Sahaba - The Blessed

Madhhabs (of the previous four leaders); a few of them were
Imâm Abû Yûsuf, Imâm Muhammad, Imâm Zufer, Ibn Nujaym,
Imâm Râfi’î, Imâm Nawawî, Imâm Ghazâlî, and others of the
same generation. As the distance between the time lived in and
the ’Asr-i-sa’âdat (Era of Happiness) gradually widened, other
links were added to the twelve chains of narration whereby
hadîth-i-sherîfs were being conveyed and reported, so that it was
being a matter demanding considerable thought to make a choice
among the chains of narrations and the untold number of
narrators. The difficulty involved worsened with time and, by the
end of the fourth Islamic century, it was no longer possible to train
and educate any scholars with the capacity to perform ijtihâd.
From then on Muslims have had to make a choice among the
aforesaid four leaders (imâms) and adapt themselves to his
Madhhab.
Some of the assiduous saboteurs of Islam, who do not seem to
understand the subtleties of Islam despite all their shrewdness,
have been campaigning against the statement that “the gate to
ijtihâd has closed.” They attack it in their books and conferences.
Yet their breath reeks of alcohol as they speak on the platforms
and their addled brains produce ludicrous sophisms provoking
derision on the part of the audience. Al-hamdulillah (Gratitude
and praise be to Allah), the pure and limpid ocean of young souls,
overcast under the clouds of apostasy hanging over the Islamic
world, are being illuminated by the sporadic lights of the sun of
truth.
Since ijtihâd is an act of worship, i.e. a commandment of Allâhu
ta’âlâ, no mujtahid can say, “It is wrong,” about another
mujtahid’s ijtihâd. For, each mujtahid’s ijtihâd is right and correct
in his own view. For instance, Imâm Shâfi’î ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’
said, “If a person dislikes the ijtihâd and ra’y of Imâm a’zam Abû
Hanîfa ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’, may he be accursed in the view of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, (and may he be deprived of His Compassion,)”
although he was not in the Hanafî Madhhab. Statements made by
Imâm Abû Yûsuf and Imâm Muhammad and the other (great
scholars called) imâms and in disagreement with those of Imâm
a’zam do not show that they disliked or rejected him. They are
intended to express (the conclusions they had reached by way of)
ijtihâd. They were obligated to state (the results of) their ijtihâd.
The Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would command
his blessed Sahâbîs he was to send out to distant countries to
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