40 - The religion reformer, in a fury which drives him into a loss of words, says:

"Those persons who care for no one who tells the truth have said that taqlid exists because of discussions, desire for fame, personal advantages and being accustomed to it.

"Al-Imam as-Suyuti said that ijtihad was fard kifaya in every century. It is fard that there be a mujtahid in every century. They should be absolute (mutlaq) mujtahids. It is wrong to say, 'There came no absolute mujtahid after the fourth [Islamic] century. There came a few absolute mujtahids later, yet because their ijtihads coincided with the ijtihad of the imam al-madhhab who educated them, they were considered to be in his madhhab.' Therefore, if a person follows an independent way of ijtihad without following any of the four madhhabs, no one will have the right to object to him. One of the absolute mujtahids educated in this manner was Hadrat Imam Muhammad ash-Shawkani who died in 1250 A.H. [1834]. His madhhab is the strongest of the madhhabs that are known, and his words are the soundest."

The religion reformer claims that the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat were afraid of telling the truth. He slanders; they always told the truth in every century. As everybody knows, many of them were martyred for this reason. There is no partisanship in Islam; why should we search for its causes, then? There are the four madhhabs today. None of them belongs to anybody. Each Muslim follows the madhhab he likes, for, all four of them are right. All four are true. All four are Ahl as-Sunnat. All four are Muhammadi. All of those who follow the four madhhabs consider one another as brothers. The iman, the beliefs, of all of them are the same. Most of their actions are the same, too. They are different in doing a few discordant affairs. Furthermore, this difference is a compassion, a blessing of Allahu ta'ala upon Muslims.

There are no men of religious duty who do not know the high religious status of Hadrat 'Abd al-Wahhab ash-Sharani, who was a great scholar, expert in batini and Zahiri knowledge. Only religion reformers refuse to accept his status. This exalted scholar wrote:

"The imams of the four madhhabs and all scholars who followed them said that every Muslim was free to adapt himself to any of the four madhhabs, that it was permissible to transfer oneself from one madhhab to another, and that one could follow another madhhab when there was kharaj (compulsory necessity). Allahu ta'ala decreed and predestinated in the eternal past that Muslims would part into four madhhabs and that this would be useful for His human servants. If He had not decreed so, it would not have been so, and His Messenger ('alaihi 's-salam) would not have said that this parting was of the Divine Compassion, and as He had prohibited parting in belief (itiqad), so He would have prohibited parting in actions (a'mal). Every affair has an 'azima (difficult way) as well as a rukhsa (easy way). An affair has its 'azima in one madhhab, while its rukhsa is permitted in another madhhab. A person who can do the azima is not permitted to pick out the rukhsas of the four madhhabs. Doing so means making a game of Islam. Rukhsas are for those who are unable to do 'azimas. Moreover, it is better for the able person not to do the rukhsa in his own madhhab, either. One should act upon 'azimas as much as he can. Non-mujtahids have to choose one madhhab and follow it in everything they do. When they reach a grade to infer rules from the Nass (ayats and hadiths) by way of nazar (careful examination) and istidlal (reasoning, convincing oneself with reasonable evidences), they must follow their own ijtihads. This is stated in Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal's saying, 'Obtain your knowledge from the source your imams did. Don't go on with the taqlid.' Abu Muhammad al-Jawini (d. 478/1085) wrote in his book Muhit, 'It is wara' and taqwa for capable people to do the 'azimas of the four madhhabs and it is very good. It is permissible for incapable people to do the rukhsas of the four madhhabs, but all the requirements of a rukhsa in a madhhab should be fulfilled.'

