Everyone Lays Claim To Being A Mujtahid And Muhaddith

Nowadays, everyone lays claim to being a Mujtahid and Muhaddith [expert in Ijtihaad and Hadeeth].

There was a villager who had abandoned Taqleed [explicit following of one of the four Math-habs of Islam, viz. Hanafi, Shaafi’i, Maaliki and Hambali]. Someone enquired from him the proof of reciting Faatihah behind the Imam. He replied: “It comes in Tirmiji (Tirmithi): ‘Kihdaaj Kihdaaj.”

The Hadeeth Shareef says:” “Khidaaj, Khidaaj.” [In other words, the self-styled Salafi village-dweller could not even pronounce the Hadeeth Kitaab and the words of the Hadeeth correctly, yet he saw himself fit to subject the Qur’aan and Hadeeth to his ignorance]. This is the harm [of abandoning Taqleed]. Are these people [the Ghair Muqallids; the Salafis in our times] Muhaddith? These people are not Muhaddith. Can a person become a Muhaddith by erroneously understanding a smattering of Ahadeeth?

Furthermore, permitting this in these times is fraught with the danger of the door of heresy opening. Nowadays, the disease is endemic of concocting fanciful reasons for every law [of the Shariat]. What is the wisdom in keeping a beard; what is the wisdom in reading Namaaz; what is the wisdom in fasting? And they [the modernists; the slaves of the nafs; the munaafiqs who question the Immutable Law of Allah Ta’ala] call this ‘philosophy’. Concoction of this philosophy is not permissible for this reason that they think the law is based on the rationale they have concocted. And where this ‘rationale’ is not found they assume the law is not applicable.

Once a person explained the rationale of wudhu, and to a degree he explained it well. He said: “What consideration in specifying the washing of the extremes of the body [head, face, hands and feet] which are six and directions are also six! All these [six parts] are encompassed by the directions. And in view of these six parts of the body among the Arabs largely remaining exposed to dust, dirt and the urine drops of their animals, washing them was instructed.”

Further, he erred badly by saying: “Since this is the reason, and we dwell in homes with windows and doors we have no problem with dust and dirt. Thus, wudhu is not necessary for us.” Accordingly, this misfortunate person would read Namaaz without wudhu.

Here’s more: “Why has Roza been made Farz? To break the bestiality in man. In view of us having disciplined our nafs, it is an exercise in redundancy for us to fast. [Na’oothu Billah!]

Namaaz has been made Fardh to inculcate humility. Hence, it has been declared:
وَارْكَعُوْا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِيْن
[Be humble together with those who show humility].
And since we have already inculcated humility in us, Namaaz is therefore not necessary upon us.”

The Fuqaha had deduced reasons to extend the injunctions to other circumstances, whereas they [the self-styled mujtahids of today; the university-educated so–called ‘scholars’] suck out reasons from their thumbs to escape the injunctions. For this reason I am tentative in speaking of the rationale of the Ahkaam [Laws of Islam], lest people labour under the notion that the Ahkaam are based on those reasons, not withstanding that we students of the Deen are fully aware of such rationale. People think that the Moulanas do not know the rationale of the injunctions. They know everything. For certain reasons they do not disclose.

There is nothing which is hidden from the Moulanas [i.e. those Ulama who have dedicated their lives to studying and disseminating the Deen of Allah Ta’ala].

Source: The Essence Of Taraaweeh
Hakeemul Ummat Mujaddidul Millat Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
(Quddisa Sirruhul Azeez)