Q. Scholars in our part of the world belong almost entirely to the Hanafi school of thought, but when they give fatwa on different matters, they never refer to books by Abu Haneefah, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan. Instead they refer to books written over 200 years later. Is their action correct? Can we rely on their fatwas?
When such scholars finish their studies, they change the type of dress they wear from the normal shirt to what is known as Jubbah, then when their knowledge has increased sufficiently, they begin to wear a turban, which is white at first then becomes green as their status goes higher. Is there any basis for such change of dress? Did scholars in the early generations of Islam do this?
I read somewhere that the concession for travellers extends from the point where travel begins until the traveller is back. Does this mean that if a person travels to Makkah for Umrah in Ramadan, he need not fast, and he can shorten his prayer until he returns home, even though this may take 15 or 30 days?
Zainab
A. You will be surprised to learn that Imam Abu Haneefah wrote no books, and Abu Yusuf wrote only one short book on financial matters. It was left to Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan to write several works documenting the original thought of the Hanafi school. However, not many of his original books have survived. Yet we have the statement of Imam Al-Shafie on his departure from Baghdad, where he lived for three years as a guest of Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan: “I carried with me a camel load of books, all of which I learned from Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan.”
A school of thought does not rely on its founder. On the contrary, the founder establishes a certain methodology which is then carried forward by his students. They will be scholars in their own right, but they follow his methodology of deduction and construction to arrive at rulings in different matters. Again their students carry this forward and teach this methodology. Over the centuries, we have a great body of scholarship based on the same principles and methodology. Moreover, some later scholars may excel their predecessors, and may even differ with them. Thus, you have a large number of Hanafi scholars who made great contributions to their school, the last of whom is perhaps Ibn Abideen. In the Sahfie school we have renowned figures like Al-Muzni, Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Ghazali and Al-Nawawi. The same applies to other schools. Ibn Taymiyah, a Hanbali scholar, has views in which he differs not only with the other schools but also with Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. This is the beauty of Islamic scholarship.
In every generation scholars may have to deal with problems that had no equivalent in previous generations. Today, for example, we have to deal with fundamental issues related to research in reproduction, such as test-tube babies, surrogate motherhood, cloning, stem cells research, etc. These areas involve very serious moral issues. Our predecessors did not deal with these because they had no such problems. On the other hand, they might have dealt with questions where human knowledge has subsequently advanced. We are not tied by their rulings. Yet we may remain within the same school of thought.
What this means is that there is no problem with scholars referring to later books, because these may be more relevant to our times. However, strict adherence to one school of thought is not advisable because this limits the scholar and the people to one point of view.
What you mentioned about a change of attire to mark a change of status in scholarship has no basis. Early scholars used to wear the same clothes other people in their society wore. This is the proper practice. We do not have a clerical hierarchy and we do not need to have our scholars distinguished by a dress code.
The concessions to travelers apply for the duration of travel. Yet these are not compulsory. Therefore, if you are traveling to Makkah, you are eager to offer your prayers in the Haram where you have to follow the Imam. He will pray in the complete form and you have to do likewise. It is difficult to imagine that a person comes to Makkah in Ramadan and decides not to fast because he is a traveler, preferring to fast later when he goes back home. This will be very odd, unless that person has special circumstances giving him a very valid reason for preferring to fast when he goes back home.
An Imam Without a Beard
Q. In a discussion with friends, someone suggested that a person who does not wear a beard cannot lead a congregational prayer, because he is not observing a basic Sunnah. He was supported in this view by a couple of people but others disagreed. Please comment.
J. Ali
A. You can ask those friends who said that such a person cannot lead the prayer whether the prayer of a man who is clean shaven, whether alone or as a member of a congregation, is valid or not. If they say that it is valid, then why should a person with valid prayer not be chosen to lead the prayer if he is competent to do so? If they say that his prayer is invalid, they must provide evidence to support their view. They will find none.
The Prophet outlined the criterion for choosing the imam to lead the prayers. He told some of his companions that ‘the one among you who reads the Qur’an best should lead the prayer.’ This is the criterion. He did not say that the imam should be the person with the longest or shortest beard, or the one wearing fine clothes, or the eldest. He only spoke of the quality most relevant to prayers, and this is reading the Qur’an properly.
You may also ask your friends whether a group of people, all without beards, should pray in congregation, i.e. Jamaah, or individually? How about a person who comes into a mosque and finds a congregational prayer in progress, led by an imam who is clean shaven. Some of the people in the congregation wear beards. Should he join the prayer or wait until it has finished to start praying? If he does not join the prayer, he misses out on the reward for congregational prayer, which is 27 times the reward for praying individually. Not only so, but he will be the odd one out. Islam does not like people to be in such a position. It encourages Muslims to be always with the community.
