جواد تقي الدين المغربي

What If the Ḥadīth “Contradicts” the Madhhab? بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم In this clip, Abū ‘Uthmān is discussing the matter of following a madhhab and says, “When the ḥadīth goes against your madhhab, you have to follow the ḥadīth because you’re ordered to follow the Prophet ﷺ.” At first, many people would assume that such a statement is correct, when in reality, it’s not. This makes it seem as though we must take every ḥadīth at face value. There was once a Mauritanian woman who asked someone a question regarding some of the rulings of the Ḥajj [pilgrimage]. The man said to her, “Should I answer you from the Qurān and Sunna or from the opinion of Mālik?”. Thus, the woman replied, “No, I want the answer from the Qurān and Sunna with the understanding of Mālik, not with your understanding.” This is because the scholars will always have valid reasons and evidence for going against the apparent wording of a ḥadīth. This does not mean that they have gone against the Sunna of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Sh. ‘Adnān ‘Abd-Allāh Zohār said, “The reality, which no fair researcher doubts, is that no one from the a’imma [sing. imām], who are followed, turns away from a ḥadīth from among the aḥādīth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), nor did he intend to oppose it; rather, their statements and opinions are upon the opposite of that.” Sh. ‘Alī al-Khawwāṣ said, “There’s no opinion from among the opinions of scholars, except that he’s relying on a principle from among the principles of the sharī’a.” To further clarify this issue, we cite the famous story which Imām al-Bukhārī narrated with his chain from ‘Abd-Allāh b. ‘Umar (may Allāh be pleased with them both) who said, “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘No one should pray ‘Aṣr except in Banū Qurayẓa.’ Thus, the ‘Aṣr time had reached some of them while on the way, so some of them said, ‘We shall not pray until we reach it (i.e., Banū Qurayẓa)!’ And others said, ‘Rather, we shall pray (on the spot), he (the Prophet) did not intend that (i.e., the apparent form of the statement).’ This was mentioned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and he did not scold either of the two.” The statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was “explicit” in this context — “No one should pray ‘Aṣr except in Banū Qurayẓa.” But yet this did not prevent some of the companions from interpreting this ḥadīth in a way that differs from the ẓāhir [apparent] form. Ibn Baṭṭāl explained why the other group prayed ‘Aṣr before reaching Banū Qurayẓa and said, “Because the meaning of it, according to them, was that this was the case as long as they did not fear that the ‘Aṣr time would run out.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say which group followed the ḥadīth and which group opposed it. He (peace and blessings be upon him) did not accuse the group that prayed on time of going against the apparent form of his statement when he said, “No one should pray ‘Aṣr except in Banū Qurayẓa” nor did he accuse the other group of going against the verses and aḥādīth [sing. ḥadīth] that command the Muslims to pray on time. That’s because both groups had valid reasons for their opinion on how to interpret the ḥadīth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and how to act upon it. Thus, when the scholars appear to have gone against the ẓāhir of a ḥadīth, it’s because there’s a valid shar’ī reason behind it. والله أعلم