Madhhab The Five Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence

Hanafi
Hanafi." Encyclopedia of Asian History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. World History in
Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

Hanafi, one of the four orthodox schools of law in Sunni Islam, named after Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man
ibn Thabit, who died in Baghdad in 767. Hanafi grew out of a tradition of legal thought that first
took form in Kufa and from there established itself as the dominant legal orientation throughout
much of southern Iraq during the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods. The development
of Hanafi law into a distinctive school of jurisprudence, however, was the work of Abu Hanifa's
disciples, principally Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and Muhammad al-Shaibani (d. 805), whose writings laid
the basis for a more or less coherent system of jurisprudence. While Hanafi doctrine from the
beginning recognized the importance of the Qur'an as an essential source of law, Hanafis were at
pains to insist on the indispensability of personal judgment or reason (ijtihad/ra'y) as a tool of
juridical elaboration. The freedom and flexibility that they sought to secure for juridical doctrine
were given concrete expression in such concepts as istihsan (juridical preference) and
qiyas (analogical reason). Although these concepts are to be found in Maliki and Shafi'i law, it
was the Hanafis who applied them most consistently and extensively. The Hanafi school,
however, did not entirely escape the influence of the traditionist movement, as a consequence of
which Hanafis, too, were compelled to concede a larger role to prophetic tradition (hadith) as a
source of law.

While the Hanafi school had its origins in southern Iraq and reflected the legal consensus of that
particular region, it rapidly established itself as the dominant school of law in the eastern
provinces of the Abbasid empire, thanks in no small measure to the favor shown it by the court in
Baghdad. From Iraq and Persia the Hanafi school found its way to Central Asia, Afghanistan, and
India. With the penetration of Islam into China, especially from the thirteenth century, the Hanafi
school became the dominant legal influence there as well. In each of these areas the Hanafi
school remains the legal affiliation of the vast majority of Muslims.
The Hanafi school is the most widely accepted school of Islamic law, followed by almost one-
third of the world's Muslims. Legal doctrines are relatively liberal with regard to women's rights in
contracting marriages and individual freedoms. It prevails in countries such as:
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Afghanistan
Central Asia
The Caucasus
The Balkans
Turkey
Parts of Iraq
Egypt
 Madhhab The Five Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence

Maliki
"Maliki." Encyclopedia of Asian History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. World History in
Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Maliki, one of the four orthodox schools of law in Islam, named after Malik ibn Anas, who died in
the Arabian city of Medina in 795. A celebrated legal scholar, Malik is known above all as the
author of Kitab al-muwatta, the earliest surviving work on law in Islam; its contents in general
reflect the outlook of that early legal tradition associated with the Hejaz. While the Maliki
school owed its formative inspiration to the teaching of Malik, the elaboration of its doctrine into a
unified, distinctive code of law was in the main the work of his leading disciples, in particular al-
Sulami (d. 852), al-Tanukhi, known also as Sahnun (d. 854), and Isma'il ibn Ishaq (d. 895). In
addition to the Qur'an, Malikis based their legal rulings on the consensus (ijma) or customary law
of Medina, and when these failed to provide an adequate basis for law they had recourse to
personal judgment (ijtihad/ra'y). Malikis did make use of the hadith (the traditions of the Prophet)
as a basis for law, but these never constituted the highest court of appeal for them. If Malikis and
Hanafis were largely in agreement on the role of reason in the juridical process, they sometimes
differed substantively in the realm of positive law, a fact explained largely by their different
geographical roots.

Apart from isolated cases, and for reasons that are not entirely clear, Maliki law never won
acceptance in the eastern lands of Islam. It has been and remains the dominant school of North
Africa.

