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An elderly Arab lady was sitting alone at the trunk of a tree and Abdullah bin Mubarak also happened to pass that way. Seeing this lady in distress, he spoke to her. The discussion is recorded as follows:

Abdullah bin Mubarak: Asalamu alaykum wa Rahmatullah.

The lady: The word from a merciful Lord is peace [Ya Sin 36/58]. She meant that the reply of salaam is from Allah, Most High, Himself. She said further: Those whom Allah sendeth astray, there is no guide for them. [Araaf 7/186]. She meant that she had lost her way.  Read more... (1132 words, estimated 4:32 mins reading time)

The question then arises why choose an imam from only the four although there have been many mujtahids? There were: Sufyan Thawri, Awz’ai, Abdullah ibn Mubarak, Ishaq ibn Rahuyah, Imam Bukhari, Ibn Abu Layla, Ibn Shabramah, Hasan ibn Salih, and scores of others.

The reason is that their juristic teachings are not compiled together. If they had been arranged as the teachings of others are then surely their taqleed would have been allowed too. Neither we have their rulings in book form nor are there ulama representing them. Allamah Abdur Rauf Munadi cites Hafiz Zahabi as saying:

 Read more... (918 words, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)