"Al-Imam as-Suyuti says: 'There are two kinds of mujtahids: mujtahid mutlaq and mujtahidi fi 'l-madhhab. A scholar who is a mujtahidi fi 'l-madhhab does not follow the imam of his own madhhab; he issues a fatwa as a result of his own inference, but he has to look for the documentary evidence according to the principles (qawa'id) of the imam of the madhhab. He cannot go beyond these principles. No mujtahid mutlaq came after the imams of the four madhhabs. That is, no scholar claimed to be a mujtahid mutlaq. Only Muhammad Jarir at-Tabari claimed to be so, yet no scholar admitted his claim.'

"When Shaikh 'Izz ad-din ibn Jamaat issued a fatwa for a matter in accordance with another madhhab, he would always include all the conditions concerning that affair required by that madhhab's imam and state that the conditions were to be fulfilled, and would add, 'If you do not do them, it will not be sahih as an 'ibada,' for, doing the rukhsas of madhhabs is permissible only when there is hardship in doing 'azimas, and with proviso that one shall fulfill all their conditions.

"If one's hand touches a woman [he is and/or was permitted to marry with nikah], his ablution breaks according to the Shafi'i madhhab but it does not in the Hanafi madhhab. When it is possible for a Shafi'i who has touched [such] a woman to perform an ablution again, it will not be sahih (valid, lawful) for him to perform salat with his broken ablution by following the Hanafi madhhab. His following the Hanafi madhhab in this respect requires the existence of a compulsory hardship; that is, it must be impossible for him to perform an ablution, again and he has to do all the things that are fard and wajib in an ablution and salat according to the Hanafi madhhab." [Abd al-Wahhab ash-Sha'rani, Al-mizan al-kubra, the preface.]

The religion reformer, taking the scholars' comment that there may come mujtahidi fi 'l-madhhab in every century, claims that absolute (mutlaq) mujtahids who will not follow the four madhhabs will come. By saying that "hadrat" ash-Shawkani brought a new madhhab in this manner, he praises another religion reformer like himself. The great scholar Hadrat Sayyid Abdulhakim-i-Arwasi (quddisa sirruh) explained ash-Shawkani's real purpose in a letter, saying, "Ash-Shawkani and many other people like him were far from being authorities in Islam. Ash-Shawkani's words cannot be documents in religious affairs. You write that ash-Shawkani said that the tafsir of Ibn 'Abbas was not a tafsir at all. There is not such a tafsir book of Ibn 'Abbas. 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (radi-Allahu 'anhuma) did not write any book. Having attended the valuable sohbat of the Prophet, Master of the Universe ('alaihi 's-salam), and having seen Jabrail ('alaihi 's-salam), and being one of the most learned among as-Sahabat al-kiram ('alaihimu 'r-ridwan) he made some explanations on some ayats as well as on some hadiths. Our scholars of tafsir adopted these explanations and embellished their books of tafsir with them. One of them is the tafsir by al-Baidawi. Islamic scholars unanimously said that such tafsirs were of a very high grade. Ash-Shawkani's words should be corrected, and the one who will do it must know the subtle principles of 'ilm al-usul al-hadith. However, it is not known that ash-Shawkani reached such a high status in knowledge, for if he had reached it, he would not have said anything disagreeing with the principles of the great scholars." In fact, ash-Shawkani belonged to the Zaidi heresy. [Muhammad ibn Ahmad Khalaf, Mufti of Kuwait, Jawab as-sa'il. p. 69.]

When ash-Shawkani's books, for example, Irshad al-fuhul, are studied carefully, it will be concluded that he disguised himself in taqiyya, that is, he made himself known as a Sunni thought he was a Zaidi; for, it was obligatory for such heretics to disguise themselves in taqiyya while they lived among Ahl as-Sunnat. Throughout his book, among the names of Ahl as-Sunnat scholars, he wrote the names of and gave quotations from the scholars belonging to old heretical groups whose names and books were forgotten and whose instigations were suppressed, and he had them debate and tried to prove reformers and la-madhhabi ones among them to be right. For example, he claimed that absolute ijtihad would be employed till the end of the world. He wrote that Ibn 'Abd as-Salam, and his disciple Ibn Daqiq al-'id (d. 702/1302), and his disciple Ibn Sayyid an-nas, and his disciple Zain ad-din al-'Iraqi (d. 806/1404) and his disciple Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and many others were absolute (mutlaq) mujtahids; thus, he surreptitiously attempted to abolish Ahl as-Sunnat and to make himself known as a mujaddid superior to all of them and as a mediator between 'ulama'. Today, young men of religious profession, seeing that he had read hundreds of books in Arabic, his mother tongue, and that he seemed to play the role of a mediator between the 'ulama', suppose this mulhid to be a mujtahid and, following him, dissent from Ahl as-Sunnat.