The Maliki school is the second most-dominant school of Sunni jurisprudence, and it prevails in
countries such as:
The Arabian Gulf States
Kuwait
Qatar
Bahrain
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Syria
Yemen
East and West Africa
Egypt (especially in the south or “upper” Egypt)
Sudan
Tunisia
Algeria
Libya
Morocco
Mali
Nigeria
Chad
Niger
Senegal
Mauritania
 Madhhab The Five Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence

Shafi'i
"Shafi'i." Encyclopedia of Asian History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. World History in
Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. [From World History in Context]

Shafi'i, one of the four schools of law in orthodox Islam, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-
Shafi'i (d. 820), its founder and guiding influence. Disturbed by the confusing plethora of views,
methods and practices that prevailed in the legal circles of his day, Shafi'i set out to develop a
systematic theory of law on the basis of which legal thought and practice in Islam might be
unified. His Risala, composed in Cairo near the end of his life, constitutes his most important work
on juridical theory. In it he sets down what were to become the characteristic features of Shafi'i
law. Although Shafi'i aimed at the elaboration of a comprehensive theory of law, his most
important contribution to the history of Islamic jurisprudence lies in his insistence on the
indispensability of the sunna, or tradition of the Prophet, as a substantive source of law. Over
against Hanafis and Malikis, for whom the sunna was largely a function of local practice, Shafi'i
not only linked it to the Prophet himself but declared it to be divinely inspired. In keeping with his
position on the primacy of revelation (that is, the Qur'an and the sunna), he sought to limit
personal judgment (ijtihad/ra'y) to analogical reason (qiyas), whose only function was to extend
the application of those principles laid down in the revealed texts to problems not addressed by
the latter.

Shafi'i's views, although not universally accepted at first, had a substantial impact on Islamic law
in the long term. His views defined the essential elements of what was to become classical Shafi'i
doctrine, and compelled Hanafis, Malikis, and others to undertake important revisions of their own
legal systems. From Baghdad and Cairo, the chief centers of the early Shafi'i school, its influence
spread throughout the central lands of Islam from Egypt to Khurasan and, by the late Mamluk
period, had become the dominant school of law in this vast region. While the school found only
limited acceptance in India and Central Asia, it became and remains the principal school of law in
the Muslim lands of Southeast Asia.

The Shafii school is widespread in countries such as:

Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Maldives
Palestine
Jordan
Lebanon
Yemen
The Kurds
East Africa
Somalia
Kenya
Tanzania
 Madhhab The Five Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence

Hanbali
Hanbali." Encyclopedia of Asian History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. World History in
Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Hanbali, youngest of the four orthodox schools of law in Sunni Islam, named after Ahmad ibn
Hanbal (d. 855), whose teaching, together with that of his immediate disciples, laid the basis for a
system of law and theology decidedly traditionalist in orientation. While not rejecting reason
altogether as a source of law, the Hanbali school sought vigorously to circumscribe its scope,
emphasizing rather the Qur'an and the sunna as the primary sources of law. Among the Sunni
schools of law it was closest to that of the Shafi'is, differing from it mainly in the role assigned to
reason. Founded in Baghdad, the Hanbali school came to play a significant role in the revival of
Sunni Islam following the collapse of the Buyid dynasty in 1055. During the late eleventh and the
twelfth centuries, a period that may be regarded as the golden age of Hanbalism, the school
produced some of its most influential spokesmen, among them Ibn Aqil (d. 1120), Abd al-Qadir al-
Jilani (d. 1166), and Ibn al-Jauzi (d. 1200).

Although Baghdad remained the stronghold of Hanbalism until the middle of the thirteenth
century, its influence spread both eastward and westward from an early date. By the end of the
eleventh century, the school was represented in a number of Persian cities as well as in
Mesopotamia and Syria. Through the writings of Ibn Taimiyya (d. 1328) and the efforts of the
Wahhabi movement in the eighteenth century, Hanbali influences made their way to India and
Southeast Asia, where even today they continue to be felt.

