By Abdur-Rahmaan Mirza

Throughout the history of Islam, there have been differences of opinions between the scholars. They have been divided our Ummah into various branches and sects as well as united us when we understood etiquettes and certain guidelines for our disagreements. I will not go into details concerning the etiquettes of disagreement, but I am willing to share what Shaikh AbdulBary Yahya taught me in “The Purification Act,” and what Shaykh Yaser Birjas taught me in “The Code Evolved.” The important lessons present in this article convey what difference of opinions exist and why, etiquettes and guidelines for those differences and lessons that we’ve learned from the differences of our pious predecessors.

Shaykh Yaser Birjas taught us that the 4 Imams of fiqh, Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Ash-Shaff’ee, Imam Malik and Imam Ahmad (r.a) differed on some issues. He taught us that differences were solved at the time of the Prophet (saws) because he (saws) would tell the companions the correct ruling. But when the Prophet (saws) passed away, the Sahabah had many contemporary issues enter their lives as well as non-detailed issues of Fiqh. During the Prophet’s time, learned from him the basic concepts of tawheed and so they did not differ on those aspects of Iman. When he passed away, the Sahabah spread Islam outside of Arabia and so they met different cultures and circumstances. They started to meet different questions and would judge rightfully based on what the Prophet taught them.

The scholars after them faced the similar issues. There was the school of Iraq that based most of their Islamic ritual practice opinions on logical thinking due to the mass of hadith fabrication that occurred in Iraq. The scholars of Madinah, on the other hand, had access to more authentic hadith. Some of the scholars like Imam ash-Shafi’ee (r.a.) were authorities in the arabic language, while others weren’t, so they sometimes differed for that reason. Imaam As- Shafi’ee wrote two books of Fiqh. His second one, Al-‘Umm has different opinions on the same issues as his first book. This was due to the fact that he changed his location to Egypt for his second book and based his rulings on the different circumstances people faced. They also had different opinions because they each had a guideline for what they would accept as daleed. Imam Malik used the customs of the people of Madinah as daleel sometimes because he said Islam was completed in Madinah and the people there would be practicing it in its final form. The majority of scholars disagreed with him on this because they said different cultures and Sahabah immigration to other parts of the world affected Madinah’s authenticity and practice.

There can be differences in physical actions, like where to put your hands in prayer and whether you say Bismillah before wudu or not. But in issues of aqeedah there are no differences that can be accepted. Some etiquettes to remember are that you should always learn your agreements before you disagreements, as Shaykh Abdul-Bary Yahya did all throughout class. He first told us an issue like water and purification and discussed what the scholars have agreed upon and then he went to their disagreements. Also we should always have respect for our scholars whenever we speak about them by saying Rahimahullah after their names. Finally, we should always address the argument and not the person in difference of opinions.

Examples of our predecessors showed us they had love for one another despite their differences of opinion. Imam Malik walked in to the masjid and it was the time after ‘Asr, which he believed it was forbidden to pray any Sunnah or Nafl in. A boy yelled at him: “Pray two rakahs.” Imam Malik did not agree with his opinion but he still got up and prayed. When asked why he prayed though he did not agree with him, he said: “I was afraid I might be included with the people of the verse:

“When it is said unto them: Bow down, they bow not down.” (77:48)

Another example lies in how even though Imam as-Shafi’ee prayed in a different way than Imam Abu Hanifah, when he went to visit his grave to make dua for him, he prayed in his manner near his grave out of respect for him. This was the love and respect they practiced in their differences and may we also do the same, ameen.