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The I'tiqad Or Iman Of The Four True, Correct Madhhabs

The i'tiqad or iman of the four true, correct Madhhabs [1] is the same. There is no difference between them in Islam. All of them hold the beliefs of the Ahl as-Sunna [2]. Those who do not believe in the beliefs of the Ahl as-Sunna are called the people of bid'a [3], i.e. the "la madhhabi." They call themselves "members of the fifth madhhab." These words of theirs are not true. There is no such thing as a "fifth madhhab." Today there is no way other than learning the knowledge pertaining to religion from the 'ilm al-hal books of one of these four Madhhabs. Everyone chooses the Madhhab that is easy for him to follow. He reads its books and learns it. He does everything compatibly with it, follows it, and becomes a member of it (taqlid). Because it is easy for a person to learn what he hears and sees from his parents, a Muslim usually belongs to the Madhhab of his parents. The Madhhabs being not one but four is a facility for Muslims. It is permissible to leave one Madhhab and join another, yet it will take years to study and learn the new one, and the work done for learning the former one will be of no use and may even cause confusion while doing many things. It is by no means permissible to leave one Madhhab because one dislikes it, for Islamic scholars said that it will be disbelief (kufr) to dislike the Salaf as-salihin [4] or to say that they were ignorant.
