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How did the Four Imams differ in their Approach?
Question asked by Moumisham.
Posted on: Saturday, November 27, 2004 - Hits: 3831

Question:
What is the difference between salafis and the other schools of thought i.e. the four imams?

Answer:
The salafis are a school of thought which prefers following the hadith strictly once a narrative has been declared Sahih by the scholars of the science of hadith. They do not exercise ijtihaad on the issues already discussed in the hadith narratives. However, they do not and cannot exercise this always. The four Imams also make use of the authentic traditions but they also try to consider sense and reason and analogical reasoning from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. They sometimes reject narratives on different grounds, for example, the hanafis would not accept the narratives regarding raising the hands before and after ruku' in the prayer since they think that the act should have been done before the whole Muslim community and should have been incorporated in the practice, and adhered to by the whole Muslim generation, and not just by a few individuals from the entire Muslim Ummah. This is because the Prophet (sws) offered prayer before the whole generation of the Companions from whom the practice passed on through the consensus of the companions and the tawaatur of all the succeeding generations. Among the four Imams, Imam Shafi'i and Ahmed bin Hanbal would rely more on Hadith then analogy. So these are a couple of examples, highlighting differences of approach.

Regards,
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Research Assistant, Studying Islam

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