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16-12-2003 | IslamWeb

Question:

What did the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) say about Abu Haneefa, and should a young new believer follows one of the schools of thought.

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) died seventy years before the birthday of Imam Abu Hanifah and we don't know that he said anything about him. But Al-Ajlouni mentioned some Ahadith such as: Abu Hanifah is the light/lamp of my nation and he also said, a man will come after me called Al-Nu'eman Ibn Thabit and named Abu Hanifah , who will renew Allah's religion and my Sunnah. Besides other Ahadith which are considered weak. A new Muslim is not asked (ordered) to follow any of the Mazhab (4 schools of Fiqh). Actually, he can take seek legal rules (regulations) from faithful and loyal scholars of whether these scholars follow the 4 Imams or others because the new Muslims during the companions and followers era learned and benefited from all Muslim scholars they met. Some contemporary scholars say that a Muslim has to follow one of the four schools of Fiqh because the rulings and judgements of other schools were not recorded and scholars didn't research the basis of those schools as they did with the four Mazhabs. Allah knows best.