Following one of four Imams (Madhabs)

22-11-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the stand on following one of the 4 Imams in Fiqh, such as Imam Abu Hanifa?

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

The four well-known schools of Islamic Fiqh are as below:1- HANAFI SCHOOL. 2- MALIKI SCHOOL. 3- SHAFI' SCHOOL.4- HANBALI SCHOOL. The Imams (leaders) of these schools are accepted by the UMMAH. These schools are based on the teachings of the QURAN and the SUNNAH. Generally people follow one of the above schools. The followers are of two kinds : A – Those who seek knowledge. B – The common people. The first are the ones who deeply study the Fiqh of the school, which is commonly followed in their country, and know its pieces of evidence from the QURAN and Hadith. These do not discriminate between schools when they get strong evidence from QURAN and SUNNAH, they follow it, regardless of it agreeing with their school or not. This kind of student is a blessed student, probably he will be a source of goodness. As regards a common person, his school is the same as the school of His Mufti (the knowledgeable person, he asks about his Islamic learnings) .There is no mistake in following one of these schools. Following a school, and studying the FIQH according to that school is helpful in improving and memorizing the FIQH and its matters. Allah knows best.