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Ibn Taymiyyah, the Mujtahid:
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'The scholars of this period (i.e. During Ibn Taymiyyah's era)
left all forms of Ijtihad and unanimously issued a legal ruling which was
intended to close the door of Ijtihad permanently. They reasoned that all
possible issues had already been raised and addressed, and there was therefore,
no need for further Ijtihad. With that step, a new concept of Madhhab arose,
namely that one of the four Madhhabs had to be followed for one's Islam to be
valid. In time, this concept became firmly embedded among the masses as well as
the scholars of Fiqh. Thus, the religion of Islam itself became restricted
within the confines of the four existing Madhhabs; Hanafee, Malikee, Shafa'ee
and Hambalee. These schools of law came to be considered as divinely ordained
manifestations of Islam. All of them were supposed to be completely correct,
equal and representative of true Islam, yet there were innumerable differences
among them. In fact, there were scholars in this period who interpreted some
Ahadeeth in such a way as to prove that the Prophet himself had predicted the
appearance of the Imams and their Madhhabs. Consequently, any attempt to go
beyond these canonical Madhhabs was considered heretical and anyone who refused
to follow one of these Madhhabs was classified as an apostate. The
hyper-conservative scholars of this stage even went so far as to rule that
whoever was caught transferring from one Madhhab to another was liable to
punishment at the discretion of the local judge. A ruling was also made in the
Hanafee Madhhab prohibiting the marriage of a Hanafee to a Shafa'ee. And even
the second most important pillar of Islam, Salaat was not spared the effects of
Madhhab fanaticism. The followers of the various Madhhabs began to refuse to
pray behind the Imams from other Madhhabs.' [Evolution of Fiqh by Bilal Philips,
pg. 107]
'The factors, which led to Taqleed, also caused scholars to confine their
creative activity to merely editing and revising previous works. The Fiqh books
of earlier scholars were condensed and abridgements of them were made. These
abridgements were later shortened in order to make them easy to memorize, and
many of them were actually put to rhyme. This process of condensing continued
until the summaries, which resulted became virtual riddles to the students of
the day. The following generation of scholars began to write explanations of the
summaries and poems. Later scholars wrote commentaries on the explanations and
other added footnotes to the commentaries.' [Evolution of Fiqh by Dr. Bilal
Philips, pg. 110]
Therefore, in Shaikhul-Islam's time, a degenerative trend resulted in abandoning
all forms of Ijtihad, and Madhhabs of Fiqh emerged as independent separate
entities closely resembling sects. Though Ibn Taymiyyah studied the Usool
(principles) of the Hambali Fiqh, he did not show prejudice towards a particular
Madhhab. He explained, 'In all my life until this hour, I have never called
anyone ever in the principles of religion to the Hanbali madhhab or any other
madhhab, and I do not support it and I do not mention it in my talk, I don't
mention anything except what the Salaf and the scholars of the Ummah have agreed
upon. And I have told them more than once, I give respite to him who disagreed
with me for three years if he brings me one word from the scholars of the first
three generations that contradicts what I have said then I will accept it. What
I mention I quote from the first three generations word-for-word and I quote
their renowned Ijma.' [Majmoo al-Fatawa (3/229). Quoted from the book, 'Dawah
Shaikhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah wa-Athruha fi al-Harakat al-Islamiyyah al-Mu'asirah'
by Salahud-din Maqbool Ahmad]
Ibn Taymiyyah called for a return to the original state of affairs whereby the
common people took the knowledge of the Deen without prejudice towards
individuals of a specific Madhhab. He said, 'If what was destined befalls a
Muslim, then he should seek a verdict from someone whom he believes that he will
reply according to the Sharee'ah of Allah and His Messenger from whichever
Madhhab he may be, and it is not obligatory upon any Muslim to make Taqleed of
(blindly-follow) one specific person from the scholars in everything he says,
and it is not required from any Muslim to adhere to the madhhab of one specific
person in everything that he necessitates and informs about. Rather, every
person's word is taken and left except Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam). One's following a
specific madhhab due to the excuse of his inability to know the Sharee'ah except
through it (i.e., the person), then such is permissible for him. It is not from
what is required from every person, even if he is able to know the Sharee'ah
through a different path, rather every person should fear Allah in accordance
with his ability, and seek knowledge of what Allah and His Messenger has
commanded, so he carries out the prescribed and leaves the forbidden.' [Majmoo
al-Fatawa (vol. 20)]
