The fifth problem is that at times due to not confining oneself to one mazhab, a person will commit the serious crime of contradicting the consensus of the Sahaabah (Radiyallahu Anhum) and the entire Ummah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam). The Qur’anic injunctions, as well as the Ahaadith are explicit with regards to the severity of such an act. Allah Ta’ala declares:
Whoever opposes the Rasul (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) after the guidance was manifest to him and he follows a path other than that of the believers then We shall leave him in the path he has chosen and We will enter him into Jahannum. What an evil abode! (Surah Nisa 4:115)
In one hadeeth, Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) has stated:
من شذ شذ في النار
Whoever adopts an independent path will also be alone in Jahannum. (Mustadrak Hakim 1/115)
In yet another hadeeth, Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) has said:
لا يجمع الله أمتي على ضلالة
Allah Ta`ala will not cause my Ummah to not converge on misguidance. (Mustadrak Hakim 1/115)
An example to illustrate the above mentioned aspect is the question of three Talaaqs issued all at once. Recently several incidents of this nature occurred, where a person issued his wife with three talaaqs in one sitting. Upon realising his error he wished to make up. However, the Ulama‘ explained to him that his nikaah with his wife has terminated. Hence, until the Shar’ee condition of Halaalah does not happen, it is completely prohibited for him to continue living with the woman. The man was also informed that if they continued to live with each other, they would be living a life of zina. This person went around (in an earnest endeavour to save himself from the disgrace and embarrassment of society) asking whether any mazhab offers a solution to the present situation. He was repeatedly informed that there is consensus amongst all the four mazhabs as well as the entire ummah from the time of the Sahaabah (Radiyallahu Anhum) upon this issue. This consensus continued for seven centuries till the time of Ibnu Taimiyyah, who was responsible for breaking the consensus. This person, desperate to save his integrity and extricate himself from the embarrassment, said: “I will accept this verdict and go by it.”
Hence, the one who opts to follow an isolated view which was initiated many centuries after the era of the Sahaabah (Radiyallahu Anhum) (e.g. the question of three talaaqs being considered as one talaaq or that taraaweeh is only eight rakaats and not twenty rakaats) is implying by way of inference that the entire ummah including the illustrious Sahaabah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) were unaware of the true Deen, or that they were in misguidance – Allah Forbid. Furthermore, one will be opposing the injunction of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) wherein he said:
(اقتدوا باللذين من بعدي أبي بكر وعمر (رضي الله عنهما
Follow the two who will come after me; Abu Bakr and Umar (Radiyallahu Anhuma). (Tirmizi 2/207)
NB: The mas’ala of three talaaqs being regarded as three is substantiated by the Qur’an, Hadith, Aathaar of Sahaba and Ijmaa’.
