XVIII. QUESTIONS ON IJMA` (CONSENSUS), TAQLID (FOLLOWING QUALIFIED OPINION), AND IKHTILAF AL-FUQAHA' (DIFFERENCES OF THE JURISTS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are we obliged to follow scholars and ijma` (the Consensus of the Scholars) since taqlid (following qualified opinion) is characterized by the "Salafis" as reprehensible, and some of them say: "We do not worship men" to support their opinion? What is ijma` exactly? And do the scholars' differences of opinion in religion constitute a blessing or a curse?

 

ALLAH'S GUIDANCE IS EMBODIED IN THE SCHOLARS OF ISLAM, MAY ALLAH BE PLEASED WITH THEM

 

 

When the "Salafis" say: "We do not worship men," know that it is kalimatu haqqin yuradu biha al-batil -- a word of truth spoken in the pursuit of error. For it is only a flashy cover for their desire to follow other than the path of guidance clarified by the Imams and the fuqaha' on certain questions. Thus they will falsely characterize taqlid as blind imitation. This is the method of a pernicious book of theirs entitled Blind-Following of Madhaahib. They will further falsely characterize ijma` as a thing of the past, claiming that it is unverifiable at present due to the great scattering of the scholars and the multifarious character of modern communication.

 

            The truth is that taqlid is obligatory upon the majority of the Muslim Community, since the majority are not qualified scholars; secondly, knowledge of the questions that enjoy ijma` and those that fall under khilaf  has always been part of the obligatory curriculum of the scholars of Ahl al-Sunna, who exerted massive efforts to make themselves familiar with the positions of each other's schools at all times, although for them the means of communication and education were not nearly as developed as they are today. Yet they were the most intellectually accomplished, most dynamic and scholarly communicative of people, spurring on their mounts in the vanguard of other riders even past the age of sixty in the pursuit of knowledge.[1]  Thus the "Salafis'" pretense that there is no ijma` today only bespeaks their incapacity to keep abreast of such required knowledge and their estrangement from the scholarly community as well as from each other, as is visible from their perpetual internecine disagreements and mutual condemnations.

 

The following is excerpted from a recent interview of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani and pertains to the question of taqlid in Islam.

 

SHAYKH NAZIM. We are followers of the Prophet, SAWS., according to our doctrines that come from the Sahaba, the Ash`aris and the Maturidis, and the Four Madhhabs: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i, and Hanbali. We are "controlled" [muqayyad] by the Four Madhhabs. We have enough proofs. We are not such qualified people as to take [autonomously] what is necessary from the Holy Qur'an and Holy Hadith. We must follow Imams. We must follow Shaykhs. We must follow teachers.

 

INTERVIEWER. But for the average person and those who criticize you, isn't the Qur'an accessible to everyone in terms of reading and understanding? Why should anyone follow a Shaykh?

 

SN. How did they learn that? By themselves? Or did their mothers, their teachers teach them? Who gave them a doctor's degree? A title? They go to universities and they receive titles, after which they are speaking.... They are trusting non-Muslims to make them say they are Doctors. I am never accepting that. In Islam there is only `Ulama (scholars of the Science) not doctors.

 

INT. Does that make the religion only for the `Ulama?

 

SN. Yes! al `ulama' warathatu al anbiya’. [Scholars of knowledge are the inheritors of Prophets]. How are you saying? Is religion for juhala' [ignoramuses]? Is the Din taken from ignorant people? No! we are not accepting. From this day on, we are going to fight them, and we will not let them propagate their false doctrines among Muslims. We have our doctrines.

 

INT. But when the Qur’an says it is "Hudan li al-Nas" [Guidance for mankind] (2:185), what does that mean? Is it restricting its message to just...?

 

SN. Do you understand what is "Nas"? "Nas" also means Europeans, Americans -- they are Nas also! But "Huda"? "Huda" is from the Prophet to his inheritors. Are they inheritors or not? From whom are they taking their knowledge? From non-Muslims. We are not taking from non-Muslims. We are taking from Muslims. And we call our teachers Shaykhs. "Shaykh" and "Imam" means "teacher." We are learning from them, and they teach us from the Qur'an and the Hadith. That is what we teach. We have been authorized.

 

INT. Coming back to your teachings, Mawlana. What is the teaching of Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a?

