Key to Unite the Ummah and limits of Dawah- Not hastening to tell someone he is wrong:
Umar رضي الله ﺗﻌﺎﻟﯽٰ عنه relates: “I heard Hisham ibn Hakim ibn Hizaam reciting Surah al-Furqan during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). I listened to his recitation, and he was reciting it differently to the way that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to recite it. I nearly interrupted his prayer, but I waited until he had said the salaam, then I grabbed him by his cloak and said, ‘Who taught you to recite this surah I heard you reciting?’ He said, ‘The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) taught me to recite it.’ I said, ‘You are lying! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) taught me to recite it differently.’ I took him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, ‘I heard him reciting Surah al-Furqan differently than the way you taught me to recite it.’
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,
‘Let him go. Recite, O Hisham.’ He recited it as I had heard him recite it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘This is how it was revealed.’ Then he said, ‘Recite, O ‘Umar.’ So I recited it as he had taught me. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘This is how it was revealed. This Qur’an was revealed with seven ways of recitation, so recite it in the way that is easiest for you.’ ” (Reported by al-Bukhari, al-Fath, 4992).
Notes:
-This Hadith supports the famous rule of Fiqh- 'There is no prohibiting in a matter of valid difference of opinion' which means that you can not stop or reprimand someone if what he is doing is correct according to other legitimate scholars.
-Dawah among Muslims to change their Fiqh to another Fiqh approach is not correct. Dawah is towards the universal values of Islam. If we keep this in mind then most of our unnecessary debates and bickering will vanish and our debaters can use their energy and time to defend Islam against the kafirs and anti Islamic propaganda and prove the truth of Islam before the world.
-Those who try to undermine established Fiqh practices by starting debates on Daleel and Hadeeth proofs among the masses are not doing Dawah. They are actually causing Fitna and disunity and wasting the resources of the Ummah.
-A person who is seeking knowledge should not be too hasty to condemn any opinion that differs from that with which he is familiar; he should first be sure of what he is saying, because that opinion may turn out to be a valid scholarly opinion.
-Many rules in Islam have a possibility of more than one way of interpretation, hence it is quite possible that someone who is doing it differently is also correct.
-The greater a person's knowledge, the more accommodating he becomes to different approaches in following the Deen. It is a lack of deep knowledge that makes one narrow minded and fanatic.
