Why Do We Study Fiqh Through The Jurisprudential Schools (Madhāhib)?
By Shaykh Prof. Dr. ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muḥammad al-Shuwayʿir
Q: Why do we study fiqh through the jurisprudential schools (Madhāhib)?
A: Because the branches of fiqh are numerous, and a person cannot learn fiqh by studying all juristic opinions. Rather, he follows one school of thought, this is from one perspective.
From another perspective: if a book is based on a specific school -regardless of whether it is this (Hanbali) school or another- it will be consistent, because it is built on a unified set of principles. This is especially the case with the four followed madhāhib; no book in these schools was authored except that thousands of scholars successively worked on explaining it, annotating it, abridging it, teaching it, and memorizing it. If they found within it any branch that contradicted a principle or the established practice, they would clarify it and refute it.
For this reason, seeking fiqh through the framework of a jurisprudential school -adhering to one of the four madhāhib- has been the way of the scholars. This is supported by what came from the Prophet ﷺ in the ḥadīth of Abū al-Dardāʾ and others:
“Whoever takes a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise.”
They said: the indefinite noun (path) in the context of affirmation implies generality in all its forms. There are many paths to seeking knowledge, one of which is the path of following a madhhab and benefiting from it. It is not the only path, but it is the path most scholars have seen as suitable for people’s intellects and their relative weakness compared to the earlier generations of scholars.
Thus, following a madhhab is neither shameful, nor blameworthy, nor a shortcoming. In fact, it is a means to attaining understanding in fiqh. Look at whomever you wish among the jurists from the fourth century hijri until our present time -and even slightly before it- anyone regarded as a jurist must be either affiliated with or trained through one of the madhāhib.
So what is blameworthy? It is fanaticism toward a madhhab, when you encounter an opinion of your school that is opposed by a clear text from the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, or the consensus of the Companions, and you abandon the correct, stronger view under the pretext of following your school.
This sectarian partisanship toward the madhāhib is what is blameworthy.
Sharḥ Zād al-Mustaqniʿ by Sharaf al-Dīn Abū al-Najā Mūsā ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥajjāwī (d. 968 AH)
Explained By Shaykh Prof. Dr. ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Muḥammad al-Shuwayʿir
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