One year ago, Qabeelat Wasat found a new venue known as Hamburger University to host AlMaghrib’s The Code Evolved: Evolution of Fiqh, a seminar on the history of Fiqh taught by Shaykh Yaser Birjas. The idea of a going to an educational ground founded on meat patties wasn’t the only memorable part of the seminar, however.

The class itself was awesome, because of what it was about. To illustrate, you may recall that part of its Facebook event description had the following.

“You MUST follow a madhab!”
“You must NOT follow a madhab!”
Huh?

“I only follow Imam Abu Hanifah!”
“I only follow the Qu’ran, not humans!”
Whaa?

“You must be a Wahabi!”
“I don’t even know what a Wahabi is. You must be a blind follower!”

Confused? Today, watch every coffee-shop or internet Islamic debate, and you’ll see it wander into talk like that. Are you really supposed to follow a madhab and question nothing? Or should you challenge everything, regardless of your ability to read the Qur’an? What is a madhab anyway? Huh?

Ask yourself the following QUESTIONS:

• Do you feel like the yearly moonfighting debate in your community is worthy of it’s own WWE pay-per-view fight?
• Is the latest MSA drama that everyone and their mom is talking about making you feel like eating your topi / hijab?
• Did someone tell you after the prayer that you’re not praying according to the sunnah? Are you the guy who wonders why no one else around you prays according to the sunnah like you do?
• Is someone telling you to follow a madhab? Is someone telling you not to follow a madhab? And are you confused by all these people?
• Is someone running around the community *dissing the scholars of the past* and their fiqh opinions? Are you that person?

Do you want the knowledge and skills to solve the problems mentioned above and many others not mentioned? If so, then it’s time for you to take The Code Evolved: The Evolution of Fiqh, taught by Shaykh Yasir Birjas!

The goal of the class was to gain knowledge and understanding of how differences in Fiqh came, and what that means for us as Sunni Muslims, especially in Chicagoland, where important topics like the madhab issue are sometimes taken to levels of debate way beyond what is healthy.

As a result, people from all sorts of backgrounds and understandings came. Students who don’t follow madhabs, students who don’t, Imams of masjids, even Eddy from The Deen Show made an appearance. It was wonderful seeing a group of students of many understandings all sitting and learning in the same class for the sake holding onto the rope of Allah.

How about you? What was your favorite part of The Code Evolved?