The Madhab of the People of adth

By the Muaddith, Muammad ibn Abd al-Ramn al-Mubrakfur

Translated by Ab al-asan Mlik dam al-Akhar

The Madhab of the People of adth al-Ramniyyah Publishing

The Madhab of the People of adth

By the Muaddith Muammad ibn Abd al-Ramn al-Mubrakfur

Know that the scholars of the Hanaf school of jurisprudence maintain that Imm alTirmidh - may Allahs Mercy be upon him - was of the Sh school, and some of them say that he was anbal; and this is a statement that their mouths have put forth, and falsehood that which they claim! For the truth of the matter is that he was neither Sh nor anbal, just as he was neither Mlik, nor anaf. Instead, he was from the People of adth; adhering to the Sunnah, working by it. He was a Mujtahid,2 not a blind follower of any one from the people. And this is apparent to any one who has read his Jmi and has examined it and reected upon it. And what is astonishing is how they maintain that he was Sh or Hanbal. Did they not know that if he was Sh, blindly following Imm ash-Sh, he would have given precedence to the madhab of his Imm, al-Sh, in all of the issues where there is dierence of opinion, or most of them, over the other schools of jurisprudence; and he would have supported it and aided it as is the case with those who blindly follow. However, he did not do this; instead, he refuted the statements of al-Sh in many places in his book. Do you not see that in the chapter: Delaying Salah al-Dhuhr in Extreme Heat, he states after citing the narration of al-Ibrd: ...and a number of the people of knowledge have preferred to delay Salah al-Dhuhr in extreme heat, from them: Ibn al-Mubrak, Amad and Isq. This, while al-Sh has stated, Certainly al-Ibrd3 for Salah al-Dhuhr is only if the people nd it dicult [to go out in the heat] due to their distance from the masjid. As for the one who prays alone or prays in the masjid of his people, then that which I like for him is not to delay the Salah in the extreme heat.

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The following is taken from Tufah al-Awadh (1/351) A scholar capable of making independent rulings based upon proofs and evidences.

Delaying the prayer from the time of extreme heat until when it has become cool. It is collected by al-Bukhr (no. 532, 528, 621, 895, 3188), Muslim (no. 135) Ab Dawud (no. 401), al-Tirmidh (no. 157, 158) and Amad (6/129, 202, 222). It is also related in the a of Ibn Khuzaymah ( no. 330, 397, 1843), Sunan al-Kubr (2/220), (4/422, 423), the a of Ibn Hibbn (no. 1802) and in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shaybah (1/321). 2

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As for those who have chosen to delay Salah al-Dhuhr in the extreme heat, then this is more appropriate, closer to the adherence to the Sunnah.4 As for the opinion of Imm al-Sh, that permission to delay is specic to those at a distance from the masjid as a result of hardship, then indeed, what is found in the adth of Ab Dharr points to other than what he has stated. Ab Dharr said, We were with the Prophet on a journey, and Bill called the Adhn for Salah al-Dhuhr. The Prophet said, O Bill, when it is cool, when it is cool. 5 So if the matter was as Imm al-Sh says, there would have been no reason for alIbrd at that time because they were all together on a journey, and there was no hardship upon them resulting from distance [to the masjid]. Do they not know that he (i.e. al-Tirmidh) said in the chapter: ThePerson who Prays the Obligatory Prayer then goes to Lead the People Afterward: This is the practice of our companions, al-Sh, Amad and Isq, and he says in the chapter: The Man who Accepts Islm and has Ten Wives: ...this is the practice from the adth of Ghayln6 with our companions, from them: al-Sh, Amad and Isq. He says in the chapter: What has come Regarding Prayer in the Dwellings of Sheep and the Resting Places of Camels:7 And upon this is the practice of our companions and the saying of Amad and Isq. So these statements of al-Tirmidh are a clear illustration that he was neither Sh nor was he anbal; therefore, the statement of those who claim this has clearly been negated. So if you ask what is intended by his statement our companions? I say, Imm Ab Is al-Tirmidh was from the People of adth, and his school of jurisprudence was that of the People of adth, so the intention of his statement our companions is Ahl al-adth. Al-Qr said in al-Mirqt Shar al-Mishkt, clarication of the statement of al-Tirmidh, ...so

As is found in the adth collected by al-Bukhr in his a (no. 501) on the authority of Ab Hurayrah who narrated that the Messenger of Allh said: If the heat becomes severe, then wait till it it cooler before praying, for indeed the severe heat is from the exhaling of the Hellre.
4 5 6

Collected by al-Bukhr in his a (no. 505).

