I Have Become Sunni, need advice

@Noori

Yes but that nevertheless doesn't negate Ibn Taimiyya's influence on the Imam nor does it negate Imam Dhahabi was his student. It is evident for those unaware that Dhahabi did not endorse his teachers controversial views, neither he or Ibn Kathir.

 

but didn't Dhahabi later reproach ibn taymiyyah in his letter that imam zahid al-kathari published in his takmilat'ur rad?

 

ibn Taimiyya's positions are not relied upon according to any Madhab except the Wahabis who are alone in referring to him as Shaykh Ul Islam. There are a whole host of Fuqaha in the Madhab that are relied on over him from an orthodox standpoint. His most lasting innovation that has caused the most fitna till present day is his breaking from the Ijma and being the first to go against Tawassul despite he himself accepting and Quoting Imam Ahmad's position of Tawassul's acceptability.

However, one stresses to the one new to The Giants of Sunni Scholarship that his other legacy, namely the students he taught cannot be denied and hold a very important place in the hearts of all Muslims. Ibn Kathir who is counted among the Huffaz of Hadith which requires and is a classification given only to those who have 100'000 Hadith and chains committed to memory, Imam Dhahabi who was the expert examiner of Hadith and narrators and has major contributions to his lasting legacy such as the Siyar A`lam al-Nubala which is the biographies of the Salaf. He also went through the Sahih of Imam Hakim and detailed which Hadith were Sahih, Hasan and Daeef.

As for your second question my only experience of Shia visiting Maqam's was seeing them hit themselves and splatter blood on everyone else's clean clothes. I can't speak for Shia customs on visiting graves.

From a Sunni standpoint however, visiting graves is mentioned in the Hadith in Muslim, " I used to forbid you to visit graves, but now visit them" and in another report " they will remind you of the hereafter". So visiting the graves of the Pious is encouraged. Giving Salaam to the inhabitants is a proven Sunnah. As for the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon Him, the Sahaba ( Allah be pleased with Them), the Salaf, Khalaf, the Saints then seeking blessing from Allah and making them a Waseela when asking Allah in Dua is all proven. Below are some reports

Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami said in his book al-Khayrat al-hisan fi manaqib al- imam Abi Hanifa al-Na`man, chapter 35: "When Imam al-Shafi`i was in Baghdad, he would visit the grave of Imam Abu Hanifa, give him salam, AND THEN ASK ALLAH FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS NEED THROUGH HIS MEANS (yatawassal ilallah ta`ala bihi fi qada' hajatihi)." Imam Kawthari mentioned in his Maqalat (p. 412) that the hafiz al-Khatib al- Baghdadi mentions Shafi`i's tawassul through Abu Hanifa in the beginning of his Tarikh Baghdad with a sound chain.

About the Saint Maruf Al Kharki-Al-hafiz Ibrahim al-Harbi (d. 285H) -- Imam Ahmad's companion -- used to say: "Ma`ruf's grave is proven medicine."" Ibn al- Jawzi adds: "We ourselves go to Ibrahim al-Harbi's grave and seek blessings with it." (Ibn Al Jawzi)

 

Thank you so so much brother you are very knowledgable mashallah, you have helped me alot! I have another question, I have asked a hanafi friend about ibn Taymia, what i know about his teachings is that they are extreme, and certain views i do not agree with. I asked him, ibn taymia is called shiekh al islam, do you take his teachings into the hanafi school, he said no we dont, we have respect because he reached a level of knowledge but we dont really take on board his teachings, i was wondering with regards to hanbali's is that the same?

Another question, when i was a shia, we were told its good to visit the shrines of the imams and give supplications etc etc, my hanafi friend said that that they do the same, and also before the wahabi movement became prominent in saudi arabia, the albaqi cemetery was full of tombs and shrines. Does that entail that the sunni schools of thought are ok with visiting the graves of prominent figures in islamic history if so, what is the distinction between shias way of such visits and sunni way of such visits.

