So in your opinion, the 4 schools is not a division into groups and these groups do not fall under Aya 6:159? 'Tafarakah Dala' and 'Groh dar Groh' - these are all sects. To say that 4 groups who call themselves Sunni and differ greatly (to the extent of animosity and fatwas against each other) are not sects, whereas the rest are - wow!
In my opinion this is not the meaning of Tafarakah, which you are trying to present here. Having difference of opinion regarding interpretation of fundamental texts in not tafarakah. These difference of opinion existed between each and every generation of this Ummah, from Sahaba to this era.
Ashab un Nabi differed between themselves on interpretation of Quran and Sunnah, on hundred of matters. They used to offer Salah with slight differences, they issued opposite fatwas and they even criticised each other in harshest terms. Most striking expression of this are the comments of Abdullah bin Umar R.A regarding Haj e Tamatuh. How can Abdullah Bin Umar knew about Haj e Tamatuh and his father was not aware of the ruling? Should we declare Ummar bin Khattab R.A Biddati (Naoz o Billah)? Because, apparently, he didnt followed the ruling of Prophet (Alaih e Salat o Wasalam).
Moreover, Sahaba fought against each other and formed rival groups. Should we call that sectarianism and should we declare groups of Sahaba as sects? Your argument of division into groups can also be applied to Sahaba. Are you ready to apply Quranic term of Tafarkah on Ashab e Rasool? (نعوذ باللہ من ھفوات الجاحلین)
If dividing into groups based on difference of opinion is Tafarkah, then I am afraid, not a single group can be exempted from it, including Sahaba (Peace and blessings upon all of them).
Now, let me educate you about real meaning of Tafarkah. Actions of Khwarij were the practical example of Tafarkah. They stood against Ameer ul Momineen R.A, believing that only they were on the right path and everyone else was Biddati. Their argument was that Ali R.A had no right to appoint a mortal man (Buzurg/Baba/Alim) as Hakm and they chanted feverishly "the judgement is with Allah" and declared Ameer ul Momeneen as Kafir. They formed the first sectarian outfit in Ummah, revolted against the state, burned villages, killed Muslim women and children and pillaged cities and declared everyone apart from them as Biddati and Kafir. They were also making absolute statements, just like you, they also thought that Sahaba had formed rival groups, therefore, we can declare them kafir. A lot of parallels can be drawn between your ideology and philosophy of Khwarij.
Furthermore, the practical example of Tafarkah in modern era is bombing of Muslim Houthi women and children, by forces of Aal e Saud, just because houthis belongs to a rival sect. The real tafarkah is funding of Wahabi and Shia sectarian groups by Aal e Saud and Iranian regime, respectively. These groups sowed seeds of animosity and hatred among their followers based on self centered and egoistic conceptions.
Muslims are brothers of each other and whoever creates hatred and animosity between Muslims due to difference of opinion is spreading Tafarkah. Aima e Arba didnt declared each other kafir or Biddati, nor did their respective schools issued such declarations in a collective manner. They always considered each other as Ahl us Sunnah and have complete agreement on matters of theology, sources of Shariah and essence of Deen. In fact, their fundamental books of Hadith, Tafsir, Isma ur Rijjal, Ilm e Kalam and Asool e Tafsir are same.
Regarding your claim of animosity between these four schools, can you show me collective fatwa of Hanfis against remaining three schools that all of them are biddati or vice versa? Where is the proof of your ludicrous accusation that each of them issued fatwas against each other. Bring your evidence if you are truthful.
Sufism (from Hanafism) is Ilm-e-Deen according to you?
What? Sufism is from hanafism? Are you out of your mind. Bro, I am seriously worried about your state of mind. I dont know who indoctrinated you in this belief that only you are right and everyone else is wrong, from Suffis to Hanafis and from Malkis to shafis. First you accused ulema of current generation, then you accused all four sunni school of thoughts of sectarianism, then you showed your anger towards Aima e Arba and now its the turn of Suffis. If all of these groups are and were devoid of Ilm e Deen, then who the hell is real follwer of Ilm e Deen? What are you trying to prove here? Why so much hatred and animosity towards your fellow Muslims? I am literally shocked.
Disagreements on Salah and even Zakat was a logical and natural progression?