Related by al-Tirmidh (no. 1125). On the authority of Ibn Umar that Ghayln ibn Salamah al-Thaqaf accepted Islm and had ten wives in al-Jhiliyyah, and they accepted Islm with him. So the Prophet commanded him to choose four [of them]. It was also collected by Ibn Mjah (no. 2010), Amad (2/79, 81, 131, 198), al-Muwa (no. 1250), the a of Ibn Hibbn (no. 4080, 4081, 4082), Sunan al-Kubr of alBayhaq (10/378, 442, 443, 444, 445, 447), al-Hkim in al-Mustadrak (2/209, 210) and al-Daraqun in his Sunan (no. 3617, 3618, 3619, 3620, 3628). It is related by Imm al-Tirmidh (no. 348, 349). On the authority of Ab Hurayrah who said that the Prophet said, Pray in the dwellings of sheep, but do not pray in the resting places of the camels. Imm alTirmidh said, This adth is asan a.
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and so is considered weak amongst our companions, that is, the People of adth. I say this is the truth of the matter of which the aforementioned statements of al-Tirmidh indicate. One of the Hanayyah says in his commentary of Jmi al-Tirmidh, As for the school of the authors of al-i, it is said that al-Bukhr was Sh, but the truth of the matter is that alBukhr was Mujtahid. As for Muslim, I am not certain about his madhab.8 Concerning Ibn Mjah, perhaps he was Sh, and al-Tirmidh was Sh. As for Ab Dawud and al-Nis, what is commonly understood is that they, too, were Sh. However, the truth of the matter

al-Muaddith Muammad ibn dam says of this in his explanation of Muqaddimah a Muslim:

Know that Imm Muslim was a scholar of jurisprudence, working by the texts. So the of the blind-followers imagine that he was upon the school of thought of so and so because they see him in agreement with the opinion of that Imm in certain issues, either due to concurrence in the evidences, or because he took [directly] from him or from someone else who took from the Imm. If this makes a person a blind-follower, then we say: Indeed Imm al-Sh was Mlik, since he took knowledge from him; and Imm Amad was Sh, because he took from him and so on. But these allegers never make this claim; rather, they free themselves from it. And what disproves all of this is his contradiction of that Imm in other matters, and it is well known that the blind follower does not dier with his Imm whatsoever. The truth of the matter is that he is upon the school of the People of adth, not a blind follower of anyone. Rather, he is like al-Sh, Amad and other scholars of Fiqh from the people adth. Ab Abd Allh alHkim said it best when he mentioned him from the scholars of Fiqh from the people of adth, and devoted a biography to him, as he did the other Imms like al-Zuhr, al-Awz, Ibn Uyanah, Ibn al-Mubrak, Yaya alQan, Ibn Mahd, Amad ibn anbal, Ibn al-Madn, etc. And mentioned before their biographies that what was intended was the Fiqh of adth. Shaykh Muammad ibn dam concludes: In short, Imm Muslim, and the other authors of the six books [of adth], are scholars of Fiqh from the people of adth, callers to it. They did not deem it permissible to blind follow anyone, no matter his status; and they had no Imm save the Messenger of Allh of whom Allh placed the creations guidance and success in obedience to him and following his example. Allah says: If you obey him, you will be upon right guidance. [al-Nur: 54] And His statement: And follow him so that you may be guided. [al-Araf: 158] And if their statements agree with the statements of some of the Imms in certain matters, then some of the heedless consider this to be blind following and then brand them with what is not betting one who is much less than them in stature. And refuge is sought with Allh from those who oppose what is correct, and Allh knows best what is right, and unto Him is the return [of all]. See Qurrah Ayn al-Muhtaj (1/12-14) 4

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is that they were anbal. For indeed the books of anbal Fiqh are lled with the narrations of Ab Dawud on Imm Amad. I say (i.e. al-Mubrakfri), just as al-Bukhr may Allh have mercy upon him - was a follower of the Sunnah, adhering to it, a Mujtahid, not a blind follower of any of the four Imms or other than them, such was the case with Muslim and Ab Dawud and al-Nis and Ibn Mjah. All of them were followers of the Sunnah, working by it, not blind followers of anyone from the people. As for the conclusion that Ab Dawud and al-Nis were anbal, due to the fact that the books of anbal Fiqh are lled with the narrations of Ab Dawud on Amad, then this is baseless! Even if the books of anbal Fiqh were lled with the narrations of Ab Dawud, this does not necessitate that he was anbal, do you not see that the books of anaf Fiqh are lled with narrations of Imm Ab Ysuf and Imm Muammad, and with that, they were not considered anaf, blind followers of Ab Hanfah. Know that this individual who has claimed that Ab Dawud and al-Nis were absolute blind followers of Imm Amad, without restriction, abandoned this statement after taking heed. He says elsewhere in his commentary of Jmi al-Tirmidh, Yay ibn Man was of the anaf madhab, as found in al-Trkh of Ibn al- Khalkn, except the taqld of the Salaf was the taqld of al-Ijtihdt, where there was nothing established from the marf9 or mawqf, 10 not like our taqld, and this is my belief. I say there is no established proof that Imm Ab Dawud or al-Nis were blind followers of Imm Amad in Ijtihdt, and indeed, this is only their conjecture, and certainly conjecture is no substitute for the truth! Concerning his statement, As for Ibn Mjah, perhaps he was Sh, indicates that they have no proof to substantiate that Ibn Mjah was Sh. One of the Hanayyah says in the introduction to the explanation of a Muslim: Some of those skilled in knowledge of the narrations say, As for al- Bukhr and Ab Dawud, they were Imms in Fiqh, from the people of Ijtihd. As for Muslim, al-Tirmidh, al-Nis, Ibn Mjah, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ab Yal, alBazzr and their likes, they are from the school of the People of adth, not blindly following anyone, nor were they absolutely from the people of Ijtihaad. Rather, they leaned towards the statement of the Imms of adth, like al-Sh

