[foodselfdourileka]

The Hanbali Madhab while may have been the smallest, is the most well grounded when it comes to the fiqh being based upon the most ahadeeth.

Secondly, who said numbers play a part in haqq?

Your opinion.

salams

there is no specific reason for switching. a student can gradually gravitate towards a particular contemporary scholar and in the same way one can be inclined to a particular classical scholar and his school.

If there's no particular reason, why would you want to make things so hard on yourself by changing? Believe me, a lot of people aren't going to be happy, whether that is for the right reason or not. If you don't have a specific reason, then you should consider any potential fitna that may arise in your family and community, especially if you are from one of the hardcore Hanafi regions.

in response to your points about aqida and the link you provided about salafi mujassima. then that is not the path that i am on as they seem intent on delving into the howness of the attributes and expelling the asharis and maturidis from the ahla sunna and i'm not sure why exactly you think that I am on this path.

Those are the ones who make tafwid al-kayfiyyah. I thought that is what you are upon judging from your previous threads; but, if I am wrong, then please accept my apologies for misunderstanding.

I would advise you to purchase shaykh riyadh ul haq's lectures on aqidatul tahawiya from the al kawthar academy website which will help you to appreciate that there are 3 schools of sunni aqida. this is also clarified by mufti taqi usmani http://www.deoband.org/2010/04/hadit...utes-of-allah/

There are definitely three schools of Aqeeda, the point is that Shaikh Riyad al-Haq is most likely not Athari, and I think at this point someone should really just ask him, as the claims have been made for years now. Now, even if he was, then he would be from among those whom the Asharis and Maturidis consider Atharis, i.e. Mafawwids who stop at the texts, and not Salafi Atharis, who make tafwid of kayfiyyah and affirm things like a shadow, hesitation, etc. for Allah .

I accept your points regarding the hijacking of the hanbali school and I suppose this would be the danger in switching i.e that the lack of english speaking traditional hanbalis would mean that I would have to rely on those who have not truly embraced the hanbali school.

I guess this would be the major danger when it comes to being Hanbali. There are a lot of people who seem to call themselves Hanbali, but basically make themselves their own Mujathid Imam. And, before anyone misunderstands me, I am not referring to all Salafi Hanbalis.

Kindly stop acting as an expert on Hanbali Madhab when you don't follow it yourself.

Kindly stop slandering the Imams of the Ummah and spreading baseless claims about them like the lie that they allow the worshiping of shoes.

Oh, and by the way, I have studied the Hanbali Madhab with a Hanbali for some time.

Also kindly stay away from passing rulings over other madhabs or making comparisons between the madhabs.These issues don't fall in your jurisprudence.

Kindly stop quoting books you've never read and passing on slanders and lies upon the Imams of the Ummah.

True:




Numbers won't make a madhab superior.

I wasn't trying to make it seem that way. The other thing I mentioned (that some Hanbalis caused great strife for Muslims) also wouldn't make the Madhab either either, otherwise Ahmad Raza Khan and others like him should have convinced everyone to leave the Hanafi Madhab . I was merely trying to bring attention to the fact that the recent popularity of the Madhab is being caused by something new.

Compare your two inter-contradictory opinions



QUOTE=maneatinglizard;453431]

Why would one be prevented from studying with a Hanbali Alim that is Salafi, when the Madhab is a matter of Fiqh, and being a Salafi or not is a matter of Aqida?

Besides that, you need to realize that the great majority of Hanbali Ulema have always been Atharis, and not Asharis, and that many of them fiercely opposed the Asharis even before Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah

I feel that anyone who claims that the Hanbali Madhab has died denies the history of this Ummah as much as those Salafis that reject the fact that the great majority of this Ummah has followed the Madhahib, and that Asharis and Maturidis have always outnumbered Atharis.

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show...l=1#post453431[/QUOTE]

I don't really see the contradiction. I haven't now said that one can't study with Saudi Hanbalis. I guess the only thing that's really changed is that I now have trouble seeing an Ashari Hanbali being able to study with the Suadi Ulema, simply because many of them seem to force their Aqeeda opinions on everyone and everything. But there aren't many Ashari Hanbalis anyways, and they can always just study in Syria.

Oh, and even if you don't live in the West, I think you are a prime example of what I said in the first quote.

To brother al ansar, if you're still following this, then just make sure that whatever choice you make is one that has been thought out thoroughly. It may not seem like a very big thing, but you will have to relearn many things that you may have learned from your parents, teachers, or wherever else you learned the Madhab. You seem to already know of the potential pitfalls you are facing, so its probably best for you to get the advice of elders you know and trust, and then go from there (with Istikhara, of course).