So I am content in the conviction that this is the most upright way—the way Allah the Exalted has commanded the believers to follow, the way clarified by our Prophet Muhammad, the Master of the messengers. It is the very course pursued by the righteous predecessors among the Companions, the Successors, and those who came after them, including the four Imams whose schools the majority of Muslims follow today. All of them are agreed on the necessity of adhering to the Sunnah, returning every matter to it, and abandoning any opinion that conflicts with it, no matter how eminent its proponent may be, for the standing of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ is higher and his path is straighter.

For that reason I have taken their guidance as my model, traced their footsteps, and obeyed their directives to hold fast to the hadith, even when it diverges from their own statements. Those very injunctions were the greatest factor in my pursuing this straight path and in my refusal of blind imitation. May Allah reward them abundantly on my behalf.

Statements of the Imams on following the Sunnah and abandoning any of their own views that oppose it

It is useful to present here what we have been able to collect—at least some of it—in the hope that it may serve as an admonition and a reminder to those who imitate them (indeed, imitate people of lesser rank by many degrees) with blind conformity (1), and who cling to their schools and opinions as though they had descended from heaven. Allah, Mighty and Exalted, says: “Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and do not follow other patrons beside Him. How seldom you take heed!” (Q 7:3).

1. Abu Hanifah —may Allah have mercy on him—

The first of them is the Imam Abu Hanifah, al-Nu‘man ibn Thabit, may Allah have mercy on him. His students transmitted various statements and expressions from him, all of which amount to a single principle: one must accept the hadith and leave aside the opinions of the Imams when those opinions conflict with it.