The Victorious Group Remains Until the Day of Resurrection:
Allah Almighty has Himself taken responsibility for preserving Islam, present in the form of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and for this purpose He uses many means and causes, one of which is the existence of the Victorious Group (ta’ifa mansura).
Accordingly, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تزال طائفة من أمتي ظاهرين على الحق لا يضرهم من خذلهم حتى يأتى أمر الله وهم كذلك
“A group from my Ummah will remain victorious upon the truth in every era; whoever seeks to humiliate them will not harm them, until the Hour comes and they are still upon this path.”
The words of the hadith narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) are:
لا تزال طائفة من أمتي يقاتلون على الحق إلى يوم القيامة، قال: فينزل عيسى بن مريم فيقول أميرهم: تعال صل لنا، فيقول: لا ، إن بعضكم على بعض أمراء، تكرمة الله عز وجل هذه الأمة
“A group from my Ummah will continue to fight for the truth until the Day of Resurrection. Then Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) will descend, and their leader will say: Come and lead us in prayer. He (Isa, peace be upon him) will say: No, some of you are leaders over others, because Allah the Mighty and Majestic has honoured this Ummah.”
Regarding this hadith, Amir al-Mu’minin fil-Hadith Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said that it refers to Ahl al-Hadith. (Mas’alat al-Ihtijaj bil-Shafi’i, p. 35, and its chain is sahih)
Many of the leading and authoritative scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah have identified the people of the hadith of the Victorious Group as Ahl al-Hadith and Ashab al-Hadith.
Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “In my view, they (the Victorious Group) are none other than Ashab al-Hadith.”
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him), the Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah, said: “If this Victorious Group is not Ashab al-Hadith, then I do not know who they are.”
Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him), in his commentary on the noble verse ﴿يَوْمَ نَدْعُو كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ﴾
“That is, the day We will call every people with their imam…” writes:
وقال بعض السلف: هذا أكبر شرف لأصحاب الحديث لأن إمامهم النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم
“Some of the early scholars said: This is a great honour for Ashab al-Hadith (Ahl al-Hadith), because their Imam is the Prophet ﷺ.”
The Virtues of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah:
Only the muhaddithun fully meet the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. And in today’s era, apart from the Jama’at Ahl al-Hadith, no other group holds the methodology of the muhaddithun, whose methodology is understanding and practice of the Qur’an and Sunnah and the practice of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Other people have attached their affiliations to personalities and regions. The Qur’an and Sunnah contain many virtues for Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah:
Allama Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted in his commentary on Surah Bani Isra’il, verse 71:
There is no other virtue greater than this for Ahl al-Hadith, because besides the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Ahl al-Hadith have no other imam.
Allama Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (died 911 AH) wrote a magnificent book refuting taqlid, titled الرد على من أخلد الى الارض وجهل ان الاجتهاد فى كل عصر فرض, in which he laid down باب فساد التقليد and quoted in support Hafiz Ibn Hazm: التقليد حرام Taqlid is forbidden. (p. 131)
Al-Suyuti said elsewhere: It is obligatory to say that whoever is attributed to any imam other than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and holds friendship and enmity on the basis of that attribution, is an innovator and outside Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, whether that attribution is in principles or in subsidiary matters.
Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his famous qasida Nuniyya:
“O you who harbour enmity towards Ahl al-Hadith and hurl insults at them, be given the glad tidings of forming friendship with Satan.”
Hafiz Ibn Hibban described Ahl al-Hadith with the following attribute:
“They act upon the hadiths, defend them, and eliminate their opponents.”
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) said: صاحب الحديث عندنا من يستعمل الحديث “In our view, Ahl al-Hadith is one who acts upon the hadith.”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“We do not take the term Ahl al-Hadith to mean only those who heard, wrote down or narrated hadith; rather, by it we mean everyone who deserves its preservation, understanding and comprehension outwardly and inwardly, and who follows it outwardly and inwardly. The same applies to Ahl al-Qur’an.”
Shaykh Muhammad Fakhir Allahabadi (died 1751 CE), from the time of the Mughal king Ahmad Shah ibn Nasir al-Din Muhammad Shah of the subcontinent, says:
“According to the majority, taqlid of any particular madhhab is not permissible; rather, ijtihad is obligatory. The innovation of taqlid arose in the fourth century AH.”
He further says:
“But the madhhab of Ahl al-Hadith is proven to be more upon the truth than other madhhabs.”
Imam Qutaybah ibn Sa’id (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“If you see a person who loves Ahl al-Hadith, then that person is following the Sunnah.”
Imam Abu Nu’aym al-Isfahani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“And Imam al-Shafi’i was upon the madhhab of Ahl al-Hadith.”
Imam Sufyan al-Thawri said that the angels are the guardians of the heavens and Ahl al-Hadith are the guardians of the earth.
Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Ibn Awn, Malik ibn Anas, Shu’ba, Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and the imams who came after them were Ahl al-Hadith.
Shaykh Sa’ud al-Shuraym (Imam and Khatib of Masjid al-Haram) says:
وأهل السنة والجماعة الفرقة الناجية والطائفة المنصورة، استقر كتاب الله وسنة رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم فى سويداء قلوبهم فمراد الله ومراد رسوله صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم عندهم قد خلدا بهذين الوحيين، فلا تعقيب لأحد بعد الله ورسوله
“And Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, who are the Firqah Najiyah and the Ta’ifah Mansurah, have had the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ firmly established in the depths of their hearts. Therefore, they take the command of Allah and the words of the Prophet ﷺ from these two revelations (the Qur’an and the Sunnah) alone, and there is no room for opinion after the word of Allah and the Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ.”
The Methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah
The Meaning of Ahl al-Sunnah:
Hafiz Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Sunnah refers to the path that has been followed. Therefore, it includes adherence to and holding fast to the methodology upon which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Rightly Guided Caliphs were, whether in beliefs, actions, or statements. This is indeed the complete Sunnah.”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Sunnah is a matter for which there is a valid legal proof that it is an obedience to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, whether the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did it himself or it was done during his time, because at that time there was no need for it or there was an obstacle.”
And in this sense, Sunnah, both outwardly and inwardly, is the name for following the traces of the Prophet ﷺ and following the way of the foremost early emigrants and helpers (may Allah be pleased with them).
A poet says:
اهل الحديث همر أهل النبى وإن
لم يصحبوا نفسه، أنفاسه صحبوا
“The People of Hadith are indeed the People of the Prophet, even though they were not companions of the Prophet’s person, they were companions of his words.”
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says: أهل الحديث فى الفرق كالإسلام فى الملل “Among the sects, the People of Hadith are like Islam among the religions.” (Radd al-Mantiq)
The Meaning of Jama’ah:
The linguistic meaning of “Jama’ah”: The word “Jama’ah” in the Arabic language is derived from the root “jama'” which means to gather, to agree, and to come together, the opposite of division and disagreement.
Allamah Ibn Faris (may Allah have mercy on him) says: The root jim, mim and ‘ayn indicates the joining and gathering of a thing. It is said: جمعت الشيء جمعا meaning “I gathered the thing together.”
And in the terminology of the scholars of Islamic creed, “Jama’ah” refers to the righteous predecessors of the Ummah, that is, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), the Successors, and all those individuals who follow and adhere to them correctly until the Day of Resurrection, and who have agreed upon the true and correct path of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says:
“The Jama’ah is that which conforms to the truth, even if you are alone.”
Shaykh Nu’aym ibn Hammad (may Allah have mercy on him), explaining this, says:
“When corruption and deviation arise within the Jama’ah, it is incumbent upon you to remain upon the methodology and creed which the Jama’ah followed before the corruption, and in that case, if you are alone, you alone will be counted as the Jama’ah.”
Allamah Abu Shamah (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted it in his great book الباعث على انكار البدع والحوادث on page 22 as evidence for his statement.
“Wherever the command to adhere to the Jama’ah has come, it means adhering to the truth and following it, even if those who adopt it are few and the opponents are many. For the truth is that upon which the Prophet ﷺ and the first community of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were, and the multitude of the people of falsehood after them is not to be considered.”
It is narrated from Sayyidina Mu’awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
لا تزال طائفة من أمتي بأمر الله لا يضرهم من خذلهم أو خالفهم حتى يأتى أمر الله وهم ظاهرون على الناس
“A group from my Ummah will always remain upon the command of Allah (Islam). Those who withhold their help from them or oppose them will not be able to harm them, until the command (decree) of Allah comes, and they will still be dominant over the people.”
It is narrated from Sayyidina Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تزال طائفة من أمتي ظاهرين على الحق لا يضرهم من خذلهم، حتى يأتى أمر الله وهم كذلك
“A group from my Ummah will always remain dominant upon the truth. Those who withhold their help from them will not be able to harm them at all, until the command of Allah comes and they remain in that state.”
Imam al-Awza’i (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“Confine yourself to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Stop where the Companions stopped. Say what they said. Refrain from what they refrained from, and follow the path of the righteous predecessors, for what was sufficient for them is sufficient for you.”
Imam Ibn Hibban (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“The general wording of the command to adhere to the community (jama’ah) is broad, but the intended meaning is specific, because the jama’ah is the name for the consensus of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Therefore, whoever holds fast to that which they were upon, and adopts a position different from those who came after them, is not one who breaks the community, nor one who separates from it. But whoever adopts a position different from them (the Companions) is one who breaks the community. The jama’ah after the Companions refers to people in whom piety, intellect and knowledge are combined, and who hold fast to abstaining from desires, even if their number is small, not to the dissolute and base people, even if their number is large.”
Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah are firmly upheld on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they follow the creed and methodology of the foremost early emigrants and helpers, may Allah be pleased with them. For this reason the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about them: ما أنا عليه وأصحابي “That is, the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah are those who remain upon my methodology and that of my Companions.”
The People of the Sunnah and the Jama’ah are indeed the best example, who guide to the path of truth and also act upon it themselves. Hadrat Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
إن من سعادة الحديث والأعجمي أن يوفقهما الله لعالم من أهل السنة
“It is a source of good fortune for a young man or a non-Arab that Allah grants him the success of (meeting and benefiting from) a scholar of the Ahl al-Sunnah.”
Hadrat Fudayl ibn Iyad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“There are servants of Allah through whom Allah gives life to cities and countries, and they are the Ahl al-Sunnah. And whoever thinks that only lawful morsels enter his stomach is among the jama’ah of Allah.”
Abu Mansur Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi (died 429 AH), speaking about the Muslims living on the borders of the land of Sham and elsewhere, said: “They are all, among the Ahl al-Sunnah, upon the madhhab of the Ahl al-Hadith.” (Usul al-Din, p. 317)
Khatib al-Baghdadi, may Allah have mercy on him, says in his book “Sharaf Ashab al-Hadith”:
“If a person of opinion is engaged in beneficial sciences and seeks the Sunan of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he will find sufficiency in them, because the hadith contains knowledge of the foundations of Tawhid as well as promise and warning. It contains the attributes of the Lord of the worlds, the attributes of Paradise and Hell, and everything that Allah has prepared in them for the pious and the sinners, and everything about the seven earths and the heavens that Allah created. It also contains the stories of the prophets, the sayings of ascetics and saints, the sermons of eloquent people, the speech of jurists, the miracles and sermons of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It contains the tafsir of the mighty Qur’an, its reports, admonition, the sayings of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and their fatwas. Allah has made the Ahl al-Hadith the pillars of the Shari’ah. Through them Allah demolishes innovations. They are Allah’s trustees over His creation. They act as the link between the exalted Prophet ﷺ and his Ummah. They exert great effort in memorising the Sunnah by heart. Their lights shine brightly. Their merits are many and widespread. Every sect inclines towards its own desires and, considering its opinion good, guards it. Except the Ahl al-Hadith. The Qur’an is their preparation, the Sunnah is their proof, the Prophet ﷺ is their leader, and their attribution is to the revered Messenger ﷺ. They do not even look at the opinions of people. Whoever plots against them, Allah breaks him. Whoever opposes them, Allah humiliates him. O Allah! Make us among the Ahl al-Hadith. Grant us the ability to act upon the Sunnah, and grant us love for the Ahl al-Hadith. Grant us the ability to act upon (the Qur’an and) the Hadith.”
Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked: “Who is a Sunni?” He said:
“A Sunni is one before whom baseless personal opinions are presented, and he pays no attention whatsoever to them.”
Shaykh al-Islam Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, writes:
“Ahl al-Sunnah are the best and most excellent people of the Ummah, who are walking upon the straight path, that is, the path of truth and moderation.”
The People of the Sunnah will be strangers when corruption appears among the people.
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
بدأ الإسلام غريبا فطولى للغرباء
“Islam began in a state of strangeness and will return to strangeness, as it began. So glad tidings (or Paradise) are for the strangers.”
In a narration in Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, it is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Prophet ﷺ was asked who the “Gharaba” (strangers) are, he said: “al-Nuza'”, meaning the stranger who has separated from his home, family and tribe and gone far away. The meaning is that glad tidings are for the Muhajirun who have migrated from their homelands for the sake of Allah. See:
من القبائل
“Those who leave their homes and migrate in the way of Allah.”
In another narration of Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, it is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with both of them) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked who the “Gharaba” (strangers) are, and he ﷺ said:
“They are many righteous and pious people, whose disobedient ones will be more than their obedient ones.”
Ahmad Shakir has declared it authentic.
In a narration from another chain it is stated:
“Those who reform the people when corruption appears among them.”
Therefore, Ahl al-Sunnah are strangers among the People of Innovation, the followers of desires, and the misguided sects.
Sayyiduna Ali al-Murtada (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
أهل السنة المتمسكون بما سنه الله ورسوله وإن قلوا وأما اهل البدعة فالمخالفون لأمر الله وكتابه ورسوله العاملون برأبهم وأهوائهم وان كثروا
“That is, Ahl al-Sunnah are those who adopt the method established by Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, even if they are few in number. And the People of Innovation are those who act upon their own opinions and whims, opposing the command of Allah, His Book and His Messenger ﷺ, even if they are many in number.”
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
ومن أهل السنة والجماعة مذهب قديم معروف قبل أن يخلق الله أبا حنيفة ومالكا والشافعي وأحمد فإنه مذهب الصحابة الذين تلقوه عن نبيهم ومن خالف ذلك كان مبتدعا عند اهل السنة والجماعة
“That is, the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah are an ancient and well-known school, which was the school of the Companions even before Allah created Abu Hanifah, Malik, al-Shafi’i and Ahmad. They learned that school from their Prophet ﷺ, and whoever opposes it is an innovator in the eyes of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah.”
Ahl al-Sunnah are the bearers of knowledge: It is Ahl al-Sunnah who are truly the bearers of knowledge, who, through this knowledge, remove the distortion of the extremists, the manipulation of the falsifiers, and the interpretations of the ignorant. For this reason Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“People (scholars) did not used to ask about chains of narration, but when fitnah appeared they began to say: سمو النا رجالكم ‘Name for us your narrators.’ Thus it was observed that if the narrations were of Ahl al-Sunnah they were accepted, and if they were of the People of Innovation they were deemed unacceptable.”
Ahl al-Sunnah are those whose departure causes people pain: Shaykh Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“When I receive news of the death of one of Ahl al-Sunnah, it feels as if a part of my body has been lost.”
Imam Abu Hatim al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“The sign of the People of Innovation is that they oppose Ahl al-Hadith, and the sign of the zanadiqah is that they call Ahl al-Hadith rubbish and trash; by these means they seek to nullify the hadith. The sign of the Qadariyyah is that they call Ahl al-Sunnah ‘mushabbihah’ (anthropomorphists). And the sign of the Rafidah is that they call Ahl al-Hadith young and weak.”
Sabuni (may Allah have mercy on him) says in “Aqidat al-Salaf”, pages 105 to 107:
“And all these matters are mere partisanship, and the name of Ahl al-Sunnah is only one, and that is Ahl al-Hadith.”
Then he says:
“I have seen that the people of innovation name the Ahl al-Sunnah with names that are meant as insults. Yet by the grace and favour of Allah, they do not fit any of them. In this way, the people of innovation treat the Ahl al-Sunnah just as the polytheists treated the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They used to say various things about him: some called him a sorcerer, some a soothsayer, some a poet, and some called him a liar, ill-mannered and a fabricator. Yet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was free and far removed from all these defects. He was indeed a chosen prophet and messenger. صلى الله عليه وبارك وسلم تسليما كثيرا .
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Awf ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة فواحدة فى الجنة وسبعون فى النار، وافترقت النصارى على اثنتين وسبعين فرقة فإحدى وسبعون فرقة فى النار وواحدة فى الجنة، والذي نفس محمد بيده لتفترقن أمتي ثلاث وسبعين فرقة، واحدة فى الجنة واثنتان وسبعون فى النار قيل: يا رسول الله من هم؟ قال: الجماعة
Shaykh al-Albani has declared it sahih.
“The Jews split into seventy-one sects, of which one is in Paradise and seventy are in Hellfire, and the Christians split into seventy-two sects, of which one is in Paradise and seventy-one are in Hellfire. By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad ﷺ, my Ummah will certainly split into seventy-three sects, of which one will be in Paradise and seventy-two will be in Hellfire.” It was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” He ﷺ said: “The Jama’ah.”
In a narration of Jami’ al-Tirmidhi related from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both), it is stated that:
The Companions asked: “O Messenger of Allah, who are those people?” He replied:
ما أنا عليه و أصحابي
“Those upon which I and my Companions are.”
This Jama’ah is the saved sect (al-firqah al-najiyah), meaning the group that will be saved from Hellfire, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made an exception when mentioning the sects and said:
كلها فى النار إلا واحدة
“All the sects will be in Hellfire except one,” meaning only one group will be saved from Hellfire.
And it is the Ta’ifah Mansurah, meaning the group distinguished by the help of Allah. Accordingly, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“If you ask ignorant people about al-sawad al-a’zam (the great majority), they will say: it refers to the group of people. They do not know that the jama’ah is the scholar who adheres to the footsteps and the way of the Prophet ﷺ. Whoever is with him and follows him, that is the jama’ah.”
Imam al-Awza’i (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
عليك بآثار من سلف وإن رفضك الناس، وإياك وآراء الرجال وإن زخرفوها لك بالقول فإن الأمر ينجلي وأنت على طريق مستقيم
“Hold fast to the narrations and reports of the salaf, even if people reject you. Beware of the opinions of men, even if they adorn them for you with words. For indeed the matter will become clear, and you will be upon the straight path.”
Nuh al-Jami’ narrates that I asked Imam Abu Hanifa Nu’man ibn Thabit (may Allah have mercy on him): What do you say about a person who speaks to people about accidents and substances (al-a’rad and al-ajsam)? He said:
مقالات الفلاسفة، عليك بالأثر وطريقة السلف، وإياك وكل محدثة: فإنها بدعة
“These are the statements of the philosophers. You should hold to hadith, athar and the way of the salaf. Beware of innovations introduced into the religion, for they are bid’ah.”
The methodological difference between Ashab al-Hadith and Ashab al-Ra’y:
Allamah Shahrastani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
ثم المجتهدون من أئمة الأمة محصورون فى صنفين لا يعدوان إلى ثالث، أصحاب الحديث وأصحاب الرأى، أصحاب الحديث وهم أهل الحجاز وأصحاب مالك بن أنس وأصحاب محمد بن إدريس الشافعي وأصحاب سفيان الثوري وأصحاب أحمد بن حنبل وأصحاب داؤد بن على بن محمد الأصفهاني وإنما سموا أصحاب الحديث لأن عنايتهم بتحصيل الحديث ونقل الأخبار وبناء الأحكام على النصوص ولا يرجعون إلى القياس الجلي والخفي ما وجدوا خبرا أو أثرا .. أصحاب الرأى وهم أهل العراق هم أصحاب أبى حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت ومن أصحابه محمد بن الحسن وأبو يوسف يعقوب بن إبراهيم بن محمد القاضي وزفر بن هذيل والحسن بن زياد اللؤلوى وابن سماعة وعافية القاضي وأبو مطيع البلخي والبشر المريسى وإنما سموا أصحاب الرأى لأن عنايتهم بتحصيل وجه القياس والمعنى المستنبط من الأحكام وبناء الحوادث عليها، وربما يقدمون القياس الجلي على الأخبار الأحاد
“The mujtahid Imams are confined to only two categories: Ashab al-Hadith and Ashab al-Ra’y. The dwelling place and home of Ashab al-Hadith is the land of Hijaz: Imam Malik and his students, Imam al-Shafi’i and his students, Sufyan al-Thawri and his companions, Imam Ahmad and his students, and the companions and associates of Imam Dawud ibn Ali al-Zahiri. They are called Ashab al-Hadith because their attention and concern is directed to the knowledge of hadith and reports, and they base their rulings on the texts; as long as a hadith is available, they do not turn to analogy, whether clear (qiyas jali) or hidden (qiyas khafi).
The dwelling place and home of Ashab al-Ra’y is Iraq, and they are called Ahl al-Ra’y. They are Imam Abu Hanifah and his students. Among them are Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, Imam Abu Yusuf Ya’qub ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, Imam Zufar ibn Hudhayl, Hasan ibn Ziyad al-Lu’lu’i, Ibn Sama’ah, Qadi Afiyah, Abu Mutii al-Balkhi, and Bishr al-Marisi, and others. They are remembered by the name Ashab al-Ra’y because their attention and concern is focused on analogy, and they have built the derivation and extraction of their rulings upon it, and continue to do so; and at times in this path they give precedence to clear analogy over khabar ahad, that is, non-mutawatir hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ.”
Allamah Ibn Khaldun says:
وأنقسم الفقه فيهم إلى طريقين طريق أهل الر أى والقياس وهم أهل العراق، وطريقة أهل الحديث وهم أهل الحجاز وكان الحديث قليلا فى أهل العراق لما قدمناه فاستكثروا من القياس ومهروا فيه فلذلك قيل أهل الر أى ومقدم جماعتهم الذى استقر المذهب فيه وفي أصحابه أبو حنيفة
“Fiqh became divided into two parts: the first is that of Ahl al-Ra’y and analogy, whose center is Iraq; and the second is the fiqh of Ahl al-Hadith, whose center is Hijaz. Hadith was scarce among the people of Iraq, so they put great effort into analogy and ra’y and became skilled in it, and therefore they were called Ahl al-Ra’y. The leader of the group in which this school took root, and in whom the school was established, is Abu Hanifah, and his students.”
And Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlawi (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
“It should be known that the Salaf had two methods in deriving rulings and issuing fatwas. One was that they gathered the Qur’an, hadith and the athar of the Companions, and derived from them; this method is the basic path of the muhaddithun. The other was that they took the general principles refined and organized by the Imams, and looked to their sources, and from those principles they sought the answer to the issues that arose; this method is the basic path of the fuqaha. Some of the Salaf were predominantly on the first method, and others on the second.”
“Among the Salaf there were two methods for deriving rulings: the first was to gather the Qur’an, hadith and the athar of the Companions, take them as the foundation, and consider new issues in their light; this is the method of the muhaddithun. The second is to take as the foundation the general principles refined and organized by the Imams and to find solutions to new issues through them, without seeing any need to look to the original sources; this is the method of the fuqaha. A large group of the Salaf adhered to the first method, and another group to the second.”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), the foremost personality of the land of Sham, says in “Majmu’ al-Fatawa” (4/96):
“You should know that those who criticise Ahl al-Hadith and turn away from their school are ignorant, zindiq, and hardened hypocrites. That is why, when Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) learnt that the muhaddithun had been mentioned before Ibn Qutaylah in Makkah and he had spoken ill of them, he stood up, shaking off his garments, and said: ‘He is a zindiq, he is a zindiq, he is a zindiq,’ and went into his house. For he (may Allah have mercy on him) understood his intent.”
The righteous scholars firmly grounded in knowledge among the Ummah are likewise always on the lookout for opportunities to alert people about misguided sects, their hideouts, and those who lead others astray, so that good people do not fall victim to their stratagems and deceptions.
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (may Allah have mercy on him) further writes:
وهذه الطبقة هي الطراز الأول من طبقات المحدثين فرجع المحققون منهم بعد أحكامهم فن الرواية ومعرفة مراتب الأحاديث إلى الفقه فلم يكن عندهم من الر أى أن تجمع على تقليد رجل ممن مضى مع ما يرون من الأحاديث والآثار المنا قضة فى كل مذهب من تلك المذاهب فأخذوا يتتبعون أحاديث النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم وآثار الصحابة والتابعين والمجتهدين على قواعد أحكموها فى نفوسهم… كان عندهم أنه إذا وجد فى المسألة قرآن ناطق فلا يجوز التحول منه إلى غيره، وإذا كان القرآن محتملا لوجوه فالسنة قاضية عليه، فإذا لم يجدوا فى كتاب الله أخذوا سنة رسول الله سواء كان مستفيضا دائرا بين الفقهاء أويكون مختصا بأهل بلد أو أهل بيت أو بطريق خاصة، وسواء عمل به الصحابة والفقهاء أو لم يعملوا به. ومتى كان فى المسألة حديث فلا يتبع فيها خلاف أثر من الآثار ولا اجتهاد أحد من المجتهدين
“This highest class of muhaddithin is that of the research-minded Ahl al-Hadith, who, having attained mastery in the art of narration and full knowledge of the grades of hadith, turned their attention to fiqh, yet did not agree upon the taqlid of any particular person from among the past, because they knew well that every prevalent school contains contradictory hadiths and athar. Therefore they reflected in the light of the hadiths of the Messenger, the athar of the Companions, the Successors and the rules of the mujtahid Imams. Their method in this was that if a clear Qur’anic text was found in the matter under discussion, they would not turn to anything else; and if the Qur’anic text was open to several meanings, they would decide it by the Sunnah of the Messenger; and if they did not find a Qur’anic text, they would take the Sunnah of the Messenger, whether it was a widely transmitted Sunnah, known commonly among the jurists, or was specific to a city, a household or a particular channel, and whether or not the Companions and jurists had acted upon it. They had no concern with these matters.
And whenever a hadith was available for the issue at hand, they would not follow any athar or any mujtahid’s ijtihad that opposed it.”
The historian of Islam, Khatib al-Baghdadi (may Allah have mercy on him), says:
“If the person of opinion occupies himself with beneficial sciences and seeks the Sunnahs of the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds, he will become independent of other things, because the science of hadith encompasses knowledge of the foundations of tawhid, all the aspects of promise and warning, and all the attributes of the Lord of the worlds. It contains the description of the qualities of Paradise and Hell, the things that Allah has prepared for the pious, the wicked and the sinners, and it includes the mention of all creatures of the heavens and the earth, the stories of the Prophets, the reports of the ascetics, the conditions of the saints, the sermons of the eloquent, the words of the jurists, the sermons and miracles of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in which are preserved and recorded the commentary of the Qur’an, the conditions of the Last Day, the wise remembrances and invocations, and the rulings and issues derived from the statements of the Companions.
Because of this, Allah has honoured Ahl al-Hadith with the rank of the pillars and foundations of the Shariah, and by their hands every wall of innovation and misguidance has been demolished. They are the trustees and guardians over Allah’s creation, intermediaries between the Prophet and his ummah, the strivers for the preservation and mastery of his sayings. Their lights and blossoms are open, and the spring of their virtues flows. Every group is caught up in some self-desire and entangled in some opinion, but the group of Ahl al-Hadith is the group whose provision is the Book of Allah, whose proof is the Sunnah, whose community is the Messenger of Allah, and to whom they are attributed. They do not pay heed to opinions and conjecture and speculation. Whoever harmed them or opposed them, Allah broke his back, and whoever took enmity with them, Allah disgraced him.”
Hadrat Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, died 181 AH, says:
الدين لأهل الحديث والكلام والحيل لأهل الر أى والكذب لمرافضة
“That is, religion (Islam) is with Ahl al-Hadith. Embellishing speech and resorting to stratagems is the habit of Ahl al-Ra’y, and lying is the work of the Rafidis.”
Maulana Abd al-Hayy Lucknawi, may Allah have mercy on him, writes in “Imam al-Kalam”:
من نظر ينظر الإنصاف وغاص فى بحار الفقه والأصول متجنبا عن الإعتساف، يعلم علما يقيننا أن أكثر المسائل الفرعية والأصلية التى اختلف العلماء فيها . فمذهب المحدثين فيها أقوى من مذاهب غيرهم وإني كلما أسير فى شعب الاختلاف أجد قول المحدثين فيه قريبا من الأنصاف، فلله درهم عليه شكرهم كيف لا ! وهم ورثة النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم ونواب شريعته صدقا، حشرنا الله فى زمرتهم، وأما تنا على حبهم وسيرتهم
“Whoever looks with an eye of fairness and dives into the seas of the books of fiqh and usul, will certainly know that in most of the subsidiary and fundamental issues scholars have differed. Therefore the view of the muhaddithin is stronger than the view of others. Whenever I pass through the valleys of disagreement, I find the view of the muhaddithin in it close to fairness. Indeed, how excellent they are, may Allah reward them; and why would He not, for they are the true heirs of the Prophet and the genuine deputies of his Shariah. May Allah gather us in their company and let us die upon their love and their way.”
Hadrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlawi, while explaining the difference between Ahl al-Ra’y and Ahl al-Hadith, states:
لم يكن عندهم من الأحاديث والآثار ما يقدرون به على إستناد الفقه على الأصول التى اختارها أهل الحديث… الخ
“That is, the people of ra’y did not have enough knowledge of the prophetic hadiths and the athar of the Companions by which they could derive fiqh rulings on the principles chosen by Ahl al-Hadith, nor did they have such breadth and resolve in their hearts that they could survey the statements of all the scholars, nor such expanse in their breasts that they could gather the statements of the people of knowledge and examine them.”
Shaykh Sayyid Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah have mercy on him, issued this same ruling concerning the one saved sect among the seventy-three sects:
ولا اسم لهم إلا اسم واحد وهو أصحاب الحديث
And a little further on he says: وهم الفرقة الناجية فحفظ الله الدين بهم That is, “Ahl al-Hadith are the saved sect, and Allah has chosen these very people to preserve the religion.”
Fadilatush Shaykh Hafiz Muhammad Ismail Asad writes in “Firqawariyat aur Taqlid”, p. 24, that:
“Al-Qattan and Imam al-Hakim said that if a large group of muhaddithin had not held firmly to the preservation of the chains of narration, the paths of Islam would have been abandoned, and irreligious and innovative people would have been able to fabricate hadiths and change chains.”