Sorry to ask so many questions and thank you so much for your time

 

incidentally abandoning the Salaat Constituting Kufr seems a minority opinion not majority in the Hanbali Madhab ( Ibn Qayyim, Taimiyya and Ibn Hazm from Zahiri Madhab)

Ibn Qudama in his al Mughni has a lengthy discussion on the topic of abandoning prayer and concludes that the correct verdict is that he who abandons the prayer without denying its obligation remains a Muslim. His case, he says, is the same as any other person who committed a major sin, such as murder or adultery. This is the position of the majority of the scholars.

He then proceeds to explain the narrations that stipulate the disbelief of the one who abandons the prayer and states, “He resembles the disbelievers” and not that he is one of them in “reality” (haqiqatan). This is because there are many narrations that state “such and such in kufr” without entailing the exiting of one from faith. For example, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Cursing a Muslim is fisq, killing him is kufr” and “Whoever addresses his brother as ‘oh disbeliever’, verily it returns to one of them” and “It is disbelief to deny ones lineage.” All of these narrations, says Ibn Qudama, mention such resemblance for the sake of emphasis and the gravity of committing certain acts. (Kitab al Salat, bab al hukm man tarak al salat)

From a question posted from Islam.ru

On making up missed prayers then the relied position is yes they must be made up and in order

 

I understand what your saying now, My friend is from Saudi arabia, and he doesnt really study under a teacher of fiqh but rather what is known to them from family friends and school.

Thank you so much, ill pick up that book to read, maybe i maybe able to find it online. Another question i wanted to ask, when i was shia, if someone missed a prayer it had to be preformed qadha, even if someone missed it years ago, it still needs to be done, like a debt that needs to be paid. But when i asked my hanbali friend, they said that if you miss a prayer you can only do it qadha in the same day if it passes a day, then it goes and thats it you just have to repent for missing the prayer. Whats the opinion on this matter in the different schools. Also what you said regarding missing a prayer automatically takes one outside the fold of islam, what if it is made up later? what about repentance?


Thank you for your time

 

Asaalamu Alaikum Mahmoud

Actually it is very interesting to know you may choose the Hanbali Madhab because there are a number of Imam Ahmad's opinions that are the same as Imam Abu Hanifa because He began learning under Abu Yusuf in the early years. His reliance is mainly on Qura'n, Hadith, Ijma, sayings/ verdicts of the Sahaba and as a very last resort Qiyas.

His knowledge of Hadith is probably the most with an authentic narration from his son numbering it at one million Hadith comitted to memory with chains. You'd need the Motherbooks of the Madhab in a language you understand and the relied upon Fuqaha include Ibn Qudamah and Buhuti.

As for differences between the Madhabs then sorry I am not qualified, but there is a comparative Fiqh Primer by Imam Abdul Rahman Jaziri that you can refer to called Al-Fiqh ala-al-Madhahib-al-Arba

One interesting point on the Hanbali Madhab is that missing prayer deliberately takes one outside the fold of Islam and is one of the official positions reported from Imam Ahmad himself.

 

that is the punishment they receive in this world for abusing the companions.

 

flagellating onself is not the same as rubbing yourself in the mud. These are two different things. The first is absolutely haraam. Imam Hussain raDyAllahu 'anhu did not die. He is Shaheed. The Sahaba Kiraam used to collect the blessed hair and blessed nail of the Prophet alaihissalam for Shafaa. i hope you are getting my point. It would be better to do zikr of the blessed names of the Ahlul Bayt standing in the scorching heat and sun of the deserts in Karbala Shareef than sitting within your french home, covered up by your comforters nearby. Yes its true, that for the majority of iranians, acts have become ritualized, but that happens everywhere in all cultures. Most people not knowing about an act does not mean the act is illegal. Imam Hussain rDyAllahu anhu cannot be hurt. He is a Wali of Allah, and no one can hurt Awliya Allah because they are protected. You might imagine his blessed body pierced and cut across, but he, raDyAllahu anhu is in the same test as Sayyiduna Ibrahim alaihissalam in Mesopotamia. If he wished, yazid could have disappeared in a blink of an eye in Damascus.

