Imām Abūl ‘Abbās Ahmad bn ‘Abdul-Halīm bn Taymiyah – Rahimahullāhu
said:
15). هذا اعتقاد الشافعي ومالك.
وأبي حنيفة ثم أحمد ينقل
This is the Creed of Imām Ash-shāfi’i, Mālik, Abū Hanīfah and Ahmad as transmitted from them.
SHAR’H.
The Shaykh mentioned the four Imāms of the four popularly known madhāhib we have. Though, there are some madhāhib that are not known today.
The first amongst these Imams in terms of their era is Imām Abū Hanīfah. He is called the greatest Imām with many followers especially in the khurasan region. He was born in the year 80H and passed away in the year 150H and there are many great Imāms amongst his followers.
The second is Imām Mālik who is the shining star of the Sunnah, Imāmu Dārul Hijrah. He was born in the year 93H and passed away in the year 179. Imām Ash-shāfi’i was one of his students and his madhab is popularly known and the followers are many especially in Africa.
Imām Ash-shāfi’i is the third amongst them. He has a lot of people who incline towards his madh’ab amongst the Muslim world. He was born in the year 150H, the year Imām Abū Hanīfah passed away. He died in the year 204H. Meaning, he only spent 54yrs in Dunya. Hence, achievement are not measured by number of years one spent in Dunya, rather, it is measured by the blessings of the years even when it is little. There are many of the Mufassirin and the Fuqahā who follow the madhab of Imām Ash-shāfi’i.
Then Imām Ahmad is the last of the four madhāhib. He was born in the year 164H and passed away in the year 241H. He is considered amongst the Fuqahā and the Ahlul Hadīth and he has many followers but they are few as against the three other madhāhib. It was said that he memorised about 700,000 Ahādith. And this is the Creed of all the four Imams without any innovation.
Thus, hasten to follow their footsteps not only in fiqh but also in aqeedah.
Allāhu A’alām.
Bārakallāhu fīkum.
Jazākumullahu Khayran.
28th Dhul-Qa’dah 1441H.
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