Schools Of Islamic Law

In today’s world , Islam is considered as one of the fastes growing religions in the world with
around ------ followers across the globe. Islam is the religion of submission to one God, the
religion ofpeace, mercy, and forgiveness..” Islam is the complete way of life for all humanity.
Islam means submission to one God and it also means‘peace.’ The followers of Islam are
called ‘Muslims’. The word Muslim means the one who has submittedhim/herself to God and
lives with peace.

Islam is a religion for all humanity. It is mentioned on Holy Quran as-

“O people! God created you from a single pair of male and female and made you untotribes
and nations so that you may know one another (not to chastise one another) The best among
you is the one who is the most conscious of God” (Al Qur’an: 49:13).

Islam has given to its followers a magnificient edifice of many socially potential relio-legal
concepts and institutions.1 The Islamic law is based on the Quran and Hadith. According to
belief of every muslim, the Quran is the devine revelation for the whole of mankind. The
Holy Quran is the only absolute and final authority in every discussion relating to the
principles and laws of Islam.

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SOURCES OF MUSLIM LAW

A source of law refers to the original material(s) where the contents of law are found. It is
essential so as to have the law, its explanation and its right interpretation.

SOURCES OF MUSLIM LAW

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

1) The sources that the Prophet Mohammad directed will be the primary sources.

2) These are to be followed in their respective order of priority

3) They are also called formal sources

4) The whole of Muslim personal law is based on these

1) These sources explain or modify the primary sources.

2) They deal with the needs of the Islamic society in the modern era.

3) These are also called extraneous sources.

4) Some of the personal rules may find places in the sources, e.g., customs.

THE PRIMARY SOURCES

1) QURAN
The term “Quran” has its roots in the Arabic word ‘Qurra’ and refers to ‘the reading’ or ‘what
ought to be read’. The first revelation (Wahi) came to the Prophet in 609 A.D. They
continued for about 23 years. These revelations were the messages of God made by Angel
Gabriel. These revelations were given out then to the people through the preaching of the
Prophet.

2) SUNNA OR AHADIS: TRADITIONS OF THE PROPHET

In the pre-Islam Arabia, Sunna meant an ancient and continuous usage that has been
established in the society. Sunna literally means the “ trodden path”. Sunna or Ahadis means
the traditions of the Prophet. It means that whatever the Prophet said or did without the
reference to God is his tradition. The Prophets acts and words are believed to have been
inspired by God and thus are treated as internal revelations. Thus, tradition is another source
of law in the language of the Prophet. So wherever the Quran is silent, the Sunna /Ahadis
were referred to.

3) IJMA: UNANIMOUS DECISIONS OF THE JURISTS

Ijma means the opinion of the learned. When persons knowledgeable in law would agree
upon a point, such consensual opinion was referred to as Ijma. Thus, Ijma is the unanimous
decision of jurists for a particular question with reference to that age or communal legislation.

4) QIYAS: ANALOGICAL DEDUCTION

THE SECONDARY SOURCES

1) URF OR TAAMUL: CUSTOM

Before Islam, customary law governed Arabia. Then the Prophet abolished most of them, as
they were un-Islamic and bad. Some customs, however, were continued due to the Prophet’s
silent approval. Some were even included in his traditions. Otherwise, some customs
survived due to their incorporation in the Ijma.

PRESENT POSITION

The Shariat act, 1937 has abolished most of the customs. Section 2 lists ten matters including
inheritance, marriage, divorce, wakf and, maintenance wherein customs and usages cannot be
applied anymore. Customs are still applicable to Muslims with regard to agricultural lands,
charities and religious endowments. Even in matters of wills, adoption

and legacies, the customary law will apply unless a Muslim expressly states that the Shariat
should regulate them.
Additionally, the Shariat Act is not applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, the
rules of Muslim law there are subjected to customs and usages.

2) JUDICIAL DECISIONS

The Privy Council decided many a case related to Muslim law. These cases continue to have
a binding force on all the High courts and the lower courts of India and a persuasive value in
the Supreme Court of India. This box of precedents will lose its binding force only if the
Supreme Court overrules a particular decision.

