A popular slogan among Muslims today is “Quran and Sunnah.” Instead of following a madhab, we are told that it is superior to ourselves derive legal rulings based on the hadiths we read. After all, the Imams themselves had said "When a hadith is sound (Sahih), it is my madhab." Many extrapolate from this that if a sahih hadith contradicts the position of the Imams, it becomes imperative for us to follow the hadith; and that if a hadith is weak, it is impermissible to follow it. The argument is based on the misconception that since the Imams did not have complete knowledge of the immense number of hadith due to restrictions of their times, it becomes our duty to correct their mistakes now that all the hadith literature is available and cataloged.
This five-lesson short course will examine the validity of these arguments through a careful study of the book The Effect of the Noble Hadiths on the Disagreements of the Imams of Fiqh (Athar al-Hadith al-Sharif fi Ikhtilaf al-A’imma al-Fuqaha’) by Shaykh Muhammad `Awwamah, a contemporary Syrian scholar of hadith living in the blessed city of Medina who was also one of the leading students of Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghudda. This book stands out because of the thoroughness with which it addresses how hadiths led to disagreements amongst the scholars. Full of quotes from major early scholars of hadith along with insightful analyses of their words, the books clarifies how our religion has been understood from the earliest of times.
Hadith or Fiqh? will provide a thorough understanding of the basis and inconsistencies of the various myths surrounding the four Imams and their derivation of sacred rulings. It will dispel the myth that scholars of the four schools reached fiqh conclusions through deliberate or non-deliberate contravention of hadith. In reality, the imams and their students possessed a deep and encompassing knowledge of the hadith corpus and the rules of legal interpretation, which, coupled with their godfearingness and scrupulousness, helped them reach valid conclusions about how to properly understand and implement the Qur’an and Sunnah. If they went against the outward purport of certain hadiths, it was based on detailed scholarship and not on mere whim.
This goal of this course is to correct misunderstandings and to remove any religious confusion. You will have a comprehensive answer to any anti-madhab question you’ve ever heard. Consequently, your confidence in classical scholarship will increase and any doubts placed therein by modern reformists will not take root. This course is extremely important for everyone because it is important to have clarity in your religion and to be sure which voice you should follow. The place where confusion is most harmful is in religion. There are no required prerequisites.
The call to abandon the four schools of thought is in reality a call to cast aside centuries of tested scholarship. Thus, we must take care lest we allow ourselves to be misguided by modern reformists.
