The 4 schools are the most codified and tested ones that stood the test of times. All the four school have abosorbed various other schools into them.
Also the students of others schools may not have highly regarded and perhaps lacked the dilligence hence not codified enough to survive.

Also the likes of zaidis have a close link to mutazilite and as such batil sect.
We are not in the business of reinenventing a tried and test system and could n't care less about others superfical claim verging on taqiyah.
Allahualam

Of course Ahlus-Sunnah has and must have respect for Ali Radhiyallahu 'anhu and ahlul bait. They just dont go beyond the boundaries like Shi'ah do. Alaihis salaam is a title reserved for ambiyaa and malaa'ikah. The Shi'ah use it for Ali Karramallahu wajhah...maybe it's because some of them believe his (and the rest of their imams) status to be higher than that of a Nabi.....well.... There you go.

Wal 'iyaadhu billaah.

You would be surprised; some of the early muhaddithin used عليه السلام for the ahl al bayt as well.

Subhanallah, didn't know that. It seems to have become a salient term the Shi'ah use. I wonder what ulamaa have said about using that title for Ahlul bait now.

Also for 'Umar as in Daruqutni and for Abu Bakr as in Abu Dawood. The earlier Muslims did not specify it to a Sahabi alone or to the ahl al Bayt as some of the misguided do.
So al-Qari al-hanafi wrote in the Sharh of al-Fiqh al-Akbar: "Peace (salam) is the greeting of muslim nation. There is no difference between saying as salamu alaykum, and alayhi salam. But, it's not good to say "Ali alayhi salam" due to this being the word of people of innovation".
This link might help: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/in...waId&Id=163193

I asked one of my teachers regarding this when we came across a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari that had this usage. He basically said what you seem to be hinting at. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with using عليه السلام for ahl al-bayt (may Allah be pleased with them) and some of the `ulama of the salaf did use that for ahl al-bayt, since it has become a salient feature of the Shiites in our time, it is perhaps best to avoid it. Also, it has being the norm that عليه السلام is used for anbiya', رضي الله عنه is used for sahabah, and رحمه الله is used for anyone after the sahabah, so it is best to stick to this convention as not to confuse people. Other `ulama may hold a different position on the matter; either way, it isn't a big deal.

Also the Prophet http://discussworldissues.com/forums...ilies/pbuh.gif invoked Allah for the family of Hadrat Abi Awfa' in the following words:
"Allahumma Salli 'Ala Aal-e-Abi Awfa." The hadith is in Sahih Muslim.
http://discussworldissues.com/forums...es/wasalam.gif

Important point.

Also for Ayesha(ra) and for umm kulthum,I guess..

Check out this article:
http://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress....-non-prophets/

http://discussworldissues.com/forums...lies/jazak.gif and Abu Tamim for clearing things up.

Sheesh you really don't have a filter between your brain and mouth don't you ? http://discussworldissues.com/forums...on_redface.gif

Your one of those people for whom trying to understand Islam dose more harm then good .
You would be far safer wasting your time on other things .
I say it with all sincerity . Get a hold on yourself man.

http://discussworldissues.com/forums...n_thumbsup.gif

http://discussworldissues.com/forums...lies/jazak.gif
I guess that someone tilting towards the schismatics (not bro. Sulayman) thought that 'alayhis salam for the Ahl al-Bayt alone was proven and for no one else.

I find this the most learned post on this thread. http://discussworldissues.com/forums...n_thumbsup.gif

that makes a lot of sense

I wonder if anyone (unbiased) is on here from Yemen who can tell us in a bit of detail what is the state of the Zaydi scholars of the modern era?

salaam brothers and sisters, the above question why dont we follow imam jaffar instead.. is question that always props up in my countless debates with shia, even my best friend is shia, i always get bamboozled on this question, with the blessings of allah swt i can answer all of the questions, salandarous accusations against the sahaba with confidence, can someone please give me a precise and concise answer, thank you in advance..

Salam `Aleykum,

Easy, the answer is that we do follow Ja`far al-Sadiq. All Muslims regardless of their Madhab follow him, the one who says we do not follow him is dumber than his parent's donkey and twice as ignorant.

Salam tripoli..after further research we dont follow imam jafar because of his teaching in fiqh havent been aauthentically recorded..apart from the students..plus himself imam jafar hasnt written any books..on this matter..the other point that many sunni are converting to shiasim is that they have read there books m, and can quote fabricated hadiths..so to answer a question like yourself ur not doing anyone any favours..in a debate to answer like u yourself comes across as ignorant..and turning away muslims from the truth..so brother rather than mock its better to clarify..to those that have different beliefs..can u u imagine the prophetvor sahaba answering the question like u did...

How then do you explain the fact that we have loads of Hadith by him in our books and we narrate from him and his family authentic narrations? if that isn't "following" I don't know what is.

-`Ali bin abi Talib (ra) was the tenth companion who narrated the most Hadith in our main books, he narrated 586 narrations from the Prophet (SAWS).

-Ja`far bin Muhammad (rah) was one of the biggest Imams and scholars of Ahlul-Sunnah in Madinah, he narrated more than most of our other Imams and the vast majority of his narrations were authentic, he narrated 206 narrations in the main books from the Prophet (SAWS).

Unless you want an "Official Madhab" like the four or five we have today, then that's not possible and the brothers already answered why in previous posts, ALSO you can try looking at his students and teachers and see for yourself if we were the ones following him or not.

Refer these two articles to gain some basic info:

The Imams from Ahlebayt whom Shia consider to be their divinely appointed Imams were on the Creed of Ahlesunnah wal Jama’ah
http://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress....ma%E2%80%99ah/


Narrations from Ahl-AlBayt present in the main books of Ahlesunnah
http://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress....of-ahlesunnah/