Changing from Hanafi to Shafi' fiqh?

Discussion in 'Other Mad'habs' started by SuleimanalMuslim, Mar 28, 2011.

Draft saved Draft deleted
  1. The Hanafi madh-hab, in addition to being based on the teaching of sayyiduna 'AbduLlah b. Mas'ud, also largely takes from sayyiduna al-Imam 'Ali 'alayhi wa 'ala nabiyyina as-salam, owing to the Imam's prescence in Kufa.
     
  2. Said

    Said Active Member

    As-salamu 'alaykum,

    As far as I've been told, another valid reason for changing one's madhhab would be if there are no Sunni scholars of one's madhhab available in one's city / area, whereas one or more Sunni scholars of another madhhab are available.

    Also if one doesn't have any "family / background connection" to a madhhab (like converts or Sunnis with an Ahl-ul-Hadith / Wahhabi background) I heard it is best to base one's choice on which madhhab would be easiest to practice and get one's questions answered for etc.
     
  3. Why would you change your Madhhab due to the Mujtahid being from the Quraysh or not, surely it is the Ijtihad that matters, not the family...
     
  4. Mubayyinu lHaqq

    Mubayyinu lHaqq New Member

    As far as I remember Imam ashShâfi^i (raDiya-llâhu ^anhu) was Qurashiyy but not part of 'Ahlu_bayt. His mother was a sharîfah, not his father, and lineage is established through the father in the case of a legitimate child. In anyway this would be a poor reason for adopting a madh-hab.

    To change madh-hab, you can only do that with honesty. I.e. you can only opt for the new school if you honestly think its positions are valid. As for knowing that every point in the school is the correct one when compared with others, this is impossible to achieve for most humans. Simply, we common people have been given permission to chose between the different authorised paths.

    ONE CRUCIAL DETAIL:

    We may fancy a school as much as we like, it is not possible to swap schools unless you have actually learned their fiqh.

    For instance: don't start praying according to what you think is Mâliki fiqh, if you have been using another fiqh which is the only one you know well enough.

    That is to say: stick to what you have learned properly until you have enough knowledge to make real choices.
     
  5. Noori

    Noori Senior Moderator

    can you please elaborate on this a lil more? precisely, how one would believe (deep inside) that other imam was more correct than the other - is it just some inner conviction without knowledge or should it be corroborated by some in-depth analysis? the former doesn't appear to be an strong belief but mere whims, whereas the later is not possible for laymen.
     
  6. Talib al-Ilm

    Talib al-Ilm New Member

    Assalaamu Alaykum!
    It's been narrated that when Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was on hsi deathbed people asked him who they should take their deen from after the Imams demise. Al-Sadiq told them to stick to the opinions of the people of Madinah, because the city forces out it's bad people. He said that right then he was the most knowledgable, but that he had tested a man whom had taken what's necessary from him, and that this man was Malik ibn Anas.
    He called Imam Malik and excellent scholar of Fiqh.

    The tradition is lenghty and this was just a summary.
     
  7. abu Hasan

    abu Hasan Administrator

    one is permitted to change his madh'hab ONLY if they believe (deep inside) that the ijtihad of the other imam was more correct than the other. merely being from the ahlu'l bayt does not mean that their ijtihad is always correct. it is the shi'ah who believe in the 'ismah' of the imams/ahlu'l bayt; not us.

    ibn `abidin shami was a shafiyi at first; he became a Hanafi later. imam TaHawi was imam muzani's nephew; muzani is imam Shafiyi's disciple numero-uno and second only to Shafiyi in his madh'hab. Imam TaHawi became a Hanafi because according to him, muzani referred to works by Hanafis quite often.

    moreover, imam al-a'zam also took fayz from the ahlu'l bayt so much that he is reported to have said about his company of imam ja'afar as-Sadiq:
    law laahu sanatan, la halaka'n nu'man
    if it was not for those two years, nu'man would have perished.

    in the end, it is always that: inna akramakum indAllahi atqakum.

    Allah ta'ala knows best.
     
    Muhammad786 likes this.
  8. :s1:

    What is the view of the brothers on changing one's madhhab from Hanafi to Shafi' based on the fact that Imam Shafi' was from amongst the Ahlul Bayt whereas Imam e Azam was not?

    Also is it allowed?
     

Share This Page