Ibn Taymiyya's thought exercised significant influence on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (died
1792), a Sunni Islamic reformer who sought to purify the religion of his contemporaries in and
around the Arabian peninsula. With the assistance of Ibn Saʿud, he founded Wahhabism, a
conservative ideology that has sustained the Saudi state during the last two centuries. Saudi
Arabia remains the principal country that applies Hanbali law. Nevertheless, the writings of ibn
Taymiyya and ibn Abd al-Wahhab still continue to influence the Muslim reform and religious
movements in the Middle East, from Rashid Rida (died 1935) to the Muslim Brotherhood.
 Madhhab The Five Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence

Ja'fari Encyclopedia of Asian History, 1988. From World History in Context

Ja'fari, the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) Shi'ite school of Islamic law. It was named after Ja'far al-Sadiq
(d. 765), the sixth of the Twelver imams, who is believed to be its founder. The period of Ja'far's
leadership coincided with a period of intellectual activity in Islam, especially the systematization of
the shari'a through collection of the hadith literature. The eminent figures Abu Hanifa (d. 768) and
Malik (d. 795) were occupied by the attempt to fulfill this need in Sunni Islam. Ja'far al-Sadiq's
Fatimid ancestry greatly enhanced his prominence in Medina, and he in effect became the
fountainhead not only of the Ja'fari school of law, but of all Shi'ite intellectual as well as traditional
sciences. His prestigious and generally acknowledged leadership gave ultimate recognition to the
line of the Husainid imams among the Shi'ites, whereas his enlistment as an authentic transmitter
of the prophetic traditions in the Sunni "chains of transmission" (isnads) gave recognition to the
Ja'fari school of law as a valid interpretation of Islamic revelation. The emphasis on aql (the
intellect) as a major source of Islamic law has become a distinguishing mark of Ja'fari legal
theory. Today, the Ja'fari school is regarded by the Sunni scholars of al-Azhar as the "fifth school"
in addition to the four Sunni ones.

Ayatollah Encyclopedia of Asian History, 1988. From World History in Context

Ayatollah, a term meaning "the supreme sign of God." The full title, ayatollah al-uzma, was given
during the Qajar period of Iranian history (eighteenth or nineteenth century c.e.) to the Twelver
(Ithna Ashari) Shi'ite jurist (mujtahid) who is regarded as the most learned in the matters of
the shari'a and whose righteousness (adala) and piety are well established.
The title is given to any Shi'ite jurist who is able to make independent judgments on the basis of
principles laid down in Shi'ite Ja'fari jurisprudence. Such a jurist is designated as marja-i taqlid, a
competent juridical authority who is followed in the matters of the shari'a. In order to facilitate the
following of the Shi'ites, the ayatollah publishes a risalat al-amaliyya (treatise on practical
religious guidance) expounding his legal rulings (sg., fatwa), which is accessible to his followers
throughout the world. Although any jurist's advice can be sought in the shari'a, according to later
consensus among the Twelver Shi'ite scholars it is obligatory to seek the guidance of the one
who is acknowledged as the most learned (a'lam) and supreme (al-uzma). In the absence of any
well-defined hierarchy among the jurists, the position of the ayatollah is based on the level of his
learning, usually determined through his students.

Jafari: Shii Legal Thought and Jurisprudence Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
Named after the sixth imam (in this case, descendant of Muhammad through the appropriate
line), Jafar al-Sadiq (d. 748 ). Recognizes four sources of Islamic law: the Quran, the Sunnah
(including traditions reported by the Prophet and the imams), consensus (which must include the
Prophet's or an infallible imam's opinion to establish its validity), and human reason. Human
reason is capable of inferring categorical judgments drawn from both pure and practical reason.
Whatever is judged necessary by reason is also judged necessary by revelation. This correlation
between reason and revelation has allowed Shii jurists to derive religious rulings on many issues
not covered in normative sources such as the Quran and Sunnah. Since 1959 the Jafari school of
jurisprudence has been afforded the status of “fifth school” along with the four Sunni schools by
Azhar University in Cairo. The other two legal schools that share the Jafari origin are the Zaydi
and the Mustali Fatimid Ismaili jurisprudences. These two are closer to Sunnism in their
derivation of religious practice.
ALSO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja%27fari_jurisprudence