BahithQ1. Can we offer obligatory prayer behind an Imam who is doing shirk- like the ones who visit the graves of Auwliya for help or ask God on behalf of them? A1. Shirk is a major sin that Allah never forgives. However, if the person sincerely repents before he dies then Allah may forgive him as He says in the Qur'an, “Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. (Surat al-Nisa'a 4:48) Therefore, you need to guide this man by explaining him the matter correctly in the light of ‘Ahadeeth' and verses from the Qur'an. He needs to understand that seeking help or worshipping the dead is negating the true meaning of ‘la ilah illaAllah'. It is not lawful to pray behind anyone who is indulged in these acts. The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' stated that it is not permissible to offer salah (Prayer) behind someone who seeks blessings from the graves, makes vows, offer sacrifices or asks for help from them because such a person is known as a Mushrik. (fatwa #16331)Q.Is it necessary to believe in the four schools of thought and to follow any one of them? Can a Muslim follow the Fiqh of one Imam and leave the others? A.First of all, let us remember that Islam came down to the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) and Angel Jibrail brought the revelation to Him. Allah the Almighty chose His Messenger (peace be upon him) for His Deen, made him sinless, conveyed the Deen through Him and perfected it on him. The following verse was revealed on the occasion of Hajjatul Wida'a on the ground of Arafaat, “This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion” (Al Maidah 3). Here it should be well understood that our religion was perfected by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and he left after completing it. Allah declared during the lifetime of the Prophet that protecting the religion is His responsibility and said: “Verily it is We who have sent down the ‘Dhikr' and surely We will guard it” (Al Hijr 9). This means that Allah has sent down this Qur'an and the ‘Ahadeeth' through the Prophet (peace be upon him)and He will protect it till the last day. Therefore, if there is anything to be followed in the name of Islam, it is the Qur'an & ‘Ahadeeth'. The various Imams among the Muslim Ummah were all great scholars (for the sake of information let me mention here that there were many other Imams who enlightened people and among them some were given a higher status than these four Imams).Besides these four Imams there were at least three more Imams whose following had started among the people of this Ummah. However, there are a few things to be considered here, for example: The Deen that the Prophet(peace be upon him) conveyed to us has not been and cannot be lost since Allah Himself has taken the responsibility to protect it. The Deen was followed during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and also after him until the arrival of these Imams. The Imams were born in the second and third hijra and they compiled their books later. This clearly shows that before these Imams there was a long interval. A Hadith of our Prophet(peace be upon him) mentioning this group is as “The best period in terms of superiority is my period and then the one following it and then the one subsequent to it.” This means that he declared these three periods as the best and they had passed before the four Imams came. However, in the absence of these Imams, who were these people following? And for that matter, who were they not following? During the period of the four Imams ‘Ahadeeth' had not been collected. They were later collected and compiled. Thus, these Imams had to carry out “Ijtihad” in many issues and later on it was discovered that ‘Ahadeeth' were available to solve those issues. For example, suppose you are traveling somewhere at night and have not offered Isha prayers and have settled for the night at a place where the Qibla direction is unknown. You carry out ‘Ijtihad'. After deep thought and serious contemplation, you pray Isha in the direction you conclude is the Qibla. Then you pray Fajr in the same direction, but after sunrise you discover that you were praying in the wrong direction. Now the question arises, in which direction Dhur should be prayed? Isha and Fajr would be considered valid and need not be offered again. Salat Dhur should be prayed in the direction of the correct Qibla because by praying in that direction your prayers would be accepted. Hence, if you pray in the opposite direction your prayer would be rendered invalid and unacceptable. Similarly, in the times of the Imams when they did not find ‘Ahadeeth' on a specific matter they would reach a conclusion through ‘Ijtihad'. They along with their followers acted upon it and took the right course in the non-availability of the ‘Ahadeeth'. However, later when ‘Ahadeeth' were compiled and then when an ‘Ijtehad' contradicted a Hadeeth then in such circumstances, there remained no justification in following the Imam's ‘Ijtihad'. Just as when the right Qibla was known after the sunrise there remained no justification in continuing to pray towards your own assumed Qibla rather than toward the real Qibla. A period of almost 1200 years has passed since the passing away of the Imams. Suppose the Prophet (peace be upon him) returns to life and the Imams return, too. Then, if your Imam directs you to do something in a certain way and the Prophet (peace be upon him) tells you to do the same thing in another way, whose instructions would you, follow? It is totally out of the question that you would follow the Imam's instructions and ignore our Prophet's (peace be upon him) words. Hence, ‘Ahadeeth' will always be accepted in lieu of ‘Ijtihads' of the various Imams. The four Imams have also ordained us to follow the same principle. Not a single Imam has ever said that you must follow his ‘Ijtihad'. Imam Shafaee (May Allah have mercy on him) stated, “When a hadeeth is sahih, that is my religion.” Imam Abu Hanifa (May Allah have mercy on him) stated, “When you find a Hadeeth, cast my words against the wall,” that is, don't follow my words. So the Imams only carried out ‘Ijtihad' in the absence of ‘Ahadeeth' and stated clearly that one should not follow their rulings if a ‘Hadeeth' was available on the same subject. It is quite evident from the above quotes that they have absolved themselves and have cleared themselves in the eyes of Allah. However, now when people try to introduce a tradition in the name of any particular Imam, they are certainly incorporating something in Islam, which has neither any justification nor any precedence.These Imams neither told anyone to follow their school of thought nor did they leave any comprehensive ‘fiqh' for people to follow. It is indeed a sorry plight that the people after them have created separate sects out of their teachings. Therefore, we must make the Prophet our role model and guide for our actions, genuineness, morality, character and ‘da'wa' because Allah has said in the Quran, “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example to follow” (Al Ahzaab 21). This answer has been obtained from Sheikh Safiur Rehman Mubarakpuri (Author of Rahiq Al Makhtoom – A first award winning book) at Jeddah Dawah Center “Haya Salamah”. __