 

SN. The Prophet said: the Jewish people are divided into 71 sects, Christians into 72 sects, and my Nation is going to be divided into 73 sects. He said: among the 73 sects only one will be on the right path, and the others will be changing and going wrong. They will be mistaken. The Companions asked: O Prophet, who are the right one? He said: Those who stand on my way and my Companions' way are on the right path, and the others are on the wrong. Therefore we say that there must be wrong sects in our day also, but out of His divine justice, Allah Almighty is keeping, among so many wrong paths, one right path. Even if those who follow it are few, it doesn't matter. We are saying that these are Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a -- the ones that keep the Sunnat al-Rasul, sallah allahu alayhi wa sallam, and following it. And today, those that are accepting the Four Madhhabs and accepting the doctrines of Islam according to the time of the Prophet, they are on the right path.

 

INT. So, you are saying about the madhhahib...

 

SN. They must be followed. They must be followed.

 

INT. But the Madhabs were not there at the time of the Prophet?

 

SN. I know. When I was first going to Hijaz, between Jeddah and Mecca there was no paved way. Now there are so many highways and motorcars. Before, there were only tracks for camels, but now it is necessary to make the way wider, and wider, and wider. Similarly, because Islam is not only for Arabs that live in the deserts, but it is an international Religion that was to spread through every kind of nations; and because nations have so many traditional customs, therefore the understanding of Islam was made wider and wider so that everyone may easily follow the way of Allah. That is the reason that we are in need of several madhabs as so many ways, and all of them are taking from the Holy Quran and the noble Hadith.

 

INT. So you mean that we need more madhhabs.

 

SN. No, four lines is enough. I don't think that we need forty lines! There are not so many cars to necessitate more lanes. Four is enough.

 

INT. Where does your teaching fit in these four madhhabs?

 

SN. The Hanafi madhhab. But I am not objecting to whatever followers of other madhhabs do. All of them are going in the same direction. It is not as if one is coming and the other is going. All have the same aim, the same target, the same goal.

 

INT. But these madhhabs, or these great scholars, at that time, interpreted Islam in a certain way, but now, with the world changing, are those interpretations still applicable?

 

SN. Yes. Now you are saying something to which before  you were objecting. Because the Four madhabs made it easy for people to act according to the holy commands of Allah Almighty and His Prophet; and now these people are saying they want to take away the four Madhhabs and make it one way -- the "Salafi" way. "Salafi" people -- who are the "Salafi"? Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab? Is he "Salafi"? Is he the only one? What about the Four Imams, are they not the Salaf al-Salih [Pious Followers]? Or are they the Salaf al-Talih [Worthless Followers]? Who is going to be a witness against Imam al-a`zam [Abu Hanifa], Imam al-Shafi`i, Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal? Who is going to speak against them? How are they finishing that, and they are asking to make one way only, the "Salafi" way?

 

They want to bring the whole Umma into the "Salafi" way, so that if we ask to go forward, they will say: HARAM; if we ask to go back, they will say KUFR; if we ask to go right they will say SHIRK; if we ask to go left, they will say BID`A. Now we can't move anywhere. How are such people going to introduce Islam to whole nations? They are no-mind people.

 

ROLE OF TAQLID

 

 

The obligation to follow the opinion of those more knowledgeable than us is reported by Ibn Qayyim in his discussion of the different kinds of taqlid. He said: "There is an obligatory (wajib) taqlid, a forbidden taqlid, and a permitted taqlid... The obligatory taqlid is the taqlid of those who know better than us, as when a person has not obtained knowledge of an evidence from the Qur'an or the Sunna concerning something.  Such a taqlid has been reported from Imam al-Shafi`i in many places, where he would say: "I said this in taqlid of `Umar" or "I said that in taqlid of `Uthman" or "I said that in taqlid of `Ata'."  As al-Shafi`i said concerning the Companions -- may Allah be well pleased with all of them: "Their opinion for us is better than our opinion to ourselves.""  Ibn Qayyim, A`lam al-muwaqqi`in `an rabb al-`alamin (2:186-187).

