Khutba on Taqlid

الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي أمر بتقليد العلماء المسلمين والعباد، إذا استوفوا شروط الاجتهاد، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير،  ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدٌى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع 

الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.

Muslims, today we live in a world in which scholars and men of knowledge abound and the sources and texts of the deen are at everyone’s fingertips – all you need is a computer and access to the internet. And this proliferation of information and this access to the usul or sources of the deen – be they hadith or statements and positions of the Companions and the salaf as-salih has deceived many a student and many a young man or woman into believing that they have a better knowledge and clearer understanding of how to live their lives according to the commands of Allah and sunna of His Prophet than their parents and teachers. "How can you follow a madhhab," they cry, "and a man who lived several generations after the Prophet when you have direct access to the Prophet himself? Does Allah not say:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ

the translation of which is, “You who have iman! obey Allah and His Messenger.”
And does the Prophet not say, 

صلوا كما رايتموني اصلي

“Pray as you have seen me pray”?
It is, indeed, incumbent upon every Muslim to follow and obey the Messenger of Allah, and in matters which are clear-cut and unambiguous and not open to interpretation – such as the command to pray five prayers a day or fast the month of Ramadan, one may and indeed should go straight to the sources. However, there are many other issues where there are ambiguities and apparent contradictions that complicate the picture and leave us in a quandary as to what position to follow or adopt. For example, the Prophet said on one occasion, as transmitted by Malik in his Muwatta،

من كان له إمام فقراءة الإمام له قراءة

“Whoever has an imam, then the imam’s recitation is his recitation,” indicating that it is only the imam who recites while those behind him remain silent. But he said on another occasion, as transmitted by Bukhari in his Sahih from Ubada ibn Samit,

لا صلاة لمن لم يقرأ بفاتحة الكتاب

“There is no prayer for the one who does not recite surat al-Fatiha,” indicating that everyone who prays, regardless of whether he is the imam or is simply following the imam, should recite Quran in the prayer. So, by following one hadith, you are on the surface acting in direct contradiction of the other. So, what do you do, for in cases such as this, having direct access to the hadith literature leaves you more confused than you were before. In such cases, you must become mujtahid or follow the ijtihad of another. And by following the ijtihad of another, you are not following a source of law other than the Prophet, rather you are following him more closely and more correctly. He makes the sunna accessible.
This process of ijtihad – deriving a legal ruling directly from the sources – is no simple matter – the level and breadth of knowledge that it requires are beyond even most of the ‘ulama. 
Imam ash-Shinqiti lists a number of pre-requisites for ijtihaad in his didactic poem on usul al-fiqh: a towering intellect capable of addressing and understanding the underlying principles of the deen; comprehensive knowledge of the Arabic language, its lexicon and all its tools – grammar, morphology, rhetoric and figures of speech; comprehensive knowledge of the Qur’an, especially with respect to the ayas of ahkam – i.e. those containing legal rulings,  its nasikh wa mansukh (abrogating and abrogated ayas), and its asbab an-nuzul (the reasons for and the circumstances under which ayas were revealed); comprehensive knowledge of hadiths, especially with respect to their abrogating and abrogated, the circumstances under which they came about and the character, biography and trustworthiness of those who narrated them and that which makes them sahih or not; knowledge of the rulings that have been made by previous scholars, especially those about which there has been consensus; and a strong grasp of logic (mantiq) and analogy (qiyas). 
Anyone who meets all these prerequisites and fulfils all these preconditions is considered a mujtahid mutlaq – a full and independent mujtahid who is able to formulate his own usul. Such a man is forbidden from blindly following the opinion of others, but must form his own opinions directly based on the primary sources. This level of ijtihad was that possessed by many of the Companions and Tabi’in as well as the founders of the four madhhabs and other scholars such al-Awzaa’i, al-Layth, Sufyan ath-Thawri and others. Immediately below them was a second level of mujtahid called a mujtahid muntasib (an affilliated mujtahid). These were not bound by the rulings of a particular mujtahid mutlaq, but only by his usul. It is within this category that most of the students of the imams fall, such Ibn al-Qasim, Ibn Wahb, Muhammad ash-Shaybani and Abu Yusuf.
Then there is the mujtahid fil-madhhab who is able to weigh up and choose between the different positions within a madhhab and use its usul when new, unprecedented situations arise; and the mujtahid fil-fatwa who is able to the same in certain specific issues. These last two types of mujtahid still exist within the present day and will continue to exist until the Day of Qiyama, using their knowledge to deal with new situations as they arise, but the door to absolute ijtihad is closed and has been closed for well over a thousand years. And during that time, no scholars claims of being an absolute mujtahid have been accepted, no matter how exalted their degree of knowledge. All the great scholars, men such as Imam an-Nawawi, Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, Imam at-Tahawi and Imam as-Suyuti, remained within the bounds of the four madhhabs and did not seek to establish their own. And if such men saw fit to do that then why should we rebel at doing the same?

أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيمالحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.

We have talked in the first khutba about ijtihad – the process of deriving rulings from the primary sources, but for most of us that never becomes a reality since we are not all charged with acquiring the levels of knowledge necessary to formulate our own rulings. That task can only ever be for a small segment of society and can never be for the vast majority of the Muslim umma since its time-consuming nature would prevent them from doing all the other tasks necessary for a society to function, and so society would grind to a halt. If everyone was required to make ijtihad on every issue that came up in their lives, there would be no leaders, doctors, farmers, traders or craftsmen and poverty and destitution would be rife since no one would have time to earn their livelihoods. So, we are permitted – and indeed we are commanded – to follow the position of others who have acquired that knowledge. Allah says,

فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

the translation of which is, “Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know.” In other words, ask those who know when you do not know something, and follow what they tell you to do. This is the essence of taqlid. Taqlid is defined by ash-Shinqiti as being:

التزام الأخذ بمذهب الغير من غير معرفة دليله الخاص

“The necessity of following another man’s madhhab without knowing the specific proofs by means of which he formulated that madhhab.” According to the majority of the scholars of usul, fiqh and hadith, it is obligatory for anyone to has not reached the level of mujtahid mutlaq to do taqlid of a madhhab – and as we mentioned before – absolute and independent ijtihad is no longer accepted as being possible. So it is obligatory for every single Muslim, scholar or otherwise, to follow a madhhab. And the overwhelming majority of the people of knowledge are in agreement that only four such madhhabs remain today. Imam as-Sawi said in his commentary on the famous ‘aqida text al-Jawhara,

فيجب عند الجمهور على كل من لم يكن فيه أهلية الاجتهاد المطلق الأخذ بمذهب عالم من هؤلاء الأربعة ، ولا يجوز تقليد غيرهم بعد عقد الإجماع عليهم لأن مذاهب الغير لم تدون ولم تضبط بخلاف هؤلاء فإنهم أحاطوا علما بأقوال جميع الصحابة أو غالبها وعرفت قواعد مذهبهم ودونت مذاهبهم وخدمها تابعوهم وحرروها وصارت متواترة ، ليخرج في الأحكام الفرعية من عهدة التكليف بهذا التقليد لأن المذاهب لا تموت بموت أصحابها

“According to the majority, it is obligatory for everyone who has not attained to the level of absolute independent ijtihad to adopt the madhhab of one of these four ‘alims. And, after this consensus has been reached, it is not permissible to follow the madhhab of anyone else, since their madhhabs were not accurately recorded or passed down meticulously unlike those of the four imams who obtained comprehensive knowledge of the statements and positions of all or most of the Companions. The principles of the madhhabs of these four imams are well-known and the details of their madhhabs have been accurately recorded and written down. And their students and followers preserved those madhhabs and edited and revised them until they became wide-spread. And it is only by following them is one is able to discharge one’s responsibilities with respect to the rulings of the deen. Madhhabs do not die just because the one who started them is dead.” Similar views are expressed by Imam al-Laqqani, Qadi Iyad,  Imam al-Qarafi and many others. 
These four imams about whom we speak are known and acknowledged throughout the Muslim world: they are Abu Hanifa, Malik, ash-Shafi’i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with all of them. All four of these men had wonderful character, tremendous love of the Prophet and huge amounts of knowledge:
Imam Abu Hanifa was the earliest of them, born in 80 AH in Kufa and swiftly became one of the leading scholars of his age. So highly did his contemporaries view him that both Sufyan ath-Thawri and Ibn al-Mubarak said that he had the most fiqh of anyone on the earth during his lifetime. He is also said to have recited the entire Qur’an every night  in his night prayers.
Imam Malik was born in about 93 AH according to most reports in Madina where he took knowledge from some 700 of the greatest scholars of the tabi’in. Most of his contemporaries acknowledged him to be the ‘alim of Madina referred to in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah,

