujtahid’s sayings, then their sayings would be seconded and thus strengthened.”
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ further explains this in Jawahir ul Fiqh:
“To argue why there are only 4 schools is like the example of a person who has children born in excess but they kept on dying and by the time the father died, only 4 survived. Now at the time of distribution of wealth, it is distributed among the 4 that survived. No one will object and say that the wealth should also be given to the children that died.”
There were many mujtahids and hence people often ask why an imam from among only the four schools be chosen. Some of the mujtahids were Sufyan Thawri, Layth ibn S’ad, Awza’i, Abdullah ibn Mubarak, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah رحمۃ اللہ علیھم and many others. Yet people talk of following one of the four schools only.
The reason is quite simple. In theory there is no reason why the number has to be four. However, only these four have sufficient detailed literature available. All other madhhaib apart from these four died out over time. Their rulings are not available neither are any scholars representing them. One can say this is purely a matter of coincidence.
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ in Jawahir ul Fiqh writes:
“Even if 2, 4, 10, 20, 50 or 100 rulings of these others were available today, it cannot be given a shape of a Madhhab so that people can follow them. This is because even if one will follow them in these available rulings, what will they do for the thousands of other matters? Now when it is seen that only 4 madhhaib survived, taqleed got confined to either of the four madhhaib.”
Imam Nawawi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ writes in al-Majmoo’:
“Although the Sahabah and the elders of the first generation were superior to later day jurists and mujtahids, yet they did not get an opportunity to compile and arrange their knowledge and its principles and branches. So. It is not proper to make taqleed of them because none of their teachings can be pinpointed for sure. Compilation began later on by the imams who had benefited from the Madhhab of the Sahabah and tabi’een. They compiled their commands and explained their own basic principles and branches, like Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifa رحمۃ اللہ علیھما.”
Ibn Taymiyyah رحمۃ اللہ علیہ states in al-Fatawa al-Kubra:
“From the point of view of the Book and Sunnah, there is no difference among the mujtahid imams. So, Imam Malik, Layth ibn Sa’d, Imam Awza’i, Sufyan Thawri رحمۃ اللہ علیھم were all imams of their times and the same command applies in each case for taqleed.
No Muslim argues that taqleed of any of them is disallowed. But, if anyone has forbidden taqleed of anyone then he has done that for one of the two reasons:
1. There are no more men surviving who might be fully aware of the Madhhab of any of them. There is bound to be differences in taqleed of a dead imam. While those who allow taqleed of a dead imam permit it only if any of the living ‘ulema possess knowledge of the dead imam’s Madhhab. (Since none of them survives, it is not proper to make taqleed of those imams.)
2. There is a consensus against the teachings (of those whose Madhhab is extinct).....But, if any of their sayings is available which is according to the surviving mujtahid’s sayings, then their sayings would be seconded and thus strengthened.”
Mufti Shafi Uthmani رحمۃ اللہ علیہ further explains this in Jawahir ul Fiqh:
“To argue why there are only 4 schools is like the example of a person who has children born in excess but they kept on dying and by the time the father died, only 4 survived. Now at the time of distribution of wealth, it is distributed among the 4 that survived. No one will object and say that the wealth should also be given to the children that died.”