            This is the meaning of Imam Ahmad's frequent warning in his answers: "Beware of speaking on a matter regarding which you don't stand on an imam (as your precedent)": iyyaka an tatakallama fi mas'alatin laysa laka fiha imam. Albani says: "This is a frequent saying of Imam Ahmad: see our editions of his responses to various questions, such as Masa'il `Abd Allah ibn Ahmad, Masa'il Ibn Hani' al-Nisaburi, and Masa'il al-Kharqi." Another saying of his under al-Ma'mun's Inquisition was: "How can I say what was never said before?" (kayfa aqulu ma lam yuqal), cited by Ibn Taymiyya in his Majmu` al-fatawa (19:320-341). See Albani's edition of San`ani's Raf` al-astar li ibtali adillat al-qa'ilina bi fana'i al-nar (Beirut & Damascus: al-maktab al-islami, 1405/1984), p. 41.

 

            Jamil Effendi Sidqi al-Zahawi of Baghdad (d. 1930 CE) wrote in al-Fajr al-sadiq, a refutation of the Wahhabi heresy:[2] "Among the evidences for the probative value of ijma' is the Prophet's statement, on him be peace: "My Community will never agree on error."  The content of this hadith is so well-known that it is impossible to lie about it [mutawatir] simply because it is produced in so many narrations, for example: "My Community will not come together on misguidance"; "A group of my Community will continue on truth until the coming of the Hour.";  "The hand of Allah is with the Congregation"; "Whoever separates from the Congregation...";  "Whoever leaves the Community or separates himself from it by the length of a span, dies the death of the Jahiliyya (period of ignorance prior to Islam)" etc."

 

            `Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud said:

 

Whatever the Muslims deem to be good is good in the eyes of Allah and whatever they consider bad is bad in Allah's view.

 

            This is an authentic saying of Ibn Mas`ud. Ahmad related it in his Musnad (1:379 #3599), also al-Bazzar and Tabarani in the Mu`jam al-Kabir as Haythami said in Majma` al-zawa'id, and he adds: "Its narrators are trustworthy."  Al-Amidi considered this to be a hadith whose chain of narration goes back to the Prophet (al-Ihkam fi usul al-ahkam 2nd ed. Beirut, 1401/1982, 1:214).  Ahmad Hasan points out that Abu Hanifa's disciple Imam Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani initially reported this as a hadith, but that later it was attributed to Ibn Mas`ud.[3]

 

            It is not true that its chain as related by Ahmad contains Sulayman ibn `Amr al-Nakha`i as claimed by `Abd al-Wahhab `Abd al-Latif the commentator to Malik's Muwatta' as narrated by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani" in his notes (p. 91); nor that it is not contained in Ahmad's Musnad, as `Abd al-Latif further claims; this is a mistake on the part of hafiz al-Sakhawi in al-Maqasid al-hasana (p. 368) where he says: "Ahmad narrated it in al-Sunna and whoever ascribes it to the Musnad is mistaken [it is in the Musnad]... It is extracted by al-Bazzar, al-Tayalisi, al-Tabarani, and Abu Nu`aym in his biography of Ibn Ma`sud in the Hilya, also by Bayhaqi in al-I`tiqad."

 

            Imam al-Tahawi said in his `Aqida al-tahawiyya:

 

Wa la nukhalifu jama`at al-muslimin "We do not separate [in belief and practice] from the largest group of the Muslims."

 

            The commentators have explained that the "largest group of the Muslims" here refers to the ijma` al-muhtahidin or Consensus of the majority of scholars.

 

            Both the knowledge of the questions on which there is Consensus, and that of the differences of opinions on the questions on which there isn't, are requirements of Islamic scholarship. The first scholar to compile a list of questions on which there was Consensus was Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 318) with his Kitab al-ijma`[4] in which he lists 765 questions of worship and social transactions -- leaving out doctrine -- on which there is agreement not among 100% but among the majority of scholars, which is enough to form Consensus according to the definition of Shafi`i and others such as Tabari (d. 310) and Abu Bakr al-Razi (d. 370).  (Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini said that the questions on which there was Consensus exceeded 20,000. However, the author of the more recent Mawsu`at al-ijma` fi al-fiqh al-islami [Encyclopedia of Consensus in Islamic Law] compiled a total of 9,588 questions.)  Then Ibn Hazm (d. 456) authored Maratib al-ijma` in which he included matters of doctrine but for which he was criticized by Ibn Taymiyya in his Naqd maratib al-ijma` (pub. 1357 H) for claiming that he had compiled the questions on which there was unanimous agreement although he himself contradicts it many times. Suyuti's (d. 911) Tashnif al-asma` bi masa'il al-ijma` was unfortunately lost.