Shiites causing bad publicity for Islam, around the world, by their acts in Karbala Shareef, i think is inconsequential. There are many sufi cults too causing bad publicity. Daesh and wahabis cause the most bad publicity. Who cares ?

Can i ask, where is your hanbali friend from? under which teacher does he study hanbali fiqh ?

 

You maybe right but these practices are one of the reasons that made me question the madhab specially the practice of flagellating one self in the hopes of getting shafaa, but the way I see it Hussain (as) and his companions and family didn't die for this, and nor do I think the prophet would approve of such behaviour. Rather than this practice one could easily sit at home and make duaa and remember their sacrifice, pray more, and remember God, during the time I was Shia, these things felt like a ritual and most people didn't know why they did it, I've seen kids run and join the adults in hitting their chests, it became a ritual that needs to be done so god can be pleased with you while in the early days it was done spontaneously due to the pain of losing a member of ahlul bait in such a brutal manner. Being a Shia and then coming out of it and looking into it from the outside, I have come to understand many things, many things that might have started out of hurt and pain for the loss now has become a routine that must be done to be part of the community, hitting ones chest to poetry may look cool when it's done in synchronisation but is this ritual to please God? Will God approve of this? If this was done in the time of the prophet will he approve of this? I think not, while they do it with good intention but we know the prophet didn't like excessivness in religion, that's why he asked God to make our prayers from 50 to 5 per day, we should remember God and give time to him but our behaviour on this earth is important too, I know the sunnies have suffered from people on the outside asking what the hell do you Muslims do in Karbala every year, and the regular Sunni have to sit and explain the difference by then it's too late that person made up his mind, Muslims are crazy. And this is not the image we should be giving out to the outside world, these practices I think is not beneficial in any way or form.

 

to be fair to the poor iranians pilgrims in Karbala Shareef, if i were in Karbala Shareef, i myself would roll in the mud of it, though not in public, just in case if that mud would have been the place where the holy army of the Ahlul Bayt might have walked over !

this is not a crazy thing, and is a sign of love for the Ahlul Bayt Shuhada, and the iranians are not ascribing divinity to the Ahlul Bayt in this case. They are doing it to get Shifaa too. Though, this might be against adab.

 

Alsalam alikum

To be honest, in the beginning i was interested in the Maliki school of thought but after much research right now, its narrowed down to either hanafi or hanbali, you mentioned a few things why you are hanafi, and some of those things is what narrowed it down for me. But inshallah i will come to choose a school of thought that i am most in sync with. If possible could you just bullet point the fundamental difference between the two?

I believe they do need our help, my family at the moment do not know i am sunni, to them i am still shia, frankly i am abit scared to say anything, not because of the harm that might come to me, its because of the shame they may make me feel and disappointment, however, my mother and father are difficult to point questions to them, while my sisters are abit more receptive, all it needs is to plant a seed and let them figure it out. I mentioned something to my sister once, it was in regards how some of the shia believe that omar (ra) attacked fatima (as) and broke her rib and had a miscarriage etc, the hadeeths in the shia books are so different to one another and recount the even with different figures different scenarios and all are sahih. The point is, in the hadeeth, ali (as) was sitting in bed while all this was happening, and he didnt make a move until omar (ra) supposedly threatened to burn the house down. Now i found this story so far fetched, and when i told this to my sister she stared off in deep thought. And i just said do you believe that she said no, then i said imagine what else in the books that are not real?

The shia believe in god believe in the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but their problem is they have put alot of divinity into ahlul bait and some of them do crazy things at times, like the iranians when they go to karbala they pour water on the ground and when its muddy they roll around in it. I mean even the shia look at that and thing what the actual ****, sorry mind my french, but they need guidance and you are right allah gives hidaya to whomever he wills, but i think we have a duty to bring them back to the fold, and leave out the ones that are stubborn.

