The Salafi Paradox

For those of us who adhere to one of the four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, and Hanbali), we are no strangers to the phrase “Brother, you should just follow the Quran and the Sunnah!” Outwardly, a very honorable and noble statement, which leaves no room for argument or discussion in the eyes of any upstanding and proper Muslim! But do not be fooled by the apple’s glossy outside, as its innards have rotten away and spoiled. Although this statement may come from a sound place of wanting to hold fast to the truth and to not allow any form of adulteration to worm its way into the religion, it carries with it immense implications, that being that the imams of these four schools were not following or, even worse, went against the Quran and Sunnah. Yet, we see from not only the way they lived their lives but also their emphatic statements that these hidden claims could not be any farther from the truth:

• Imam Abu Hanifa, the metaphorical “father” of Qiyas (Deductive analogy), states:

People will continue to be in goodness as long as amongst them are those who seek hadith, for if they seek knowledge without hadith they will become corrupt

He also strongly warns the people:

Be warry in speaking of the religion of Allah ﷻ from your own opinion and it is upon you to follow the sunnah, for whoever leaves it will be lost

• Imam al-Shafii, whose depth in his knowledge of hadith is known by all, poses the question:

Which land will carry me if I narrate a hadith from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and said other than it (in regards to his fiqh)

While on another occasion, when asked by his student al-Humaidi, who was the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari himself, if he (Imam Shafii) followed a certain hadith which he narrated, Imam Shafii retorted by asking:

Did you see me leave from a church and upon me was a zunaar (a belt which was common fashion for non-Muslim priests and monks)?! That I would hear from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ a hadith and not follow it?!

• Imam Malik, who his proficiency and memory in hadith were established by Imam Shafii himself, gave a beautiful metaphor for the magnificence of the nature of hadith, saying:

The Sunnah is like a ship, those who ride upon it will be saved, while those who turn away from it will drown

• And lastly Imam Ahmed truly summarizes all of these previous statements:

The one who rejects the hadith of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ then he is on the brink of destruction

There should be no question in our hearts of the status of the hadith of our beloved prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the lives of these four imams. Even moving past these statements we see that not only was this present in their hearts but it manifested into their actions as well, guiding their lives to cohere to the strict practices and preaching’s of the Prophet ﷺ. Our take away now should not be to take up arms and to debate whoever crosses our path, but rather for us to learn of the lives of these people and all of those who sacrificed their worldly life for the hereafter, then to ask Allah ﷻ to make us from them and that He have mercy on them and on us as well, Ameen.

And Allah ﷻ knows best.