يخرج ناس من المشرق والمغرب في طلب العلم فلا يجدون أعلم من عالم المدينة

“People will go east and west in search of knowledge, but they will not find anyone more knowledgeable than the ‘alim of Madina.” Such was Imam Malik’s love of the Messenger of Allah that he would not walk anywhere in the city of Madina in his shoes for fear that he might tread on somewhere where the Prophet had tread.
Imam ash-Shafi’i was born in about 150 AH and grew up in Makka. He was gifted with an extraordinary intellect and incredible memory and had memorised the Quran and Muwatta by the age of 10 and was teaching in the mosque. His two main teachers were Imam Malik and Muhammad ash-Shaybani. It is said that he is the ‘alim mentioned in the dua of the Messenger of Allah,

اللهم اهد قريشا‏!‏ فإن عالمها يملأ طباق الأرض علما، اللهم‏!‏ كما أذقتهم عذابا فأذقهم نوالا‏.

“O Allah, guide Quraysh, for the science of the ‘alim that comes from them will encompass the earth. O Allah! You have let the first of them taste bitterness, so let the latter of them taste reward.” He is also said to have recited the entire Quran every single night in the prayer.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was the last of the four imams and was born in Khorasan in 164 AH. He studied at the hands of Imam ash-Shafi’i and others and was one of the greatest hadith scholars of any age, said to have memorised many hundreds of thousands of hadith. About him, Imam ash-Shafi’i said,

خرجت من بغداد، فما خلفت بها رجلاً أفضل ولا أعلم ولا أفقه ولا أتقى من أحمد

“When I left Baghdad, there was no man there who was better or more knowledge or more understanding of fiqh or more God-fearing than Ahmad.”
These are the four men who preserved the sunna of the Messenger of Allah for the future generations. And it is by means of these men that we still have access to it today, not the books of hadith. Sufyan ibn Uyayna said,

الحديث مضلة إلا للفقهاء

“Hadith are a source of misguidance except in the hands of the fuqaha.” So it is incumbent that we hold firm to these four madhhabs and do not let ourselves be deceived by those who claim that doing so is following someone apart from the Prophet. And it does not matter which of the four you follow so long as you hold firm to it and believe in your heart that it is the most correct. By doing so, you are holding firm to the urwat al-wuthqa and to the sunna of the greatest and noblest of mankind, the Messenger of Allah. By going outside their bounds, you are simply following your own whims and appetites. So we ask Allah to keep us firmly upon his sunna and to protect his deen from deviations and the attempts to introduce into it what is not part of it. We ask Him to preserve our differences and surround us with His Mercy.

إنَّ اللهَ ومَلائِكَتَهُ يُصلُّونَ على النَّبِي يَا أَيُها الذينَ آمنوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وسَلِّمُوا تَسْليماً. اللهمَّ صَلِّ وسَلِّم وبارِك عَلَيْهِ وعلى آلِهِ وصَحْبِهِ  أجمعين. 

وارض اللهم عن الخلفاء الراشدين المرشدين الحنفاء ساداتنا وأئمتنا أبي بكر وعمر وعثمان وعلي ، وعن سائر الصحابة أجمعين، خصوصا الأنصار منهم والمهاجرين، وعن التابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

اللهم اهد أولات أمور المسلمين لما يرضيك ولاتباع سنة نبيك صلى الله عليه وسلم  وثبت أقدامهم على الصراط المستقيم وأصلحهم يا رب العالمين.

اللهم بارك على شيخنا، و على أميرنا، وعلى جميع أمراء وزعماء المسلمين.  

اللهم بارك على المسلمين في هذه المدينة ووفقهم لما تحبه وترضاه يا أكرم الأكرمين. 

اللهمّ أَعِزَّ الْلإسلامَ والمُسِلمينَ (3)  واَخْذُلِ الكُفْرَ والكافِرينَ، وانْصُرِ المُجاهِدينَ في سَبِيلِ اللهِ. واجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وكَلِمَةَ الكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلى.

ربنا ءاتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الأخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار. 

اللهم لا تضعْ في مقامِنا هذا ذنبا إلا غفرْتَه، ولا عيبا إلا سترْتَه، ولا مريضا إلا شفيتَهُ وعافيتَه، ولا مسجونا إلا طلَّقْتَ سراحَه، ولا مسافرا في برِّك وبحرِك إلا سلِمتَهُ وغنِمْتَه.

إن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عَنِ الفحشاءِ والمُنكَرِ والبغي، يعظكم لعلكم تذكرون، ولَذِكْرُ اللهِ أكبر والله يَعْلَمُ ما تَصْنَعُون. وقُومُوا إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يرحمكم الله