Download PDF: [S] Imam Shaybani Strove for the Ummah

Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Shafi – may Allah be pleased with him – mentions that one night he stayed in the house of Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad Ash Shaybani – may Allah be pleased with him –  as a guest. He also admits that he spent the entire Ibadah while he noticed that Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad – may Allah be pleased with him – was merely laying on his bed.

 

Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Shafi – may Allah be pleased with him – was not pleased with this and what shocked him even further is that when the time of Fajr appeared, Imam Muhammad – may Allah be pleased with him –  stood up to read the Sunnah of the Fajr Salaah without making Wudu. He then asked Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad – may Allah be pleased with him , “The entire night you were laying on your bed but you have stood up to read the Salaah without Wudu?”

 

Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad – may Allah be pleased with him – replied, “Are you under the impression that I was sleeping the entire night? I seek protection in Allah from this. During the night, while laying on the bed, I had extracted a thousand issues from the Qur’anic verses pertaining to various actions. The Salaah which you had performed for the night, the benefit of this was only for you personally. However, the action which I had performed during the night, this is of benefit to the entire Ummah. The reason that I was laying on the bed and doing this is because I feel ease while doing this.” When Hadrat Sayyiduna Imam Shafi – may Allah be pleased with him – heard this, he was embarrassed for having thought otherwise.  (Tafseer Ruhul Bayan)

 

From this, we come to understand the immense effort and hard work which was performed by the great Imams and Mujtahideen of Islam and this is the reason that so many volumes of Islamic Fiqh are to be found in Islamic history.

 

Yet, sadly in the present era, young Islamic scholars and even scholars themselves take no interest in these faculties. In fact, most of them take pride in wearing fancy clothes and turbans and sitting on fancy platforms so that everyone can think that they are people who have just arrived from the heavens. When this is the state and condition of the ‘Ulama, what will be the state of the common people?