There was and is difference of opinion regarding methods of offering Salah. These differences also existed in the era of Sahaba and still they didnt declared each other biddati. Moreover, these differences are trivial and were result of differences in methods of interpretation. Aima e Arba differed in these methods of interpretation and devised different linguistic techniques to interpret fundamental texts. Students of Asool e Fiqh are aware of this fact and I can list various examples where Aima derived different laws from the same text due to different techniques of interpretation. Furthermore, there is an agreement on about ninety percent of deliverables of Salah. Yet, I dont know why your attention is only fixed towards disagreements and why you are not ready to consider similarities.
You also need to understand this fact that the differences between these schools are not on Asool e Deen but this differnece is essentially related to "farow". Their differences can be categorized in two broad groups. First, the disagreement between the methods to interpret Quranic text. For example, schools differed about the Hukm of Quranic "Khas, Aaam, Muqayyad, Aam, Mutlaq, Mushtariq and Muawwal". In essence, this difference was explicitly based on linguistic interpretation of Quranic text. They devised different principles of Quranic interpretation, that lead to the difference in laws that were derived through that linguistic instrument.
Secondly, the disagreement arises between these schools on Hukm of Khbr e Mashoor, Mutwatir and specially Khabr e Wahid. For example, whether Khabr e Wahid would be acceptable without any condition or not? What would be the status of hukm derived from Khabr e wahid in case it is related to Hudood? This in essence, was the natural and logical progression of Uloom e Deenia.
Holding hands at or below belly button is verified from which Hadith - you won't find a single Sahih Hadith on it but since a dead buzurg/baba/alim said it's ok to do so then it must be, right?
Are you saying that millions of Muslims from Abdullah Bin Masood to Abu Hanifah, from Abdullah Bin Mubarak to Imam Sarakhsi, from Muhammad bin Hassan shaibani to Mujadid Alif sani rejected Hadith of Prophet and invented Biddat of their own. I can present all the material which Hanfis have written about this issue and I am quite sure you will not be able to answer that. However, we are not discussing the method of Salah or which school has the strongest arguments regarding this issue.
Let me come to your point of Sahih Hadith. How you know that there is not a single hadith about holding hands at or below belly button? Who told you that? And by the way, what is Sahih Hadith? Can you verify this term of Sahih Hadith from sayings of Prophet and Quran? You are accusing majority of Ummat e Muslima of following dead Buzurg and ulema and yet you are doing the same.
Ilm e Hadith is totally and entirely dependent on sayings of dead buzurgs/babas/alims. Can you quote me a single Hadith of Prophet A.S without relying on Babas? Dead babas told us about the sayings of Prophet, they transmitted Hadiths to their next generation, they collected these hadith and they invented terms to ascertain veracity of Buzurg Babas who were transmitting those Ahadiths. The dead Babas of four Sunni school of thoughts were the major pillars of Ilm e Hadith. Without dead babas of four Sunni schools there would never had any Ilm e Hadith. Abdullah bin Mubarak a Hanfi Baba was termed as Ameer ul Momeneen fil Hadees by Muhadiseen. Imam Malik, Shafi and Ahmad bin Hambal are Shyuokh of Imam Bukhari, Muslim, Nisai and Ibn e Maja. Imam Shafi was student of dead Hanfi Baba named as Muhammad bin Hassan Shaibani and also student of a dead baba named as Imam Malik. Imam Ahmad bin Hambal was student of Imam Shafi another dead baba. You can never get rid of babas of four sunni school of thoughts, whichever way you try. Your entire ilm e Hadith is dependent on truthfulness of these babas. Now, please stop believing in Hadith as all of them were narrated through dead babas.
Your defence of these groups is quite interesting to say the least, but quite typical as well.
I will defend every group of Ummat e Muslimah from blanket generalizations and I am proud of this. I love and respect every follower of Prophet (Peace and blessings on Him and all of His followers), without any bias. I can disagree withthese groups about certain matters but I will never declare them biddati in a collective manner.
Read above. The clear guidance was and is to follow Quran and Sunnah. Hadith was being written during Prophet's life and recording encouraged by him as well. Quran and Hadith are there for everyone to access now - why follow those who have broken themselves into groups and follow part Quran and part Hadith?!