 

            Tirmidhi reports Ibn al-Mubarak's view that jama`a means the concentration of the manners and knowledge of the Sunna in a living person (or group of persons) at any given time, i.e. without the necessity of their forming the Congregation of Muslims. Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi remarks that this is one of the many meanings of the word, and that the most common meaning is that of Congregation in the large sense.[5]

 

            Ibn Taymiyya has two contradictory views about ijma`.  In the Mukhtasar al-fatawa al-misriyya (Cairo, 1980) he says: Al-a'imma ijtima`uhum hujjatun qati`atun wa ikhtilafuhum rahmatun wasi`a: "The Consensus of the Imams [of fiqh] on a question is a definitive proof, and their divergence of opinion is a vast mercy" (p. 35); and: "If one does not follow any of the four Imams [of fiqh]... then he is completely in error, for the truth is not found outside of these four in the whole Shari`a" (p. 54).

 

            In the second view Ibn Taymiyya departs from the above and divides the definition of ijma` into two kinds, a general one as expressed in views similar to the above, and a particular one to which he reserves particular adherence, which is that of the Salaf (Pious Predecessors). He says in his Aqida wasitiyya:

 

The Ahl al-Sunna... are also called Ahl al-Jama`a because jama`a (Community) implies ijtima` (gathering), its opposite being furqa (separation), and the expression jama`a has become a name for people who share the same conviction, while ijma` (Consensus) is the third principle (asl) on which knowledge of divine law (`ilm) and Religion (din) rest... Ijma` is defined as everything which people follow (jami` ma `alayh al-Nas) in matters of religion. But the ijma` to which there is to be meticulous adherence is what the first pious generations (al-Salaf al-salih) agreed upon, for after them divergences became numerous and the Community became spread out.

 

            Note that he scatters the concept of ijma` between two diametrically opposed areas: the amorphous, unfalsifiable mass of "the people" on the one hand, and the bygone, crystallized era of the Salaf. The above departs from the position of all four schools, for whom the notion of ijma` rests on two fundamentals:

 

a) the Consensus of Muslim scholars;

b) the Consensus of Muslim scholars at any given time in history.

 

            That Ibn Taymiyya particularly departed from the Hanbali school's position is clear from Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama's concept of ijma` in his al-Rawda fi usul al-fiqh as providing a categorical proof which permits of neither abrogation nor allegorical interpretation -- unlike the Qur'an and the Sunna -- while Ibn Taymiyya rejects the notion that the Community is incapable of agreeing on an error. Perhaps this explains why he himself left ijma` alone on more questions than anyone else of those considered among Ahl al-Sunna before him, although Imam Ahmad said that for the single scholar to leave ijma` constitutes shudhudh (dissent and deviation).[6] Ibn Taymiyya was severely brought to task for this by such scholars as Shaykh al-Islam al-hafiz Taqi al-Din al-Subki, al-hafiz al-`Izz ibn Jama`a, Shaykh al-Islam Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Taqi al-Din al-Hisni al-Dimashqi, Imam al-San`ani (in Raf` al-astar), and others.

 

ROLE OF IJMA`

 

 

Imam al-Shafi`i defines the ijma` thus in his Risala:

 

The adherence of the Congregation (jama`a) of Muslims to the conclusions of a given ruling pertaining to what is permitted and what is forbidden after the passing of the Prophet, Peace be upon him.

 

By "Congregation of Muslims" he actually means the experts of independent reasoning (ahl al-ijtihad) and legal answers in the obscure matters which require insight and investigation, as well as the agreement of the Community of Muslims concerning what is obligatorily known of the religion with its decisive proofs.[7]

 

            Shafi`i continues (Risala p. 253): "The Prophet's order that men should follow the Muslim Community is a proof that the Ijma` of the Muslims is binding." Later on (p. 286) he quotes the hadith whereby the Prophet said: "Believe my Companions, then those who succeed them, and after that those who succeed the Successors. But after them falsehood will prevail when people will swear to the truth without having been asked to swear, and testify without having been asked to testify. Only those who seek the pleasures of Paradise will keep to the Congregation..."[8] Shafi`i comments: "He who holds what the Muslim Congregation (jama`a) holds shall be regarded as following the Congregation, and he who holds differently shall be regarded as opposing the Congregation he was ordered to follow. So the error comes from separation; but in the Congregation as a whole there is no error concerning the meaning of the Qur'an, the Sunna, and analogy (qiyas)."

