Karbala, Basra, Baghdad are also in Iraq.
Kufaa was conquered in Hazrat Umar RA's time in Battle of Yarmuk in 636 AD. Hazrat Umar RA sent Hazrat Saad bin Waqas RA to Kufaa to govern the people(one of the blessed 10 companions promised Paradise). The people of Kufa gave him a very hard time and eventually he had to leave this post, then Hazrat Umar RA sent Abdullah Ibn Masud RA to Kufa. He develops Kufa into the centre of Islamic/Quranic learning. The last governor he sent was Mugahiyra bin Shuba RA. When Hazrat Usman RA came, he changed Mughayra bin Shuba RA with Waleed ibn Uqba RA(just to rotate governors which was the norm among Khalifas). After this, a lot of issues arose and the people of Kufa turned against Usman RA. Then Ali ibn Talib RA came into khilafah, and the fitnaa had spread to Madhinah so Ali Ibn Taleb RA changed the khilafat to Kufa. But fitnah increased in Kufa, and Ali ibn Taleb RA was assassinated in Kufa by Khwarij. Then the caliphate went to Hassan RA, then to Muawiya RA who changed the capital to Damascus(this was the beginning of Umayyads). Hazrat Hussain RA was massacred in outskirts of Kufa. Kufaa never got along with Bani Umayyad and the Umayyads always used to suppress the people of Kufa.
The Umayyad khilafa was full of fitnaa from time of Yazeen Ibn Muawiya. The only good leader was Umar ibn Abdul Aziz RA.
There were 3 groups that developed:
Alawiyys(The Assad family) -the earlier supporters of Prophet SAWW,Hazrat Ali and his family. But the Alawiyys now believe Jibrael AS made a mistake in sending revelation to Prophet SAWW and meant to send it to Hazrat Ali RA.
Abbasids: the descendants of Abdullah Ibn Abbas(who tried to revolt many times against Umayyads. Abdullah ibn Abbas was cousin of Prophet SAWW. Alawiyys supported them.
Khwarij: They were misguided and attacked nearly all groups and called them Kafir.
Kufaa and Basra was the base of all these 3 groups.Even religious fitnaa began with deviant groups mutazila etc . It also accepted foreign influence and philosophies.
Among Umayyads, the scholars were not allowed to comment on the government, and scholars were imprisoned if they criticised the government.
Imam Abu Hanifa RA was born in Kufa in this turmoil. Kufaa had a city centre and was more modern and had a lot of different policies and influences. Madinah and Arabia were more primitive and less influenced. Iraq was a mixed society and did not have the luxury of having the Madinah influence. Some Arabs used to consider they are superior but the scholarship transferred to a lot of non Arab people within the first hundred years.
->Before Imam Abu Hanifa there were 3 approaches.
1.Ahle hadith- (the people of hadith)
Madinah(Imam Malik RA), Egypt(Laiys Ibn Saad RA), Sham(Imam Auzaaiye), Basra(Hassan Basri, Imam Ibn Sireen),Yemen
People of madinahh were mostly from the lineage of sahaba, and still had the good influence.
2.Ahle Raiyye- The people of Qiyaas(use of reasoning and logic)
They used hadith and reasoning and analogies. e.g. Imam Abu Hanifa RA
3.Zawaahir-literal interpretation of text(the apparent meaning) so they ignored the context of Quran and hadith and all the interpretations.
Also in Kufa and was by Dawood.
Able hadith and able raiyye had misconceptions in the beginning as Ahle hadith thought that Ahle Raiyye were rejecting hadith, but these were clarified when they met each other in their later life.
WHY AND HOW TO CHOOSE A MADHAB?
Hujjatullah baalighah(Shah Wali Ullah)- recommended book
Al Insaaf fi bayan sabab il ikhtilaaf- shah wali allah
Al khilaafu baiynal ulamai wa asbabuhu wa mauqif ma anhu - Ibn Tayyimah
All of these 4 madhabs are ahle sunnah was jamaah.
IT is impermissible to use aqal(intellect) in the presence of naqal i.e. if Quran and hadith are explicit in something then we cannot use intellect and go against it.