 

do you read arabic?

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the general advice is that keep away from wahabis/selfies (they only follow self;* no-madh'hab) and pick any one madh'hab.

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most people usually inherit a madh'hab - follow the madh'hab of their parents and their teachers. but if one has to choose, one should choose the madh'hab of scholars who are most accessible to him [in the past they used to say that madh'hab of the place one lives in; but with globalisation, it is appropriate to say 'accessible' as a scholar speaking one's own language is best. Allah ta'ala knows best.]

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surely, you know by now that there are two major aspects of the deen - belief and practice; aqidah and `amal.

in fiqh - we have four madh'habs. you are free to follow any ONE madh'hab. and if you care to know, i follow the hanafi madh'hab.

aqidah is only one school - the sunni aqidah; however, in matters of secondary issues there are minor differences amongst sunnis and these are mainly two schools: as'hari and maturidi; the hanbali school hardly delves into rational arguments and is mostly what we term as sam'yiyyat.

regardless, whether one calls themselves ash'ari/maturidi or not; as long as they believe in tanzih and the rest of the sam'yiyyat, they are sunni. if you are not comfortable with all this, take just one aqidah text and stick to it: aqidah al-TaHawayiyyah and this is not only accepted by sunnis but also wahabi/selfies accept it as an authentic and reliable text.

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our difference with shi'ah/rawafid are on various counts and not just fiqh alone.

Allah ta'ala knows best.

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* even if they claim to follow the qur'an and sunnah. those who follow a madh'hab do not say that they follow the imam abandoning the qur'an and sunnah. rather it is the kitab and sunnah as explained by imams in the madh'hab. the same with selfies - who prefer albani to abu hanifah (one albannite told me that albani had more knowledge of hadith than abu hanifah! i am not making this up.)

 

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if they are sick, it is due to them not taking care of themselves, not us Sunnis neglecting taking care of them. i dont think they need treatment from us Sunnis. They need to treat themselves. Most, almost most, shiites today know the truth in one way or another, the basic truth i mean, that the Sunnis love Sayyiduna Abu Bakr raDyALlahu 'anhu and Sayyiduna Omar al Farooq raDyALlahu 'anhu. That is all that matters really. Of course they love Mawla 'Ali karamAllahu wajhu too.

But these shiites, like the millions and millions in iran, do not care, or have malice, despite being lied to, and are too lazy to search for the truth themselves, and are happy remaining Shiites.

i say to them as you please

you have changed because of not being lazy, but seeking the truth yourself. you listened to your friend. For sure, other shiites get an opportunity at some moment in their life to contemplate due to some eyeopener, which they follow by belittling due to the reasons stated above, and then they remain Shiite.

ALlah gives Hidaya to whosoever He Wills, inna LilAllahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon

 

Walaikum as Salaam

You are quite right in doing your research in choosing a Madhab, however your research will never end and you will have to narrow down your most important criteria to make a decision. It may help to ask members of the forum and other Sunni's why they follow a particular Madhab. Some will probably follow one because they were born into it and that's what their families follow.

As for me, I am Hanafi because from an everyday practicality and Ibadat standpoint it suits me so if we take Wudu for example there are so many dispensations that other Madhabs may not and do not have compared to the Hanafiya. So where the Shafi' say sequence is obligatory for Hanafi's it is not, while the Hanbalis say mentioning Allah before commencing Wudu is obligatory for Hanafi's it is not, touching a female breaks Wudu in other Schools but not according to Hanafis. While many of these elements don't take much time they do make a difference to some, especially the part on touching a female not breaking Wudu.

Then there's accessibility to knowledge in other languages like English. Certainly I found the more readily available translated books on Fiqh to be from the Hanafi and Shafi Madhabs. After all if you don't know Arabic, can't locate a Scholar from a Madhab and don't have access to translated books things become difficult.