Yet, Sahaba disagreed among themselves in presence of Quran and Sunnah. Yet they split themselves apart in different groups and fought each other. Can we declare those groups as sects? (Naoz o Billah)
I can pose the same question to you based on your above mentioned logic. Why follow those who have broken themselves into groups like Sahaba? (Naoz o Billah)
None of these are classifications and/or branches. You've been trained to think that way, and don't say there is ijema on this (just like there was ijema on 4 musallas) - ijema is on the chanda book and power only!
So what is the meaning of classification then? If, Fiqh, Hadith and Tafsir are not branches of Ilm e Deen then what are these?
I never claimed any Ijma on any matter from the beginning of our discussion. You have mentioned ijma again and again without providing any evidence to support your claim. Who claimed ijma on 4 Mussalahs? Why dont you mention the name of that particular person? Why are you shying away from providing evidence of your extraordinary claims?
Try to undo all your biases and learn Deen as per the guidance in Quran and Hadith ONLY. What we should all seek is guidance and Allah says in Quran that Quran is made easy for guidance (for all, and ulema don't have any copyrights).
Only you are showing your biases and hatred towards your fellow Muslims. Accusing each and everyone of them of sectarianism. In your mind, only you are guided and everyone else has differed from straight path. I agree that Ulema dont have any copyrights and so does you.
Which laws of Deen are difficult to understand from Quran and Hadith?
So, you are claiming that you have the ability to extract all laws of Quran and Sunnah from original texts, without external help?
If you or anyone claims that Quran is not easy for guidance, then are you or those claiming as such not going against Allah's Words?
I agree, Quran is easy for guidance. Everyone can take guidance from it.
Hazrat Umar (RA) was the 'door' that was broken for fitnah to enter (search Hadith on this). It all started from his shahadat. Malukiat first (Banu Ummayad) and then further divisions under the malukiat where Aima e Arba have a huge part in the blame, especially those who sided with the so-called Khalifahs who were effectively kings. Why do you think Hazrat Hussain (AS) took the firm stance giving shahadat against malukiat by refusing bayt or even a hint of acceptance? Do you think any of the Aima e Arba or their ulemas had/have more knowledge of Deen than him despite their 'classification into different branches'?
I agree that after the Shahadat of Hazrat Umar R.A, the door of fitnah was opened. However, this does not means that majority of Ummat e Muslimah diverted from the right path and got involved in sectarianism. I am fully aware of the curses of Malukiat and the pains which were caused by Malukiat of Banu Ummayah. They were among the worst dictatorial regimes of Muslim Ummah.
Blaming Aima e Arba for malukiat of Bani Ummayah and Banu Abbas is ridiculous. Are you even aware of Aima e Arba? Please google their names and read about events of their life.
Aima e Arba suffered the cruelest forms of torture in the hands of Banu Ummayah and Banu Abbas. they were the biggest supporters of Ahlu ul Bait and done everything in their power to oppose those oppressors. imam Abu Hanifah was disciple of Imam Jaffar Saddiq, Imam Zaid bin Ali bin Al Hussain and Imam Abdullah bin Hassan bin al Hassan (Peace and Blessings on all of them and on their Jadd e Kareem). When Imam Zaid bin Ali bin Al Hussain launched jihad against Hisham bin Abdul Malak in 121H, Imam Abu Hanfia suported him and gave fatwa in his support. When Imam Abdullah bin Hassan Nafs e Zakia launched jihad against Abu Jaffar Mansoor Abbasi in 145H, Imam abu Hanifa again supported his cause. Due to his support of descendants of Imam Hassan and Hussain A.S, he was put in prison and subsequently killed through poisoning inside the prison.
Imam Malik's suffered persecution by Banu abbas due to his fatwa against Abbasi king and in support of Imam Nafs e Zakia A.S. Imam Shafi was the biggest supporter of Ahl ul Bait and his love for Prophet's family is renowned. He was accused of Rafz due to this support. Imam Ahmed bin Humble was the most ardent critic of Banu abbas and suffered torture throughout his life.
I agree that Aima e Arba's knowledge of Ilm e deen is not even worth mentioning in front of Imam Hussain (Peace and blessings upon Him and His Jadd e Kareem).
Without any disrespect, bro, you need to learn a bit more about basics of Islamic history and contributions of Aima e Arba against Malukiat. I am fully aware that your intentions are not bad, you are ardent supporter of Deen and respect that. My disagreements are regarding your approach of generalization, which stems from inadequate knowledge of history and Ilm e Deen. My apologies if I used harsh language. May Allah guide us to the right path.