Premium Essay

Why Choosing a Madhab Is Important

In: Religion Topics

Submitted By naeemkareem
Words 1257
Pages 6
WHAT IS A MADHHAB? WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO FOLLOW ONE?
Q-News Interview, © Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995
The word madhhab is derived from an Arabic word meaning "to go" or "to take as a way", and refers to a mujtahids choice in regard to a number of interpretive possibilities in deriving the rule of Allah from the primary texts of the Qur'an and hadith on a particular question. In a larger sense, a madhhab represents the entire school of thought of a particular mujtahid Imam, such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, or Ahmad--together with many first-rank scholars that came after each of these in their respective schools, who checked their evidences and refined and upgraded their work. The mujtahid Imams were thus explainers, who operationalized the Qur'an and sunna in the specific shari'a rulings in our lives that are collectively known as fiqh or "jurisprudence". In relation to our din or "religion", this fiqh is only part of it, for the religious knowledge each of us possesses is of three types. The first type is the general knowledge of tenets of Islamic belief in the oneness of Allah, in His angels, Books, messengers, the prophethood of Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), and so on. All of us may derive this knowledge directly from the Qur'an and hadith, as is also the case with a second type of knowledge, that of general Islamic ethical principles to do good, avoid evil, cooperate with others in good works, and so forth. Every Muslim can take these general principles, which form the largest and most important part of his religion, from the Qur'an and hadith.
The third type of knowledge is that of the specific understanding of particular divine commands and prohibitions that make up the shari'a. Here, because of both the nature and the sheer number of the Qur'an and hadith texts involved, people differ in the scholarly capacity to understand and deduce rulings

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ggfhsdthtrsffg

...Forty Hadith by al-Imam alNawawi (or Imam Nawawi) has been known, accepted and appreciated by Muslim scholars for the last seven centuries. Its significance lay in the fact that these selected forty hadiths comprise the main essential and fundamental concepts of Islam which, in turn, construct the minimum level of required revealed knowledge for every single Muslim. Since having good knowledge of the various fundamental aspects of the religion is key to a Muslim's practice and application of Islam, this web site attempts to provide simple and practical commentaries to the collection of Imam Nawawi's Forty Hadith. Various principles are contained in these hadiths, such as belief, Muslim ethics and fiqh. As such, it is very important to have a good understanding of these hadiths based on scholarly interpretations. In addition, these commentaries also try to offer discussions on related contemporary issues pertaining to certain concepts mentioned in these hadiths. The commentaries on this website are by: Dr. Jamal Ahmed Badi Associate Professor Department of General Studies International Islamic University Malaysia If you have any questions or comments on the Forty Hadith, please e-mail them to: abjamal@iiu.edu.my If you have any technical questions or if there are any problems with the website, please e-mail the webmaster. azul@klse.com.my © 2001-2002 fortyhadith.com This website was launched on 29 November 2001 / 13 Ramadhan 1422 hosted by...

Words: 79468 - Pages: 318