 

TEXTS ON IJMA`

 

 

1. Fa`tasimu bi hablillahi jami`an wa la tafarraqu

 

"Hold fast to the rope of Allah, all of you, and do not split into factions" (3:103).

 

 

2. Wa la tafarraqu illa min ba`di ma ja'ahum al-`ilmu baghyan

baynahum

 

"And they were not divided until after the knowledge came unto them, through rivalry among themselves" (42:14).

 

 

3. Ya ayyuha al-ladhina amanu ati`ullaha wa ati`u al-rasula

wa uli al-amri minkum

 

"O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Prophet and those of authority among you" (4:59).

 

 

4. Wa man yushaqiq al-rasula min ba`di ma tabayyana lahu al-huda wa yattabi` ghayra sabil al-mu'minin nuwallihi ma tawalla wa nuslihi jahannama wa sa'at masira

 

"Whoever contraverts the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the believers' way, We shall give him over to what he has turned to and expose him unto hell, and how evil an outcome!" (4:115).

 

 

5. Wa asbir nafsaka ma` al-ladhina yad`una rabbahum bi al-ghadati wa al-`ashiyyi yuriduna wajhah wa la ta`du `aynaka `anhum turidu zinat al-hayat al-dunya wa la tuti` man aghfalna qalbahu `an dhikrina wa ittaba`a hawahu wa kana amruhu furutan

 

"Restrain thyself along with those who call upon their Lord at morning and evening, seeking his pleasure; and let not thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of this worldly life; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust and whose case has gone beyond all bounds." (18:28)

 

 

6. Ati`u Allaha wa ati`u al-rasula wa uli al-amri minkum...

 

"Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those who are in charge of affairs among you. Should you happen to dispute over something, then refer it to Allah and to the Messenger." (4:58-59)

 

 

7. `Alaykum bi al-jama`a fa innallaha la yajma`u ummata Muhammadin `ala dalala

 

"You have to follow the Congregation for verily Allah will not make the largest group of Muhammad's Community agree on error."[9]

 

 

8. La yajma`ullahu ummata Muhammadin `ala dalala

 

"Verily Allah will not make Muhammad's Community agree on error."[10]

 

 

8a. La yajma`ullahu ummati `ala dalala

 

"Verily Allah will not make my Community agree on error"[11]

 

 

8b. Inna Allaha la yajma`u ummati -- aw qala: ummata Muhammadin --`ala dalalatin wa yadullahi ma` al-jama`a

 

"Verily Allah will not make my Community -- or Muhammad's Community -- agree on error, and Allah's hand is with the largest Congregation."  Tirmidhi said: "And the meaning of "jama`a" according to the people of knowledge is: the people of jurisprudence, learning, and hadith."[12]

 

There are several views about the meaning of Umma in the preceding hadiths:

 

·         It means the overwhelming majority of the Muslims. This is the prevailing view, confirmed by many hadiths of the Companions, and also by the hadiths of the Prophet on jama`a and al-sawad al-a`zam.

 

·         It refers to the scholars only. It is the position of the majority of the fuqaha' that this is what is meant in such hadiths, and also in the saying of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad: "difference in the Umma is a mercy," i.e. among the scholars. Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi gave the same restricted meaning to jama`a.

 

·         It refers, like jama`a, only to the Companions themselves. This is the view of Ibn Taymiyya and a handful of scholars.

 

·         It refers to all of the Muslims and not to any particular section of them. This is the view of Imam Shafi`i who said in his Risala: "We know that the people at large cannot agree on an error and on what may contradict the Sunna of the Prophet." It is also the view of the scholars of hadith regarding the authentication of a weak hadith: if the people at large do it, then it becomes sahih and even mutawatir. An example is talqin al-mayyit, which Imam Ahmad accepted on the basis of its universal acceptance rather than on the basis of isnad as stated by Ibn al-Qayyim in Kitab al-ruh.