The adth which is directly ascribed to the Messenger of Allh by the narrator The narration which is ascribed directly to one of the companions of the Prophet . 5

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and Amad and Ishaaq and Ab Ubayd and their likes. And they are closer to the madhab of the people of al-Hijz than the madhab of the people of al-Irq. As for Ab Dawud at-Tiylis, he preceded all of them, being from the generation of Yahy ibn Sad al-Qan and Yazd ibn Hrn al-Wsi and Abd al-Ramn al-Mahd and their likes from the generation of the teachers of Imm Amad. And all of them went to the greatest eorts in the following the Sunnah. Although, there were present from them those who leaned toward the madhab of the people of al-Irq like Wak and Yahy ibn Sad, and from them those who leaned toward the madhab of the people of al-Madnah, like Abd alRamn al-Mahd. As for al-Draqun, he leaned towards the madhab of alSh, though he was a person of Ijtihd, and he was from the Imms of adth and Sunnah. His situation was not like some of those who came after him from the Scholars of adth, adhering to taqld (blind-following) in general, except in a few instances of which can be counted. And certainly al-Draqun was stronger in Ijtihd, more knowledgeable. He also said, And what is apparent is that Ab Dawud was closer to being anbal, for certainly the books of anbal qh are lled with his narrations upon Amad. This is his quote from al-Arf al-Shdh, and you have already learned its rebuttal.So were you to ask, if Imm al-Bukhr was not Sh, following Imm al-Sh, then why did they consider him Sh, and why is he mentioned in abaqt al-Shiyyah? Al-Allmah Shh Waliyyullh alDihlaw states in his ujjatullh al-Blighah, Perhaps one of the People of adth would be attributed to a particular school of jurisprudence due to agreement with it in many issues. Just as al-Nis and al- Bayhaq were attributed to al-Sh. He also states in his work entitled al-Inf: What is meant by the ascription to the Sh madhab is that he follows him in the principles of exploring evidences (usl), and classifying them. And if he sometimes contradicts this, then this is not an issue, as he does not stray from this methodology except in certain instances; and it does not aect him being considered from the Sh madhab. Similarly, al-Imm al-Bukhr, for he is counted from the abaqt al-Shiyyah by Shaykh Tj al-Dn al-Subk who said, He gained knowledge from al- umayd, and al-umayd took knowledge from al-Sh.

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Also, in his book, al-Fawid al-Darr, al-Allmah, Shaykh Isml al-Ijln explains what has preceded regarding al-Bukhr taking knowledge from al-Karabs, al-Zafarn and Ab Thawr, thus making him Sh, as well as the dierence of opinion concerning his madhab. And it is said that he was Sh in his madhhab, as al-Subk holds in his Tabaqt al-Shyyah. He states, Certainly, he heard from al-Karabs and Ab Thawr and al-Zafarn and gained knowledge from al-umayd, all of them from the companions of al-Sh. It is also stated that he (i.e. al-Bukhr) was anbal. Ab al-Hasan ibn al- Irq listed him among the companions of Imm Amad. Then he cited the narration from al-Bukhr where he said, I entered Baghdd eight times, and every time I sat with Amad ibn anbal. The last time I left him, he said to me, O Ab Abd Allh will you leave the knowledge and people and travel to Khurasn? And al-Bukhr said, I now recall his statement. And it is said he was a Mujtahid. This is the choice of al-Sakhw. He said, And I lean toward the fact that he was Mujtahid. This was clearly stated by Taqiy al-Dn Ibn Taymiyyah. He says, Certainly he was an Imm in Fiqh due to his Ijtihd.