Muhammad ash-Shawkani wrote in his book Irshad al-fuhul:

"Taqlid means to admit someone's ra'y (opinion) or ijtihad without knowing his documents. To admit someone's narration (khabar) means to admit the words of the person whom he quotes. According to the majority of scholars, taqlid is never permissible in a'mal. Ibn Hazm said that there was unanimity on this. Al-Qurafi said that it was so in the Maliki madhhab. Ash-Shafi'i and Abu Hanifa each said, 'Do not follow me!' There is the unanimity that it is not permissible to follow the dead. It is surprising that the scholars of usul had not conveyed this. Many muqallids of the four aimmat al-madhahib say that taqlid is wajib for the 'ami (ordinary Muslim). Since those who say so are muqallids, their words cannot be documents. There was no taqlid during the time of as-Sahaba and the Tabiin. They learned the Book and the Sunnat by asking one another. In fact, the ayat, 'Ask those who know!' means 'Ask what the Divine Rule is.' It does not mean to 'ask about the opinions of those who know.' The ayat, 'Refer the things on which you disagree to Allah and to His Messenger,' prohibits taqlid. Rasulullah, whenever he sent a Sahabi to somewhere, would say, 'When you cannot find [the solution of] something in the Sunnat, judge about it by finding it out through your own ra'y!' A person who follows a mujtahid will have made him the possessor of Islam, which belongs to Rasulullah."

Ash-Shawkani's statement "According to the majority of scholars, taqlid is never permissible in a'mal," is his own opinion, in which he misinterprets the fact that the mujtahids' taqlid of one another is not permissible. He gives reference from such a disunionist as Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064). The four aimmat al-madhahib never said that ordinary Muslims should not imitate others. We have written about this already. And the idea "it is not permissible to follow the dead," is one of the beliefs in Shiism to which as-Shawkani belonged. That he is surprised at Ahl as-Sunnat scholars' not holding the same idea shows that he was a heretic who held much to this Shiite belief. And his reference that since the scholars of fiqh belonging to the four madhhabs "are muqallids, their words could not be documents," shows that he is confused because of his own heresy and excessive bigotry. Whereas, he admits in his first two sentences that a scholar of fiqh who is a muqallid follows the imam al-madhhab and does not speak from himself, and his words are the imam al-madhhab's words, which, as he himself means in his tenth sentence, are documents. It was certainly true that the taqlid was unnecessary during the time of as-Sahabat al-kiram, since they all were mujtahids. But there are thousands of examples, listed in many books, showing that the muqallids among the Tabiin were much greater than mujtahids. By writing that Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) commanded the Sahabis whom he sent as judges to other places to judge in accordance with their own ra'y, ash-Shawkani rebuts his own claims. Allahu ta'ala makes him, too, prove that Ahl as-Sunnat is right.

As it is seen, the la-madhhabi and religion reformers speak through the tongue of ash-Shawkani. In order to deceive Ahl as-Sunnat, the reformer represents a heretic, an enemy of Ahl as-Sunnat, as a mujtahid mutlaq. It is written in Al-usul al-arba'a that ash-Shawkani did not belong to a madhhab, that he said "disbeliever and polytheist" about one who followed a madhhab, and that the la-madhhabi regard him as a mujtahid.