I would base my criteria on these practical things like availability of information, books and Scholars from the Madhab you want to choose and then look at the ease of following the Madhab based on you character, personality and your limitations.

Allah knows best and good luck

 

Al salam alikum

The four doors are the four madhabs, right now i am praying according to the hanbali madhab, but thats because i wanted to continue my prayers and not stop until i chose a madhab. However there are differences, and i am doing my research. But as you know all ive known all my life is shiaism, that one madhab, so i am slightly overwhelmed because each school is so rich in history and information.

Thank you for your reply noori, i have been doing alot of research on the 4 imams and their history, i thought to my self best way to start is to learn about the four imams of the four madhabs, they are similar in the beliefs but certain practices are different specially in prayer, but the core of things is the same. And i also noticed that contrary to what shia think, sunnah love the sahabah AND ahlul bait just as much as eachother, and have not denied their love to the prophets family. I will use your points to learn more thank you so much for your help, i will keep this thread updated on my journey and i hope you can all assist me on this journey of mine. Jazak Allah khair

Well there were a few things, At first i didnt notice these things, some i didnt even know. But what started it all off, was at the beginning, when i was a shia i believed that shia and sunnah pray in the same way, apart from the folding of hands and the raising of the finger in shahada. its only when i went in depth with a friend of mine that i realised there were differences, particularly in the 3rd and fourth ruka, in shia, i have always prayed and i was always told that while standing you do tasbeeh (subhana allah, alhamdulilah, laillaha illallah, allahu akbar). What i learned from my hanbali friend was that, to they they had to do surah al fatiha in the 3rd and 4th just like the first and second. this led me to question, why is that? It bothered me alot, why is there a difference in prayer? my beliefs were is that we pray the same and fast and do hajj, and our difference were only in the history and leadership, yet there was difference in prayer, this scared me because i could be praying wrong? and i researched and found out that in shia, its mustahab to read suraht alfatiha in the 3rd and 4rd, but that didnt satisfy me, why in my 28 years being a shia, i never heard of this, why did i have to dig so deep to find this out? why was it hidden? was it to ensure segregation between the shia and sunnah?

This led me to ask more questions on the differences, my next question is why in sunnah, it is recommended to fast in ashura? The shia see this as haram and i always heard that the sunnah do this to ignore what happened to hussain, or it was added by the caliph of the time to celebrate his martyrdom every year. What i dug up was disturbing. While the sunnah have authentic hadeeths in regards to fasting on those days, the shia have 1 hadeeth, from zain alabdeen i believe it was, who said, who ever fasts on that day, it is haram, and they have insulted alhlul bait and the messenger and they will not see heaven. I am only paraphrasing the hadeeth. However this hadeeth is weak, in the books of the shia, it says its weak, and one of the narrators in the chain, it is said he is majhool and thus the hadeeth is weak. So i researched the opinions of shia scholars, and they differed, one says its haram one said its makrooh one said its fine and others say its good to fast. I was stunned, The only basis of making fasting on that day haram or makrooh is due to a weak hadeeth? And the accusations of the sunnah of fasting on that day to ignore the tragedy of karbala was all based on a weak hadeeth? Frankly i was angry that i believed in this non-sense because of 1 weak hadeeth.

This led me to do more and more research and the more i learned the more distant i became from shia. But that does not mean the shia are bad people, because i was one of them i can tell you, just like them, we are being lied to. I have a critical mind and always in search of truth that is what made me start this journy. However alot of people like to stay where they are comfortable, what we need is to talk to those shia that are like me, that have been lied to and they have no idea about these things. I feel some sunnah accuse the shia of being liars and performing taqiya etc. but believe me guys, the shia are being lied to them selfs, they are not the enemy. They are just people being lied to. It is like a sickness that need to be treated rather than outcasted, and the treatment is easy, show them the truth.