3) LEGISLATIONS

God is the Supreme legislator as per Islam. Thus, sometimes, legislative modifications are
also treated as encroachment. Still, there are a few acts that modify or lay down principles of
Muslim law and serve as a source of law for the courts with respect to the content covered by
them.

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 Schools of Islamic Law

Various schools of law developed from the relative importance which the imams aatached to
different sources of law.2 They are the Sunni schools and the Shia schools.

The Sunnni school is divided into :

 Hanafi founded by Imam Abu Hanifa

The four great Imam were recognised as Mujtahid bys the Muslima. There is not much
diiference in the fundamental Islamic principles enunciated by these four schools: they only
differ in minor details

Th Hanafi school:

This school is named after the scholar Abu Ḥanifa whose legal views were preserved
primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.

It is the oldest surviving school of Islamic law, and the one with the largest following. It
originated in Kufa, present day Iraq, but its influence spread to both the Mughal and Ottoman
empires and can now be found from Turkey to Central Asia, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and as far as Western Europe and North America.

The sources from which the Hanafi madhhab derives Islamic law are, in order of importance
and preference: the Quran, and the hadiths containing the words, actions and customs of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad (narrated in six hadith collections, of which Sahih Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim are the most relied upon); if these sources were ambiguous on an issue, then
the consensus of the Sahabah community (Ijma of the companions of Muhammad), then
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individual's opinion from the Sahabah, Qiyas (analogy), Istihsan (juristic preference), and
finally local Urf (local custom of people).

Imam Abu Hanifa was born at KUFA IN 80 A.H., in the reign of Abdul Malik. His father,
Thabit bin Zuta, a trader from Kabul (today in Afghanistan), was 40 years old at the time of
Abū Ḥanīfah's birth. His ancestry is generally accepted as being of Persian origin as
suggested by the etymology of the names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather
(Mah). The Ima was extremely devout and pios .During the reign of Marwan of the
Ummayad Dynasty, Yazud Bin Umar, the governor of Kufa: offered him the post of a judge ,
which he declined. He was the masterin the art of detrieving conclusion from
analogies(Qiyas). As a theologian and a religious lawyer, Abu Hanifa exercised considerable
influence in his time. His legal thought is very consistent, uses high degree of reasoning,
avoids extremes, and lays great emphasis on the ideas of the Muslim community.

Abu Hanifa is regarded by modern scholarship as the first to formally adopt and institute
analogy (Qiyas) as a method to derive Islamic law when the Quran and hadiths are silent or
ambiguous in their guidance.

The foundational texts of Hanafi madhhab, credited to Abū Ḥanīfa and his students Abu
Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, include Al-fiqh al-akbar (theological book on
jurisprudence), Al-fiqh al-absat (general book on jurisprudence), Kitab al-athar (thousands of
hadiths with commentary), Kitab al-kharaj and Kitab al-siyar (doctrine of war against
unbelievers, distribution of spoils of war among Muslims, apostasy and taxation of dhimmi)

Present day distributon of the school:

Hanafi school originated in Iraq during the Abbasi Government and when Abu Yusuf, one of
its classical exponent was appointed as Qazi, it spreded widely in the Middle East,
Fghanistan, Inidan sun contionentr, China and Balkan States.

2. The Malikiyya School

The next school of law in order of time was the one founded by Imam Malik bin Anas (d. 795
A.D.) of Medinah and reflects the views and practises associated with that city. Imam Malik
served as a judge in Medinah and compiled all his decisions in a book form called al-
Muwatta (the Levelled Path).

Like the jurists of Iraq, Imam Malik preferred to depend more on the Traditions associated
with the Companions of the Holy Prophet.

Imam Malik Bin Anas

Imam Malik ibn Anas was the second of the four great imams of fiqh. He was born in 93
A.H. in Madinah. He had great reverence and respect for his birthplace and to show his
respect, he never rode an animal inside Madinah. He studied under the finest teachers like
Nafi’Abul-Zanaad, Hishaam bin Urwah bin Zubair, Abdullah bin Dinaar, Muhammad bin
Muslim bin Shihaab al-Zhuhri and a number of other notables.

