Studying Islam

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[quote]There are not just four but hundreds of saintly scholars whom we refer to as Imam in regard of their guidance to us but our greatest and the real Imam remains the holy Prophet (pbuh). He guided the Sahaba in every walk of life through his actions and instructions. Like in the above instance, the companions generally knew the context of the instruction given to them and no confusion arose. With the passage of time, people started getting confused as they did not know the exact context of all the saying of the Prophet (pbuh). It was then that to them some Hadiths seemed mutually contradictory. There was another essential intricacy besides many others. New complexities arose and unprecedented situations required solutions with the passage of time and the average people were not adept in deriving the solutions in the light of Quran and Sunnah. Rising to the occasion, the scholars started codification of Islamic laws for the convenience of the masses. The codification came to be known as Fiqh. Since the exercise started around a century after the Prophet (pbuh), it is not surprising that the scholars differed in their opinion on many issues. The Sunni Muslims regard four earliest pioneers of Fiqh as the most authentic Fiqh authorities who codified the law. They are Imam(s) Malik, Abu Hanifa, Shafai, and Ahmad Bin Hambal. There are many reasons for differences of opinion among them on many problems but the chief reason is the difference in their understanding of context of the Prophet’s actions and instructions.

Scholarly investigation is an evolutionary process but unfortunately the followers of four schools of thought became four sects of Sunni Muslims as they preferred blind following over research based modifications and improvements. When two scholars have opposite views on a subject, on most such occasions at least one of them has to be on wrong footing. Later scholars, by impartial investigation and unbiased research, could have analyzed the reasons forwarded by the four Imams behind their different ruling and in most instances could have come to right conclusions but the allegiance factor dominated the impartial investigation.

For an average Muslim, it is safer to follow any one of them till he is capable of coming to the right conclusion on certain issue of difference, in the light of Quran, Sunnah and rationale. One should leave blind following and not hesitate to make amend to the extant of that particular problem of which he has acquired knowledge and found that the Imam, he was following erred in that matter.[/quote]

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