 

9. Man arada minkum bi habuhat al-jannati fal yulzim al-jama`at

 

"Whoever among you wants to be in the middle of Paradise, let him cling to the Congregation."[13]

 

 

10. Inna al-shaytana dhaybun ka dhayb al-ghanam ya'khudh al-shat al-qasiya wal-najiya fa iyyakum wal-shu`aab wa `alaykum bil-jama`ati wal-`aammati wal-masjid

 

"Shaytan is a wolf like the wolf that preys on sheep, taking the isolated and the stray among them; therefore, avoid factionalism and keep to the Congregation and the collective and the masjid."[14]

 

 

11. Inna ummati la tajtami`u `ala dalalatin fa idha ra'aytum al-ikhtilaf fa `alaykum bi al-sawad al-a`zam.

 

"My Community shall never agree upon misguidance, therefore, if you see divergences, you must follow the greater mass or larger group."[15]

 

 

11a. Lan tajtami`a ummati `ala dalalatin fa `alaykum bi al-jama`ati fa inna yadullahi `ala al-jama`a.

 

"My Community shall not agree upon misguidance. Therefore, you must stay with the Congregation, and Allah's hand is over the Congregation."[16]

 

 

12. Innallaha qad ajara ummati min an tajtami`a `ala dalala

 

"Verily Allah has protected my Community from agreeing upon error."[17]

 

 

13. Kana al-nasu yas'aluna Rasulallahi `an al-khayr wa kuntu as'aluhu `an al-sharr...qultu ya rasulallahi sifhum lana [ayy al-du`at `ala abwabi jahannam] qala hum min jildatina wa yatakallamuna bi alsinatina qultu fa ma ta'murni in adrakani dhalik al-yawm? qala tulzim jama`at al-muslimin wa imamahum

 

"People used to ask the Prophet about the good and I used to ask him about the evil... I said: O Messenger of Allah, describe them to us [the callers at the door of the fire]. He said: They are of our complexion and they speak our very language. I said: What do you order me to do if that day reaches me? He said: You must  keep to the Congregation of Muslims and to their leader."[18]

 

 

14. Yadu Allah `ala al-jama`a

 

"Allah's hand is over the group."[19]

 

            al-Munawi said: "Allah's hand is over the group means His protection and preservation for them, signifying that the collectivity of the people of Islam are in Allah's fold, so be also in Allah's shelter, in the midst of them, and do not separate yourselves from them. Whoever diverges from the overwhelming majority concerning what is lawful and unlawful and on which the Community does not differ has slipped off the path of guidance and this will lead him to hell."[20]

 

 

14a. Yadu Allah `ala al-jama`at wa man shadhdha shadhdha ila al-nar.

 

"Allah's hand is over the group, and whoever dissents from them departs  to hell."[21]

 

 

14b. Yadu Allah `ala al-jama`a, ittabi`u al-sawad al-a`zam fa innahu man shadhdha shadhdha ila al-nar.

 

"Allah's hand is over the group, follow the largest mass, for verily whoever dissents from them departs  to hell."[22]

14c. Man faraqa al-jama`ata shibran mata maytatan Jahiliyya.

 

"Whoever leaves the Community or separates himself from it by the length of a span, dies the death of the Jahiliyya (period of ignorance prior to Islam)";[23]

 

15. Abu Ghalib said that during the crisis with the Khawarij in Damascus he saw Abu Umama one day and he was crying. He asked him what made him cry and he replied: "They followed our religion," then he mentioned what was going to happen to them tomorrow. Abu Ghalib said: "Are you saying this according to your opinion or from something you heard the Prophet say?" Abu Umama said: "What I just told you I did not hear from the Prophet only once, or twice, or three times, but more than seven times. Did you not read this verse in Al `Imran: The day faces will be white and faces will be dark..."? (3:106) to the end of the verse. Then he said: I heard the Prophet say: "The Jews separated into 71 sects, 70 of which are in the fire; the Christians into 72 sects, 71 of which are in the fire; and this Community will separate into 73 sects, all of them are in the fire except one which will enter Paradise." We said: "Describe it for us." He said: "The Sawad al-a`zam."

