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Adhering
to one of the four Imaams
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Question: What is your advice to a beginner seeking
knowledge – should he adhere to one of the four Imaams
(i.e. Abu Haneefah, Maalik ibn Anas, ash-Shaafi’ee,
Ahmad ibn Hanbal) or should he leave them?
Response:
Allaah (Subhaanahu
wa Ta'aala) says:
{Then
ask the People of Knowledge if you do not know},
[Soorah
an-Nahl, Aayah
43 and Soorah
al-Anbiyaa., Aayah
7].
So
if the student is an absolute beginner, and (therefore) does
not know how to extract the evidences (from their sources,
i.e. the Qur.aan and the Sunnah),
then there is nothing for him except to adhere to one of the
(four) Imaams or any of the Imaams (major scholars) of today
and ask him. This is best.
However,
if he should find that (any particular) statement (of this
Imaam) differs from the authentic hadeeth,
then it is obligatory upon him to adhere to the authentic
hadeeth
(and in doing so, leave the statement of the Imaam).
Shaykh
Ibn 'Uthaymeen
Kitaabul-‘Ilm - Page 115, Question 14
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