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Allah says in the Holy Quran: Bow down with those who bow down.

Hadith says: salaat with jamaat has 27 times more reward than salaat alone.

The Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was constant his entire life in praying his salaat with jamaat. It wasn’t until the last few days of his (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) life when he was very sick that he gave up the jamaat.

Likewise the sahaba were the same way, meaning they never gave up the jamaat. They looked upon someone who missed jamaat as a hypocrite. The never missed the jamaat unless they had an excuse or they were travelling.  Read more... (465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

HISTORY OF THE MISWAAK

The Miswaak, a tree-twig, was in use for brushing and cleansing the teeth long before the advent of our Holy Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam). In fact the records of our Nabi Muhummad’s (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) Ahadith indicate that the Miswaak was the “Sunnah” or practice of all the Ambiyaa (Prophets of Allah)—Peace be upon them.

“Abu Ayyub (R) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: ‘Four things are amongst the practices of the Ambiyaa —circumcision, application of perfume, Miswaak and marriage’.” (AHMAD AND TIRMIZI)  Read more... (1515 words, estimated 6:04 mins reading time)

We have a very clear example of taqleed of an individual when in the times of Sayyidina Uthman ibn Affan, the Qur’an was being collected. According to Ibn Jarir, Sayyidina Uthman abolished six of the seven readings of the Quran, retaining only the Quraysh dialect. He had all the copies in other readings burnt down. From the Prophet’s period to the times of the first two Khalifahs, it was allowed to everyone to recite the Qur’an in one of the seven dialects, but Sayyidina Uthman realised that with change of times, there was possibility of mischief cropping up if the seven readings were retained. Ibn Hajr writes about it:.  Read more... (540 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

It is reported by many of the tabi’een that they had chosen to follow one or another Sahabi. Here are the examples:

Imam Sha’bi said:

“To whom it pleases to gain authority in judgement let him adopt the sayings of Umar RA.” (I’lam al-Muqi’een, Ibn al-Qayyim v1 p15)

Sayyidina Mujahid said:

“When people disagree about an affair, see how Sayyidina Umar acted. Thus, follow him.” (I’lam al-Muqi’een, Ibn al-Qayyim v1 p15)

Imam A’mash said about Ibrahim Nakh’ee:

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Amr ibn Maymoon al-Awdi said that Sayyidina Mu’az Ibn Jabal went to them in Yemen as the Prophet’s envoy. He said, “I heard his takbir in the Fajr salah. His voice was heavy and I naturally developed a love for him. Then, I did not separate from him till he died. I buried him in Syria. Then I looked for the next greatest jurists and came to lbn Masood and stayed with him till he died. (Abu Dawood v1 p26, Ahmed v5 p231)  Read more... (126 words, estimated 30 secs reading time)

(3) Sayyidina Mu’az ibn Jabal reported that when Allah’s Messenger sent him to Yemen, he asked him how he would decide cases when they were brought to him. He said, “According to Allah’s Book.” The Prophet asked, “If you do not find them there?”“Then according to your sunnah.”“But, if they are not there, then?” Mu’az said, “I will make Ijtihad and extract judgement with my opinion (and try to arrive at a true conclusion), not being negligent in that.” The Prophet was pleased and patted him lightly on the chest, saying, “All praise belongs to Allah Who caused the envoy of Allah’s Messenger to conform to what pleases Allah’s Messenger.” (Abu Dawood)  Read more... (843 words, estimated 3:22 mins reading time)

Sayyidina Huzayl ibn Shurahbeel reported that someone asked Sayyidina Abu Musa Ash’ari a ruling. He gave an answer but also advised them to ask Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Mas’ood . They went to him and told him that they had asked Abu Musa Ash’ari already. His ruling was contrary to Abu Musa’s who, when they told him about it, said:

“Do not ask me (for rulings) as long as this great scholar is among you.” (Bukhari v2 p997)

The words in Musnad Ahmad are:

“As long as this major scholar is among you do not ask me anything.” (Ahmed v1 p464)  Read more... (366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Sayyidina Ikramah reported:

“Some people of Madinah asked Sayyidina lbn Abbas about the woman who menstruated after the farewel tawaf: (Should she wait to perform tawaf wada, or may return without performing it?) He said, ‘She rnay go home (without performing it).” The people of Madinah said, “We cannot act on your ruling and forsake Zayd ibn Thabit’s ruling.” (Bukhari)

The same Hadith on the transmission of Abdul Wahab ath-Thaqafi quotes the people of Madinah:

“We do not care whether you give an edict or not. The verdict of Zayd ibn Thabit is that she cannot go away (without tawafal-wada’).” (Fath al-Bari v3 p468)  Read more... (598 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

In the times of the Sahabah, taqleed was observed much. Those of them who could not give much time to acquire knowledge, or could not decide a particuir issue on their own ijtihad, consulted other jurist Sahabah and conducted themselves on that. We find that they observed both Absolute Taqleed and Taqleed Shakhsi, the examples of the former could fill a whole volume. Here are some examples of ‘taqleed mutlaq’ (Absolute Taqleed):

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It is really very hard for the Muslims of today to imagine, and much less to endure or even to attempt to endure, the hardships that were borne by the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) and his illustrious companions in the path of Allah. Books of history are full of stories of their sufferings. It is a pity that we are so indifferent to those events and our knowledge is so poor in this regard. I open this chapter with a story about the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) himself to get the blessings of Allah, which are sure to attend his auspicious mention.