Is it permissible to abandon the view of a madhhab that contradicts a sound hadith and follow that hadith?

- It is said that the imams of madhhabs made ijtihad according to the hadiths they could reach, and that they said, ‘If you learn a hadith that does not agree with what I say, follow it’.
- In the period after the madhhab imams, scholars such as Bukhari and Muslim had access to many hadiths. Many hadiths that the sect imams could not access are now accessible.
- In that case, what should we do if we see sahih hadiths that do not comply with the madhhab we follow? By showing these hadith books, some people say that if the imams had accessed these hadiths, they would not have ruled otherwise. They also say that the imam could not reach that hadith and made a comparison according to other hadiths he knew, but we cannot necessarily follow that madhhab since we know the truth, and if we follow it, it might be polytheism (shirk).
- Is it regarded as disobedience to the Prophet and as polytheism to prefer the view of the madhhab when there is a clear sound hadith?
- Can you explain them?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Imam Shafi’i said, “If you find a sound hadith, it is my madhhab. If you see anything in my book that is contrary to the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, judge by the sunnah/sound hadith and leave what I say aside.” (See Fatawa Ibnus-Salah, Beirut, 1407, 1/55; Nawawi, Majmu, Darul-Fikr, nd.1/63)

Abu Hanifa uttered a similar sentence and it is known that Imam Malik and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said similar things. (see Ibn Abidin, 1/67-68, 385)

If a person has the conditions for ijtihad, he can abandon the view of his madhhab if he knows that it is contrary to a sound hadith and can follow that hadith. If a person is not in a position to do ijtihad independently and he finds in another madhhab the view of his madhhab which he thinks is contrary to a sound hadith, he can imitate that madhhab. (See Fatawa Ibnus-Salah, 1/58-59)

Imam Nawawi includes the following views on this issue (about Shafi’i madhhab):

This statement of Imam Shafi’i does not mean that whoever sees a sahih hadith can immediately say that this is the view of the Shafi’i madhhab and act upon it. In this regard, those who are not mujtahids or do not have enough knowledge to be a mujtahid in terms of madhhabs cannot do such a thing because, besides a sound hadith, there might be another sound hadith that expresses a different meaning. A person who does not know all hadiths or all the hadiths related to that issue and who is not familiar with all the books of Imam Shafi’i and his other disciples is not authorized to deduce a decree from a “sound” hadith. It is not easy to have those conditions. As a matter of fact, Imam Shafi’i saw some sound hadiths but did not act upon them. Shafi’i did not act upon them because he knew that they had a hidden defect or had been abrogated even though they appeared to be sound. (See Nawawi, Majmu,1/64)

It can be said, based on the information given by the scholars, that for those other than madhhab scholars, it is necessary to be knowledgeable in tafsir, hadith, fiqh and methodology in order to make a decree from a sound hadith. Islamic scholars do not make a decree based on only the knowledge whether a hadith is sound or not. They made ijtihad based on the relationship of this hadith with other hadiths, its relationship with verses, its position within the framework of methodological knowledge and other scientific methods they followed.

So as not to prolong the issue, we will give only one example showing that a decree cannot be made based on a sound hadith alone.

The scholars of Hanafi madhhabs took the narration of Ibn Masud (Bukhari, Muslim) as a basis for determining the form of the “Tashahhud” in prayer. The scholars of Shafi’i madhhab, on the other hand, took the narration of Ibn Abbas (Muslim) as a basis. Both of those hadiths are sound. It is permissible to act upon both of them. However, while analyzing the issue, Imam Nawawi displayed a very objective point of view and stated the following:

“Imam Shafi’i preferred the narration of Ibn Abbas because this narration contains the word ‘al-Mubarakat’, which does not exist in the other one. (according to the hadith criteria ‘The addition of the reliable narrator is acceptable’), Imam Shafi’i preferred this narration because of this addition.” (See Nawawi, Majmu, 3/455-457)

Finally, it is worth remembering that about 90 per cent of the Islamic ummah are common people like us. That is, they do not have the opportunity to draw a decree from the hadiths.

Accordingly, there are two ways for us:

One: To imitate one of the four madhhabs of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-jama’ah, in which there are hundreds of Islamic scholars.

Two: To leave aside the knowledge put forward by those great Islamic scholars and to imitate the ijtihad of some contemporary scholars who issue fatwas contrary to them.

Now we want to ask: Are we to follow thousands of Islamic scholars of the past, who are recognized by the ummah as being at the highest level in terms of both taqwa and knowledge, or are we to follow a few scholars who are far behind them in religious knowledge and taqwa, as a necessary consequence of this time?

Follow the majority of the Muslims/the scholars of Islam.” (Ibn Majah, Fitan, 8)

As a necessity of the order of the Prophet (pbuh) above, we think it is now very clear who it is appropriate for us to imitate.

Questions on Islam