format_quote Originally Posted by
Ahmed.
Brother I'm sure there's other evidences but the consensus evidence is sound, check these hadith out :
(16) Imam Hakim (1/116) has related a Sahih Hadith from the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in the following words: “My Ummah shall not agree upon error.”
(17) Imam al-Tirmidhi (4/2167) reported on the authority of Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), who said: “Verily my Ummah would not agree (or he said the Ummah of Muhammad) would not agree upon error and Allah’s hand is over the group and whoever dissents from them departs to Hell.” (see also Mishkat, 1/173)
The 'ummah' in above hadiths refers to scholars as agreeing or disagreeing does not apply to laymen
First Ummah is not just scholars.
Second we know scholars have difference of opinions and hence the reason why we have four madhabs. These differences are not minor by the way. These are very major issues.
Third, you brought up few hadiths to defend your opinion, but there are hundreds of Sahih ahadeeths which are rejected by each school of thought just because those go against their rulings.
One common problem is that a Hanfi does not want to read or investigate why other three imams hold a particular pinion. What are their evidences and how those compare to the evidence provided by Hanfi scholars for example. Many Muslims tend to follow just one madhab blindly and reject every other opinion even if the evidence is given from Quran and hadiths. I suggest you read opinions of all madhabs, check their evidences for any particular issue against Quran and Sahih hadeeths and decide what you want to follow.
I know change is hard. We wonder why non Muslims can't convert to Islam. We wonder what is wrong with shias, why cant they see the obvious truth? We wonder why Qadiyanies believe in what they believe. The fact is that each one of us want to follow our forefathers more than anything else. If we are born and raised as hanfi then that has to be the only right way and vice versa. We all resist change and expect Islam to change our lives? Islam will not enter our hearts if we don't love Allah and His messenger more than anything else. If a hadith is Sahih and ruling is clear from hadith, there is no way around. We need to follow it to change our lives. We need to be people who listen and obey, not the people who cherry pick to fit religion in our lives. Religion should shape our lives not the other way around.
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format_quote Originally Posted by
Ahmed.
Let me just clarify that point about nesessity with a scholarly explanation :
The point is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is no longer alive to personally teach us, and everything we have from him, whether the hadith or the Qur'an, has been conveyed to us through Islamic scholars. So it is not a question of whether or not to take our din from scholars, but rather, from which scholars.
And this is the reason we have madhhabs in Islam: because the excellence and superiority of the scholarship of the mujtahid Imams--together with the traditional scholars who followed in each of their schools and evaluated and upgraded their work after them--have met the test of scholarly investigation and won the confidence of thinking and practicing Muslims for all the centuries of Islamic greatness. The reason why madhhabs exist, the benefit of them, past, present, and future, is that they furnish thousands of sound, knowledge-based answers to Muslims questions on how to obey Allah.
Muslims have realized that to follow a madhhab means to follow a super scholar who not only had a comprehensive knowledge of the Qur'an and hadith texts relating to each issue he gave judgements on, but also lived in an age a millennium closer to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and his Companions, when taqwa or "godfearingness" was the norm--both of which conditions are in striking contrast to the scholarship available today.
http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/madhhab.htm
Once again you are contradicting yourself. Door of Ijtihad is not closed. I understand that doing Ijtihad is difficult and one need to be highly qualified to do Ijtihad. But that does not mean gates of ijtihad are closed. Gates of ijtihad are always open. Gates of ijtihad were open in the first century (H); they are open in this century too if there is a person who has the necessary conditions. It is wrong to say, "Gates of ijtihad were open from this date to this date but they were closed after that date." It is not up to us to close or to open them. Nobody has the authority to do it.
There are many modern day issues for which we need to do Ijtihad and come up with ruling to address modern day issues. For example, the use of cell phone in the mosque. It is a modern day issue and did not exist at the time of these four Imams. The scholars who have given fatwas on modern day issues have lived in our time not at the time closer to Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
Sorry if I sounded like too hard in my response. I need to say what I believe is truth and Allah knows the best. I seek guidance from Allah just like every Muslim does. I used to be Hanfi as well but over the years I have learned to accept only what is supported by Quran and Hadith. I ask Allah to guide me and everyone else to the truth. Verily Allah makes His path easy for those who ask for guidance.