Muhadith & Faqeeh

Muhadith & Faqeeh – المحدثين والفقهاء

1- Imaam Al-Suyuti wrote:
المحدث بلا فقه كعطار غير طبيب
فالأدوية حاصلة في دكانه ولا يدري لماذا تصلح
والفقيه بلا حديث كطبيب ليس بعطار
يعرف ما تصلح له الأدوية إلا أنها ليست عنده
“A Muhadith without Fiqh is like a pharmacist who is not a trained doctor.
He has gathered all the medicines in his shop, but he doesn’t know which medicine is suitable for which illness.
A Faqih without Hadith is like doctor who is not a pharmacist.
He knows which medicine is suitable for which illness, but he doesn’t posses them.”
[“Al-Hawi lil-Fatawa”, 3/341].

2- That’s why the great Muhadith Al-A’mash said:
يا معشر الفقهاء أنتم الأطباء ونحن الصيادلة
“O jurists, you are the doctors and we are the pharmacists.”
[Khatib al-Baghdadi narrated it in ‘Advice to Ahl al-Hadith’, 1/45].

3- Imam al-Khattabi wrote:
الحديث بمنزلة الأساس الذي هو الأصل، والفقه بمنزلة البناء الذي هو له الفرع، وكل بناء لم يوضع على قاعدة وأساس فهو منهار، وكل أساس خلا من بناء وعمارة فهو قفر وخراب
“The Ahadith are like the foundations of a building.
Fiqh is like the construction above it.
And any building that is not founded on strong foundations is doomed to collapse and any foundation that has no construction over it is just ruins and wilderness.”
[“Ma’aalim al-Sunan”, 1/3].

They both need each other – both are noble professions – but the fuqaha have a rank above the muhadithin, just like the doctor has a rank over the pharmacist.