 

Haythami said in Majma` al-zawa'id: Tabarani narrated it in al-Mu`jam al-kabir and al-Awsat, and its narrators are

trustworthy (thiqat).

 

16. Ma ra'ahu al-muslimuna hasanan fa huwa `ind Allahi hasanun.

 

"That which the Muslims consider good, Allah considers good."[24]

 

 

17. Sataftariqu ummati `ala thalathat wa sab`ina firqatin kulluhum fil nari ila millatin wahidat, qalu man hiya ya rasulallah, qala ma ana `alayhi wa as-habi

 

"My Community will split into seventy-three sects.  All of them will be in the fire except one group.  They asked: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?  He said: Those that follow my way and that of  my companions."[25]

 

 

18. La tazalu ta'ifatun min ummati yuqatiluna `ala al-haqqi zahirina ila yawm al-qiyama

 

"There will always be a group from my Community that fight for truth and remain victorious until Judgment Day."[26]

 

THE MEANING OF AL-SAWAD AL-A`ZAM

 

 

The Sawad al-a`zam means a "massive gathering of human beings" and this meaning is ascertained by the following sound hadith in Tirmidhi (hasan sahih):

 

Ibn `Abbas narrated: When the Prophet was taken up to heaven he passed by Prophets followed by their nations and he passed by Prophets followed by their groups and he passed by Prophets followed by no one until he saw a tremendous throng of people (sawad `azim) so he said: "Who are these?" and the answer was: "These are Musa and his nation, but raise your head and look up," whereupon the Prophet said: "(I raised my head and saw) a tremendous throng (sawad `azim) that had blocked up the entire firmament from this side and that!" And it was said: "These are your Nation..."

 

MADHHAB DIFFERENCES IN ISLAM

AND THE STATUS OF IKHTILAF

(DIFFERENCES AMONG THE JURISTS)

 

 

1. al-Hafiz al-Bayhaqi in his book al-Madkhal and al-Zarkashi in his Tadhkirah fi al-ahadith al-mushtaharah relate:

 

Imam al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq said: "The differences among the Companions of Muhammad are a mercy for Allah's servants."

 

al-Hafiz al-`Iraqi the teacher of Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani said:

 

This is a saying of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad who said: The difference of opinion among the Companions of Muhammad is a mercy.

 

 

2. Al-Hafiz Ibn al-Athir in the introduction to his Jami` al-usul fi ahadith al-rasul relates the above saying from Imam Malik according to al-Hafiz Ibn al-Mulaqqin in his Tuhfat al-muhtaj ila adillat al-Minhaj and Ibn al-Subki in his Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya.

 

 

3. Bayhaqi and Zarkashi also said:

 

Qutada said: `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz used to say: "I would dislike it if the Companions of Muhammad did not differ among them, because had they not differed there would be no leeway (for us)."

 

4. Bayhaqi also relates in al-Madkhal and Zarkashi in the Tadhkira:

 

al-Layth ibn Sa`d said on the authority of Yahya ibn Sa`id: "The people of knowledge are the people of flexibility (tawsi`a).  Those who give fatwas never cease to differ, and so this one permits something while that one forbids it, without one finding fault with the other when he knows of his position."

 

 

5. Al-Hafiz al-Sakhawi said in his Maqasid al-hasana p. 49 #39 after quoting the above:

 

I have read the following written in my shaykh's (al-Hafiz ibn Hajar) handwriting: "The hadith of Layth is a reference to a very famous hadith of the Prophet, cited by Ibn al-Hajib in the Mukhtasar in the section on qiyas (analogy), which says: "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy for people" (ikhtilafu ummati rahmatun li al-Nas). There is a lot of questioning about its authenticity, and many of the imams of learning have claimed that it has no basis (la asla lahu). However, al-Khattabi mentions it in the context of a digression in Gharib al-hadith... and what he says concerning the tracing of the hadith is not free from imperfection, but he makes it known that it does have a basis in his opinion."

 

 

6. Al-`Iraqi mentions all of the above (1-5) in his Mughni `an haml al-asfar and adds:

 

What is meant by "the Community" in this saying is those competent for practicing legal reasoning (al-muhtahidun) in the branches of the law, wherein reasoning is permissible.

