Belief and Islam

He was born in 150 [767] in Ghazza, Palestine, and passed away in
Egypt in 204 [820].
The fourth one is Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal ‘rahimah-Allâhu
ta’âlâ’, who was born in Baghdad in 164 [780] and passed away
there in 241 [855]. He is the archstone of the Islamic building.
Today, a person who does not follow one of these four great
imâms is in great danger. He is in heresy. Besides them there were
many other Ahl as-sunna scholars who had righteous madhhabs,
too. But in the course of time their madhhabs were forgotten and
could not be committed to books. For instance, the seven great
Medinan scholars who were called al-Fuqahâ’ as-sab’a and ’Umar
ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz, Sufyân ibn ’Uyayna, [1]
Is’haq ibn Râhawah,
Dâwûd at-Tâ’î, ’Âmir ibn Sharâhil ash-Sha’bî, Layth ibn Sa’d,
’A’mash, Muhammad ibn Jerîr at-Tabarî, Sufyân ath-Thawrî (d.
Basra, 161 A.H. [778]) and ’Abd ar-Rahmân Awzâ’î ‘rahimahum-
Allâhu ta’âlâ’ are among them.
All the Sahâbat al-kirâm ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’
were rightfully the “stars” for guidance. Any of them would have
sufficed to guide the entire world to the right way. They were
mujtahids, each belonging in his own madhhab. Most of their
madhhabs were alike. Yet, since their madhhabs were not written
into books, it is not possible for us to follow them. The Madhhabs
of the four Imâms, that is, what they taught about the things to be
believed and about the things to be done, were gathered together
and explained by their disciples. They were committed to books.
Today every Muslim must belong to the Madhhab of one of the
abovementioned four Imâms and live up to and perform ’ibâdât
in accordance with that Madhhab. [2]
Among the disciples of these four Imâms, two scholars reached
very high grades in spreading the teachings of îmân. Thus, there
became two Madhhabs in i’tiqâd or îmân. The right faith in accord
with the Qur’ân-al-kerîm and hadîth ash-sherîfs, is only the faith
shown by these two Imâms, who spread on the earth the faith of
Ahl as-Sunna, which is the Group of Salvation. One of them was
Abu ’l-Hasan ’Alî al-Ash’arî ‘rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ’, who was
born in Basra in 226 A.H. [879] and died in Baghdad in 330 [941].
[1] Sufyân bin ’Uyayna passed away in the city of Mekka in 198 [813
A.D.].
[2] A person who does not want to follow one of these four Madhhabs is
not a person among Ahl as-Sunna.
– 70 –