Salaam. I'm curious as to which factors go into Muslims
selecting which madhhab to follow. Perhaps some of you could share how you came to
follow your present school. Also, once one has chosen, how strong is the commitment
(ie what if he decides he agrees more with another school)?
Peace be to you Iconodule:
A person not following a Madhhab (School of thought) is either a
Mujtihid (Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret Sharia by Ijtihadاجتهاد)
or is following a person who has the qualifications.
A google search doesn't qualify a Muslim to be a Mujtihid (Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret Sharia by Ijtihadاجتهاد) of Sharia.
One of the many reasons the Musim Ummah is a disarray.
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Qualifications mainly agreed upon from those to adhere to the Quran and Sunnah of Nabi Muhammad (
)
for ʼIjtihād اجتهاد (Making a decision in Sharia):
- Knowledge of the Quran
- Knowledge of the ahadith of the Nabi Muhammad ( )
- Knowledge of the sayings of the Salaf-us-Salaheen; that is to know which rulings they disagreed and upon which they were unanimous.
- Knowledge of Arabic linguistics
- Knowledge of Qiyas, the knowledge by which one learns the method of deriving a ruling from the Quran and Sunnah. In this case, the above mentioned ruling (which is derived from the Quran and Sunnah) should not be apparent in the Quran and Sunnah or Ijma’. If there is no derivation involved due to the explicitness of the ruling in the Quran and Sunnah, than such a person is not by definition a mujtahid.
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Allah had ordered the earlier generation of Muslims not all go and fight and
some remain to gain understanding (Fiqh) of the religion.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]
At-Tauba (The Repentance)[/FONT]
وَمَا كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنفِرُواْ كَآفَّةً فَلَوْلاَ نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ طَآئِفَةٌ لِّيَتَفَقَّهُواْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنذِرُواْ قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُواْ إِلَيْهِمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَحْذَرُونَ (9:122)
Wam
a k
ana almuminoona liyanfiroo k
affatan falawl
a nafara min kulli firqatin minhum
taifatun
liyatafaqqahoo fee a
lddeeni waliyun
thiroo qawmahum i
tha rajaAAoo ilayhim laAAallahum ya
htharoon
a [FONT=Verdana,Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]
9:122 (Y. Ali) Nor should the Believers all go forth together: if a contingent from every expedition
remained behind, they could devote themselves to studies in religion, and admonish the people when
they return to them,- that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil). [/FONT]
The expression
li yatafaqqahu fi al-din, "to gain understanding of the religion," is derived from precisely
the same root (f-q-h) as the word
fiqh or "jurisprudence," and is what Western students of Arabic would call
a "fifth-form verb" (tafa‘‘ala), which indicates that the meaning contained in the root,
understanding,
is accomplished through careful, sustained effort
.