Early Schools of Islamic Law

A Lecture by Asif Iftikhar

Email: asifi.ifti@gmail.com

May 4, 2012 10:07 AM

Sunni Schools
H anafi Mlik Shfi H anbal

Hanafi
(Abbasid, Ottoman period). Now, in Syria, Jordan, Turkey, North India, Pakistan, Central Asia, and China

Abu Hanifa (d. 767) -- Kufa, Iraq Abu Yusuf (d. 798) Muhammad b. Hasan alShaybani (d. 804)

Hanafi (Contd.)
Qiyas
Illa

(e.g. Q. 62:9)

Istihsan

(juristic preference: Q. 39.18, 39: 55, 2: 185)

Hanafi
Ijma

(my people will never agree upon error): Consensus of the qualified legal authorities of a given generation (infallible). (In practice, local consensus accepted).

Maliki
Upper Egypt, North Africa Malik b. Anas (d. 796) Median Al-Muwatta (the Trodden Path): e.g.

aqiqa Amal Ahl al-Madina cf ijma

Istislah (public good): based on

protection of religion, life, intellect, lineage, and property.

Shafii
Lower Egypt, South India, and Malaya Muhammad b. Idris al-ShafiI (d.820) [Studied in Mecca, Median, Iraq, and Syria] Risala (written in Cairo) Quran, Sunna (in hadith), ijma (entire Muslim Community)

Qiyas

Hanbali
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 855)

Musnad Ahmad b. Hanbal

Literalist Quran and the Sunna (hadith)

Later Hanbalis

Later Hanbalis: Fatwas of the Companions, Sayings of Companions (individual), ahadith (with weak asnad);

qiyas

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1327) Abd al-Wahhab (d.1792)

Shiite Schools

Jafar

al-Sadiq (d. 765) sixth Imam (Medina)

Shiite Hadith

Muhammad Kulayni (d. 940), al-Kafi fi ilm al-din [Baghdad]; 16,199 ahadith through ahl al-bayt Ibn Babuya, Abu Ja'far Muhammad al-Qummi , also called al-Sadduq (d. 991), Man La yah'dharhu al-faqih. 5,973 ahadith

Shiite Hadith

Muhammd al-Tusi (d. 1067). Taught in Baghdad. In Najaf established the Howza Ilmiyyah. Hadith Works: Tah'dhib al-ah'kam, 12,590 ahadith; al-Istibsar 5,521 ahadith

Shiite Usul al-Fiqh

Baghdad (11th Century) Mutazilite Influence

Shiite Usul al-Fiqh

Shaykh al-Mufid d. 1022 (pupil of Ibn Babuya): Preeminence of the Quran and Shiite traditions but reason used in interpreting partially contradictory texts Ijma as consensus of the Muslim community when it corresponded to the opinion of the imam. Analogy rejected.

Shiite Usul al-Fiqh

Sharif al-Murtada (d. 1024):Authority of traditions accepted but those contrary to reason or transmitted by only one narrator should be rejected Muhammad b. Hasan al-Tusi (d.1067), also knwn as Shaykh al-Taifa (Shaykh of the Community) accepted traditions transmitted by only one narrator, if shiite

Shiite Usul al-Fiqh

Allama Ayat Allah al-Hilli (d. 1325): Ijtihad the prerogative of the ulama. Mujtahids fallible can disagree and change opinions. Post Safavid Persia (16th Century) Akhbaris Vs. Usulis (17th Century- )

Questions & Answers