There were three kinds of people during the time of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’: People who denied and were against him were kâfirs; deniers who pretended to believe him were called munâfîqs; people who believed him were called Sahâba.
All the Sahâba held the same tenets of belief They agreed with each other in performing the acts that were declared clearly in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs. Our religion has not commanded us to believe anything which has not been declared clearly in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs. So is the case with the majority of scientific teachings. The reasonable ones of those teachings will be believed. But the case is not so with those acts that are not commanded or prohibited clearly. Allâhu ta’âlâ commands the profound savants to compare such acts to the ones that are declared clearly to see if they should be done or not. Those profound savants who are able to make this comparison are called Mujtahid. This job of comparison is called Ijtihâd. All of the information which a mujtahid has acquired through ijtihâd is called the Madhhab of that mujtahid. Each of the Sahâba was a profound savant, a mujtahid. Each of them was an ocean in religious knowledge, in politics, in administration, in the scientific knowledge of their time, and in the ma’rifats of Tasawwuf. They acquired all these branches of knowledge in a short time by seeing Rasûlullah’s blessed face, by hearing his blessed words that penetrated into the hearts and attracted the souls. Each had a Madhhab. Their Madhhabs were more or less different from each other. There were mujtahids among the Tâbi’în and the Taba-i tâbi’în, too. Only four of the Madhhabs of these mujtahids and of the Madhhabs of the Sahâba were transferred into books, and they spread all over the world. The Madhhabs of the rest were forgotten. The îmân of these four Madhhabs is the unanimous îmân of the Sahâba. For this reason, all four are called Ahl as-sunnat. There is no difference in their îmân. They deem one another as brothers. They love one another. As for practices in doing which they disagree with one another; they imitate one another when there is difficulty in following the principles of their own Madhhabs. This absence of agreement among the Madhhabs is something decreed by Allâhu ta’âlâ. That this absence of agreement is a fruit of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Compassion for His born slaves has been stated by our blessed Prophet. For, the trivial differences among the four Madhhabs facilitate Muslims’ jobs. Each Muslim chooses the Madhhab which is easier for him with respect to his physical construction, climatical conditions and the conditions of his professional life. He performs his acts of worship and every act as this Madhhab prescribes. If Allâhu ta’âlâ had decreed, everything would have been declared clearly in Qur’ân al-kerîm and in hadîth-i-sherîfs. Thus the Madhhabs would not have appeared. Until the end of the world every Muslim, in any part of the world, would have had to live under a single command, under a single order. Muslims would have been confronted by very difficult situations.
After all the Sahâba died, the îmân of some of the new Muslims became corrupted. They deviated from the correct îmân of the Sahâba. Heretical groups appeared. These corrupt groups are also called groups of bid’at or the lâ-madhhabî, for they are outside of the four Madhhabs. This deviation of theirs did not cause them to become disbelievers, for they had based their interpretations on weak proofs. But the harm they caused to Islam was much greater than that of disbelievers. Muslims with correct îmân who did not deviate from the îmân of the Sahâba have been called the Ahl assunnat, for they have adhered completely to Rasûlullah’s sunnat. The lâ-madhhabî have quarrelled and fought with one another and with the Ahl as-sunnat. Much Muslim blood has been shed. They have disrupted the Muslims’ progress and improvement. The lâmadhhabî groups of bid’at should not be mistaken for the four right Madhhabs of the Ahl as-sunnat. The four Madhhabs say that all of them are on the right path, and they love each other. But the lâ-madhhabî groups have been undermining the unity of Muslims. Today there is no Ahl as-sunnat other than the four Madhhabs; Islamic savants unanimously communicated that these four Madhhabs could not be united together and become one Madhhab. Allâhu ta’âlâ wishes not the uniting of the Madhhabs, but He wishes that they be different. Thus, He makes the Islamic religion easier. The meaning of the hundredth âyat of Surat-u Âl-i ’Imrân is: “O Believers! Embrace the religion of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Do not be separated.” The writers of authorized books of Tafsîr, e.g. Abussuûd Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ alaih’, while explaining the âyat, says: “It means not to become like the ahl-i kitâb who split into groups, deviating from the correct îmân. And it means not to part into groups like those during the time of jâhiliyya, (i.e. preIslamic time of nescience.)”
We are enjoined to unite around the correct îmân; therefore, we should not be divided. Our Prophet states that the correct path is the belief taught by the Ahl-i sunnat savants. Therefore, it is necessary for all Muslims to join the Ahl as-sunnat, to gather under the Ahl as-sunnat Madhhab, to be brothers and sisters, and to love one another. Those who deviate from this Islamic unity will have disobeyed this âyat-i kerîma. If we come together, by realizing that we are brothers and sisters, if we love one another, then we will be the most powerful nation on earth, as well as attain comfort and peace on earth and endless bliss in the next world. We have to be on full alert lest we should be torn asunder by believing the lies fibbed by our enemis, by the ignorant, and by those exploiters whose sole concern is their personal advantages.
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Seâdet-i Ebediyye Endless Bliss Second Fascicle / p.248
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