Belief and Islam

were only in matters pertaining to furû’ ad-dîn, that is, in matters
of Fiqh. There was no disagreement among them in respect to usûl
ad-dîn, i.e., in the knowledge of i’tiqâd or îmân. Nor did they differ
from one another in those teachings of furû’ which are known to
be essential in the religion and which were taken from those
hadîths whose documents were conveyed by way of tawatûr. They
differed only in some aspects of knowledge concerning furû’ addîn.
This arose from the difference in their understanding the
soundness of the documents of these matters. And this little
difference among them is [Allâhu ta’âlâ’s] compassion over the
Umma; it is permissible (jâ’iz) for Muslims to follow any Madhhab
they like and find easy. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam’ foretold this difference as glad tidings, and it has happened
as he foretold.
“It is not permissible to employ ijtihâd in the knowledge of
i’tiqâd, i.e., in the facts to be believed. It gives way to deviation and
heresy. It is a grave sin. There is only one correct way in matters
pertaining to i’tiqâd: ahl as-Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a. The difference
which was declared to be [Allâhu ta’âlâ’s] compassion in the
hadîth ash-sherîf was the difference in furû’ or ahkâm.
“In a matter on which the judgments of the four Madhhabs
differ from one another, only one of the judgments is correct.
Those who do this correct way will be given two thawâbs, and
those who act according to one of the incorrect judgments will be
given one thawâb. That the Madhhabs are compassion shows the
fact that it is permissible to leave aside one Madhhab and follow
another. But it is not permissible to follow any Madhhab –other
than the four– that belongs to Ahl as-Sunna, nor even as-
Sahâbat al-kirâm, since their Madhhabs were not put into
written form and have been forgotten. There is now no
possibility for following any Madhhab other than the known
four. Imâm Abû Bakr Ahmad ar-Râzî [rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ, d.
370 A.H. (980)], too, reported that it had been declared
unanimously by scholars of Islam that it was not permissible to
follow [directly] as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. I recommend that those
who want to understand well the superiority of the Madhhabs, of
mujtahids, especially of the four a’immat al-madhhâhib, the fact
that their Madhhabs did not go beyond the Book and the Sunna
and that the rules which they conveyed through ijmâ’ and qiyâs
were not their own opinions but were taken from the Book and
the Sunna, should read the books Al-mîzân al-kubrâ and Almîzân
al-Khidriyya by Imâm ’Abd al-Wahhâb ash-Sha’rânî
– 64 –