Whats the difference in the four schools?

Salam Aleikum Rahmatullah wa Barakatu

I hope all is well you you dear brothers and sisters. As a fairly new muslim i was wonderin the difference between the four madhabs. I actually go to a salafi masjid so those ideas are quite foreign to me. Any explanations? Jazakallahukhair

Assalamu Alaikum



:salam2:

:ma: you have embraced Islam and come to deen.

I am not to sure about the "Madhabs" myself insha-Allah some else can help you.

Wa alaykum Salam wa Rahmatullah,

As Muslims we strive to go upon Islam as it was revealed in the Quran and taught by the Prophet . And we need explanation and understanding from the Salaf or early generation of Muslims who were closest to the time of the Prophet. - So in this manner elhamdulilah, Islam is easy to follow.

After the Prophet died, his companions spread out far and wide across many distant lands to teach people Islam. And after some time and in various places their appeared different applications of fiqh (ISlamic rulings derived from the Quran and Sunnah).

This happened for several reasons, maybe the evidence for a certain situation was not apparent for the person making his Islamic opinion, the scholar may have overruled a decision by following a hadith which he deemed was more accurate, he might have forgot a hadith, the scholar may have used a weak hadith to base his opinion as he did not have access to other hadith .etc

You must remember that this was a time when people who were seeking knowledge would travel great distances to aquire just a single hadith.

There were four principle schools of thought which are based upon the Four great Islamic scholars, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad, Imam Shafi'i.. Its allowed for some people to follow one of these schools of thought, but, we dont say that it is obligatory for them to choose one. The obligation upon us is to do what was prescibed earlier, i.e. follow the Quran and authentic sunnah.

These four Imams who were great scholars, derived their rulings from the Quran and Sunnah. They were Mujtahideen, people who could do that. They had difference on various issues from the way we do our prayers to what nullifies someone's wudhu etc. However, they did not tell people to join them or their way of thinking. They did what they thought was the most accurate thing and closest to the Quran and Sunnah. - and as the Prophet mentioned,

When a judge gives a decision, having tried his best to decide correctly and is right, there are two rewards for him; and if he gave a judgment after having tried his best (to arrive at a correct decision) but erred, there is one reward for him. (Bukhari)

With the authentic hadith having been collected into books such as Bukhari and Muslim, we have greater access to hadith and Islamic knowledge.

What is obligatory on Muslims is to accept the evidence when provided from Quran and authentic Sunnah on various Islamic issues and not to blindly carry on following something which is an incorrect view.

Jazak Allahu Khair

Thank you for the explanation of what the madhabs are and it seems to be my understanding that the difference in the rulings of the madhabs lies in fiq and salat, correct? What are a few differences in opinion between the schools? When it was said that the contemporary sheikhs cannot compare to the madhabs, is this a reference to the salafi sheikhs like Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz and Sheikh Nasir Ud Din Al Abani? Is the concept of the Salaf a recently knew idea or a school of thought in itself? Also, are the schools of thought found seperately in different regions of the globe or are they all kind of mixed together?
My brothers came back from a recent islamic conference and informed me that one of the Sheikhs said a salat is negated if preformed in pants due to one still being able to see the shape of the leg. This came as a shock to me as I only make salat in an izar or thobe for jum'aa or maybe for a special islamic event. I was also in shock over what this means for the majority of muslims i see on a daily basis who do not wear izars or thobes most of the time.
So Insha'Allah I was hoping to get some examples of differences of opinion between the madhhabs if anyone has any knowledge regarding this.

Jazak Allahu Khair wa Salam Aliekum Rahmatullah wa Barakatu

Assalamu Alaykum, well im not a scholar and i have never heard such a statement that someone's prayer is not accepted if they are wearing trousers.

Thats a pretty big statement and sounds very vague.. given that the people at the time of the Prophet wore trousers, albeit very baggy trousers... More akin to trousers worn by spme of the Kurdish people today then any western ones.

You can see the shape of the leg in any clothes you wear ?????

We need to be careful of whom we take knowledge from. There are a lot of people who call themselves scholars or even students of scholars yet they are nowhere close to being so.

Many who have setup schools and institutions in the US and Canada, and whom happily ascribe to being "Shaykhs".. and try to score points by saying they studied with Scholars etc.. but, in reality they are unknown to the scholars that they say they were students of. Its also disrespectful to the scholars for people to say and do that.

A person is only a student of an Alim or Shaykh IF the scholar actually states that this person is their student. -

Its allowed for people to do what they can on the limited knowledge they have.. as long as they go back to the Quran and Sunnah and if they can get ruling from Scholars who have more knowledge.

(I am not here to make fatwa or rulings, just to point out and help Muslims and Non-Muslims on basics. This doesnt require someone to phone a Shaykh or call a wannabe da'ee. . It is an obligation on all Muslims)

Like was said before in the fatwa from the Shaykhs, its not haram to follow a madhab at same time it is not obligatory to do so.. what is obligatory is for people to act upon the authentic Sunnah when it is presented.

The word Salaf simply means those people have gone before us, specifically the pious generation of Muslims. The first 3 generations. Anyone who was known to be upon the Quran and Sunnah and was rightly guided. In a hadith, the Prophet told Aisha that he was her salaf.

It is authentically reported on the authority of `Umran Ibn Husain (ra ), that he said: "Allah's Messenger saw: ) said:
Wasalam.