The religion is profound enough to engage a professor and simple enough for an illiterate person to understand. Religion is for everyone and appeals to everyone at different levels. Use whatever intellect has been given to you and you will be answerable according to your own intellect in front of Allah. Our problem is that we jump to conclusions and use our own logic to understand things without knowing the fundamentals of hadith, Quran, islamic history, Arabic etc.
Hazrat Ali RA says if the religion was only about reason, then we will only do masah of the bottom, and not the top of socks.
Hazrat Ayesha RA said if religion was all about reason, women would have made up for salaah instead of fasts as salaah is more important.
Fatwas have always changed according to circumstances and different eras. It is not one size fits all. Some circumstances are exceptional so fatwas are moulded accordingly. We need to know the context of different fatwas and not just cut copy paste.
This does not mean that we cannot read books by ourselves and it also does not mean that we read everything and derive our own rulings. We need to have a balance. e.g. hadith about 72 sects, hadith about biddah etc. They cannot be understood without proper scholarship.
Muhadditheen and fuqaha have very different personalities. Muhadditheen were staunch and stern about hadith so that they could be brutally honest in classifying and accepting ahadith from different people. They were also literalist in their approach to ahadith.
Fuqua were generally softer people who were more compassionate towards different situations.
Why are there differences of opinion?
1. The evidence of /context of hadith was not known to any scholar at the time of fatwa. Not all sahaba were aware of all ahadith.
e,g, what is the iddah of a pregnant widow? Sahaba RA were confused between end of pregnancy or 4 months 10 days. Some Sahaba thought she should wait for the longer period. But then Abu Musa RA brought a hadith which mentioned that iddah is the shorter of the two.
Umar RA was sitting in his house when Abu Musa RA knocked on his door 3 times and then left because he got no reply. Umar RA said why didn't you just enter in? He told about the hadith that Prophet SAWW forbade entering after knocking 3 times.
2. Hadith is known to the scholar but they doubt its authenticity so they go with reasoning until the hadith is authenticated. e.g. Fatima bint Qays was given 3 divorces and there was confusion about her Iddah. There was a hadith that the relationship is absolved and she should stay away from her husbands home, but until it was proven Umar RA suggested that they should follow the ayah that she should stay in her husband's house
3. The scholar knew the hadith but he forgot it. It is possible for scholars to forget as they are human beings.
4. Different Ulema understand a hadith differently e.g. what does LAMS mean, some scholars say its touch, some say intimacy.
5. The scholar knows a hadith is authentic and remembers it, but it has been abrogated. e.g. the issue of alcohol. e.g. doing wuzu after eating anything cooked on fire e.g. people were allowed to speak in salaah
6.Scholar believes the hadith is authentic and is not aware whether it has been abrogated or not. A stronger hadith/text contradicts it or many scholars say that a consensus will take precedence over it.
7.Scholar can make a judgement over a weak hadith/fabricated hadith but the scholar was unaware of it or it became weak after his era
8. A wrong ijtehad
9. Sometimes scholar disagree over authenticity of any hadith
HOW TO FIND A MADHAB
Madhab is a set of principles on how to derive an opinion and NOT a set of laws/rules.
Ruling on following a madhab depends on the level you're at
Following a madhab is not a condition of faith. Nobody is sinful if they don't follow a specific madhab.
Taqleed linguistically means: something that is hanging around your neck, so it means you are suspending yourself from something
It technically means to follow without knowing the evidence.
For the common person, his madhab is the madhab of the one who is giving fatwa. He should go to a living scholar and ask. He should not fight with other madhahib but he should be humble.
All scholars have studied the usoool of the madhahib. But does that mean it is impermissible to have a different opinion from a madhab? Can I switch madhabs? IF we just take the easier ones from every madhab then that is wrong. It would not be on the basis of any intellect or evidence. It would be following our empty desires.
Following the established opinion of another madhab in a case of need is permissible, as long as that madhab is within able sunnah was jamaah.
If you find concrete evidence that something is better in a different madhab(honest unbiased evidence), then it could be allowed(but you need to have a scholarship background).
It is best to follow the madhab of your own community or the imaam of your own community.
