Question:
Assalam u alayekum Syedi Sheikh Hisham!
1- It is commonly known that Fiqah e Jaafariya originated from Syedna Imam Jafar Sadiq Alaye hi Salam.We do have a very respectable place for him in Tariqah.Then why don’t we consider his fiqah among the basic schools of fiqah of ahl-as-sunnat wal jamaat making it 5 instead of 4?
2- Also,Whenever we talk,we talk about uniting the wahhabis and deobandis with ahl-as-sunnat but why do we leave shia‘ whenever this thing is mentioned?
shukran ya syyedi.
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
Although Ahl as-Sunnah respect Shi`is as Muslims, they do not consider Jaafari fiqh as reliably mass-transmitted as is the fiqh of the four Sunni Imams. There is no question that Sayyidina Jaafar as-Sadiq was a great jurisprudent, as were others whose fiqh did not reach us in reliable fashion, such as al-Awza`i, Sufyan al-Thawri, Dawud al-Zahiri,
and al-Tabari. They do not leave out anyone when talking about uniting, however, they unite only on the basis of truth and right, as the Holy Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) said: “You must keep with the Sawad al-A`zham,” i.e. the massive majority.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