Muwatta (“the Approved”) is his seminal work that contains the most authentic and sound
ahadith and sayings of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Imam Shafi`i
considers it the most correct and the most beneficial book on earth after Qur’an. According
to Imam Malik, he had seventy jurists of Madinah examine Muwatta and each one of them
approved it. He was extremely careful in narrating hadith and said, “I do not accept
knowledge from four types of people: a person well-known to be foolish, even though all the
other people narrate from him, a person involved in committing heresy and calling others
towards innovation in Deen, a person who lies in regular conversation with people, even
though I do not accuse him as liar in regards to Hadith, a person who is pious worshipper or
scholar, but does not properly and correctly memorize what he narrates.” His chain of
narration (from Malik from Nafi’ from Ibn Umar) was called “the golden chain of narrators”
by Imam Bukhari.

He was regarded in the highest esteem by other three of the great imams.
The adherents of this school are predominantly in North African countries.

3. The Shafiyya School

The third school was founded by Imam al-Shafi (d. 820 A.D.) who was a disciple of Imam
Malik. Imam Shafi placed great importance on the Traditions of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and explicitly formulated the
rules for establishing the Islamic law. He was a great thinker, had an unusual grasp of
principles and a clear understanding of the judicial problems.

Imam Shafi`i

Imaam Muhammad bin Idris Shafi`i was one of the greatest imams of fiqh. He was born in
150 A.H. in Palestine, the same year as Imam Abu Hanifa died. He shared the lineage with
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). With very humble beginnings, he came to
Makkah at the age of 10 where he began his formal education. He studied fiqh from teachers
like Imam Shaybaani who was one of the famous scholars of the Hanafi School of fiqh,
Muslim bin Khalil al Zanji, Sufyaan bin Uyayana and Imam Maalik bin Anas. He had an
amazing memory which enabled him to memorize Qur’an by the age of seven and by the time
he turned 15, he had memorized Muwatta.

This school is strong in Lower Egypt, Syria, India and Indonesia.

4. The Hanbaliyya School

This school was founded by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 855 A.D.) of Baghdad. Imam
Hanbal did not establish a separate school himself; this was rather done by his disciples and
followers.
The Hanbaliyya was the most conservative of the four schools. Its rigidity and intolerance
eventually caused its decline over the years. In the eighteenth century, however, this school
was revived with the rise of Wahhabism and the growing influence of the House of Sa’ud.
Today, Hanbaliyya school is followed only in Saudi Arabia.

The Hanbalis insist on the literal injunctions of the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith and are very
strict in the observance of religious duties

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also referred as “Sheikh ul-Islam” and the “Imam of Ahl al-
Sunnah, was born in Baghdad in 164 A.H. He started learning fiqh from the famous Hanafi
scholar Qadhi Abu Yusuf but later discontinued the study of fiqh in favor of hadith. He was
an authority in many disciplines including Hadith, fiqh, tafsir, science of abrogation,
theology, recitation of Qur’an, and Arabic language.

In addition to Masnad, his exceptional collection of Hadith, Kitab al-Zuhd is also considered
to be an influential work in Islamic heritage as well as Kitabul A’maal, Kitaabut Tafseer,
Kitaabul Naasikh wal Mansookh, Kitaabul Masaa’il and Kitaabul Fadaa’il. He strongly
believed in the orthodox doctrine of Islam and propagated it. He wrote two important books
on the orthodox religious doctrine, the Kitab al-Sunnah and al-Rad ‘Ala al-Zanadiqah wa al-
Jahmiyah. He was a great jurist but was reluctant to give fatwa. Al-Mukhtasar by al-Khiraqi
is the first written manual of fiqh and an introductory work on Hanbali fiqh. Some of the
notable Hanbali scholars include Abdul-Qadir al-Jailani, Allama Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Taymiyah,
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya, Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab.