Sheikh. Waleed Abdulhakeem: Which Mad'hab do you follow?

 

Sheikh. Waleed Abdulhakeem

A common question that I receive is: Which Mad'hab (Fiqh School of Thought) do I personally follow?

- My father studied Shafi'i Fiqh at Al-Azhr, where he has Ijazah in the Matn of Abu Shujaa' by memorizing 1220 lines that summarize the Mad'hab, and he's a Hafiz from the age of 8 masha'Allah. I learned the Quran and Shafi'i Fiqh from him Alhamdulillah.

- My mother studied Hanafi Fiqh at Darul-Uloum, Cairo University, and she has specialized in Arabic grammar. I learned both from her Alhamdulillah.

- I learned Hanbali Fiqh and Hadeeth at the Islamic School and University in Riyadh.

- Later, I independently learned the Maliki Fiqh as part of my preparation for the History of Andalus research.

I must say, all four schools of thought have their unique beauty: The Hanafi's focus on logical explanations, the Maliki's focus on the Sahaba's opinions, the Shafi'i's attempt to combine the best of those two schools while laying down the foundations, and the Hanbali's adherence to textual evidence. Each of them have their respective beauty and they compliment each other very nicely (and if you put emotions and biases aside and remain objective, each of them have their areas of weaknesses and areas of strengths too!) They all take the Quran and Hadeeth as primary sources, but where they differ is on secondary sources and methods of interpretation.

Later in my Graduate studies, Allah helped me to systematically learn Comparative Fiqh and the Science of Tarjeeh (selecting the strongest opinion among different opinions), and that's what I follow today, which has helped me teach around the world regardless of which country I'm visiting. Alhamdulillah for giving us a rich and diverse religion, where the core of the religion (Tawheed) is fixed and crystal clear (along with the major obligations and sins), while the smaller details and practical issues are flexible for every time era and geographical region!