If you want to know more of the stuff i dug out in shia please do ask and am happy to reply

Thank you so much brother, your post was very informative

 

Walaikum As Salaam
The key to your answer lies in the Narration, Allah will never let my Ummah agree upon misguidance, and the hand of Allah is over the group (Jama'ah), so follow the great mass of believers (Sawad ul-'Azam), and whoever dissents from them departs to hell(al-Tirmidhi (4/2167) a narration authenticated and reported by al-Hakim (1/116), and al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

some important points on this to reflect on:

If Allah never lets the Muslims agree on misguidance, then the majority are guided so who are the majority?

One may view the current world to judge who reflects the majority, but the other interpretation includes the majority of Muslims from the beginning of Islam until present- who are they? This is because one may take into account the narration " Islam started as a strange thing and will go back to being something strange so glad tidings to the strangers" this narration pointing to few numbers of Muslims at some point in time and therefore strengthens the argument to view the above Hadith in the context of Islam from the beginning. If we take the whole Ummah from the beginning to now we see certain deviant groups not fitting the criteria since deobandies are a 100 years old and more modern day salafis no more than lets say 300 years.

One also sees the narration in the context of the famous Hadith and one of the pillar proofs on obeying the Scholars- " the Scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets". Again one benchmarks from the beginning to now who contributed the most to Sunni Islam and Islam as a whole? There is no group that calls itself Sunni that meets this criteria of Scholarship more than Orthodox Sunni Islam. By this I refer to Scholars who professed a particular Sunni School of Jurisprudence. deobandies fall down again and so do salafis as they follow no Madhab and they have contributed nothing by way of guiding Scholarship- in fact they have done serious harm.

To stress the final point in the context of the above Hadith- the majority of Scholars from the beginning were either adherents to a Madhab and Maturidi or Ashari. To give some names of giants who's contribution cannot be undermined- Nawawi was Shafi'i, Haithami was Shafi'i, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani was Hanbali, Dhahabi was Shafi'i. The list is so vast you cannot recount it. Just open the back of Reliance of the Traveller for a list of which scholars followed which School.

There are thousands and thousands of historic Scholars which according the the above Hadith can certainly be classed as a great Mass over the last thousand or so years who made historic contributions from orthodox Sunni Islam. Not deobandies, not salafis not any other fake Sunni group.

Lastly if you still need more proof. Following the great mass of Believers includes the Saints. Can any fake Sunni group profess the same influence and historic contribution from their own ranks, more so than Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani who's legacy and fame is well known and who's knowledge caused even Ibn Jawzi to rip his shirt during a sermon. Do they have any the like of Muinudeen Chisti who turned India from desolation into a road to Paradise for millions who are now Muslim or can they bring us the likes of Shadhili from who's light the Abdaal from Syria are chosen.

This Hadith leaves only one group- Orthodox Sunni , Ashari or Maturidi

 

wa'laykumusalaam.

Marhaba!

If you dont mind my asking, which particular beliefs led you to question Shiā ideology?

JazākAllāhu Khāyr.

 

Assalamo Alaykum,

mashaAllah,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنَابَ

since your research has led you to leave shia mazhab, why don't you extend you research and find the truth about other mazahib. why not research about

- what was the aqidah of sahabah, and ahl al bayt,
- what was the aqeedah of tabiy'een, and aimah arba'a (abu hanifah, malik, shafi'i, ahmed bin hanbal rahimahumullah)?
- what was the aqeedah of muhaditheen, and early scholars

you will find that ahlussunah wa'l jama'ah are on the middle path, they respect the companions, as well as ahl al bayt; other mazahib/masalik have a bias for on side, either the companions or ahl al bayt.

in the arab world ahlussunah wa'l jama'ah are known as sofi (sofiyyah), and in the sub-con they are known as barailwi. these titles are only to distinguish ahlussunah wa'l jama'ah from ahl'ul hawa.

 

which 4 doors?