“What, in essence, is the religion of Islam? What is meant by a madhhab (school of law)? And is everyone who embraces Islam required to affiliate with one of the four schools—Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi‘i, or some other—or is such affiliation unnecessary?

A grave dispute broke out on this point when several enlightened minds from Japan resolved to enter the religion of Islam and seek the honor of faith. They presented their intention to the Muslim Association in Tokyo. A number of Indians declared, ‘They should adopt the school of Imam Abu Hanifah, for he is the lamp of the ummah.’ Another group from Indonesia (Java) insisted, ‘They must be Shafi‘i!’ When the Japanese heard these conflicting opinions, they were greatly astonished and became bewildered in their quest; the very question of madhhabs became a barrier on the road to their Islam!”

3- Others allege that what we call to—namely, following the Sunnah and discarding the positions of the imams when they contradict it—amounts to abandoning their statements altogether and deriving no benefit from their ijtihad and judgments.

I reply: nothing could be farther from the truth. Indeed, this claim is patently false, as the preceding words make abundantly clear. All we advocate is that the madhhabs must not be treated as a separate religion or installed in place of the Book and the Sunnah, so that people refer to them in times of disagreement or when deriving rulings for new and unforeseen events—as the jurists of our age do. On that basis they have drafted new regulations for personal status, marriage, divorce, and other matters, without returning to the Book and the Sunnah to distinguish right from wrong and truth from falsehood, acting instead on the maxim, “Their differences are a mercy!” in pursuit of dispensations, concessions, or—