 

            What `Iraqi meant by saying "the branches wherein reasoning is permissible" is that difference is not allowed in matters of doctrine, since there is agreement that there is only one truth in the essentials of belief and anyone, whether a muhtahid or otherwise, who takes a different view automatically renounces Islam as stated by Shawkani.[27]

 

            Albani in his attack on the hadith "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy" ignores this distinction and even adduces the verse: "If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein much discrepancy" (4:82) in order to prove that differences can never be a mercy in any case but are always a curse.[28] His point is directed entirely against those who are content to follow a madhhab. The only scholar he quotes in support of his position is Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri, whose mistake in this was denounced by Nawawi.

 

 

7. Ibn Hazm said in al-Ihkam fi usul al-ahkam (5:64):

 

The saying "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy" is the most perverse saying possible, because if difference were mercy, agreement would be anger, and it is impossible for a Muslim to say this, because there can only be either agreement, or difference, and there can only be either mercy, or anger.

 

Imam Nawawi refuted this view in his Commentary on Sahih Muslim:

 

If something (i.e. agreement) is a mercy it is not necessary for its opposite to be the opposite of mercy. No-one makes this binding, and no-one even says this except an ignoramus or one who affects ignorance. Allah the Exalted said: "And of His mercy He has made night for you so that you would rest in it" (28:73), and He has named night a mercy: it does not necessarily ensue from this that the day is a punishment.

 

 

8. al-Khattabi said in Gharib al-hadith:

 

Difference of opinion in religion is of three kinds:

 

·         In affirming the Creator and His Oneness: to deny it is disbelief;

 

·         In His attributes and will: to deny them is innovation;

 

·         In the different rulings of the branches of the law (ahkam al-furu`): Allah has made them mercy and generosity for the scholars, and that is the meaning of the hadith: "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy."[29]

 

 

9. al-Hafiz al-Suyuti says in his short treatise Jazil al-mawahib fi ikhtilaf al-madhahib (The abundant grants concerning the differences among the schools):

 

The hadith "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy for people" has many benefits among which are the fact that the Prophet foretold of the differences that would arise after his time among the madhahib in the branches of the law, and this is one of his miracles because it is a foretelling of things unseen. Another benefit is his approval of these differences and his confirmation of them because he characterizes them as a mercy. Another benefit is that the legally responsible person can choose to follow whichever he likes among them. [After citing the saying of `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz already quoted (#3 above), Suyuti continues:] This indicates that what is meant is their differences in the rulings in the branches of the law.

 

 

10. The muhaddith al-Samhudi relates al-Hafiz Ibn al-Salah's discussion of Imam Malik's saying concerning difference of opinion among the Companions: "Among them is the one that is wrong and the one that is right: therefore you must exercise ijtihad." Samhudi said:

 

Clearly, it refers to differences in legal rulings (ahkam). Ibn al-Salah said: "This is different from what Layth said concerning the flexibility allowed for the Community, since this applies exclusively to the muhtahid as he said: "you must exercise ijtihad," because the muhtahid's competence makes him legally responsible (mukallaf) to exercise ijtihad and there is no flexibility allowed for him over the matter of their difference. The flexibility applies exclusively to the unqualified follower (muqallid). The people meant in the saying: "Difference of opinion in my Community is a mercy for people" are those unqualified followers. As for the import of Malik's saying "Among the Companions is the one that is wrong and the one that is right," it is meant only as an answer to those who say that the muhtahid is able to follow the Companions.  It is not meant for others.

 

 

11. Imam Abu Hanifa said in the shorter version of al-Fiqh al-Akbar:

 

Difference of opinion in the Community is a token of divine mercy.

 

 

12. Ibn Qudama al-Hanbali said in al-`Aqa'id:

 

The difference in opinion in the Community is a mercy, and their agreement is a proof.

 

 

13. Ibn Taymiyya in the Mukhtasar al-fatawa al-misriyya says:

 

al-a'imma ijtima`uhum hujjatun qati`atun wa ikhtilafuhum rahmatun wasi`a -- The Consensus of the Imams [of fiqh] on a question is a definitive proof, and their divergence of opinion is a vast mercy... If one does not follow any of the four Imams [of fiqh]... then he is completely in error, for the truth is not found outside of these four in the whole Shari`a.[30]