Prof. Dr.

Taslima Monsoor
 Schools of Law

The prophet made hijra or a flight to Medina from Mecca in 622 A.D. from
this the Muslim era started. Then Islamic society was formed in Mecca and
the people got the direct revelations of the Holy Quran from the divine and
also interpreted it.

What the prophet practiced said, acted and did during his lifetime was
recognized after his death (632 A.D) as Sunna. Then the consensus of
opinion or Ijmaa of the Caliphs specially the 4 Caliphs Abu Baker, Omar,
Osman and Ali was formed. Then the Omeyads and the Abbasides came. In
the reign of the Abbasides they collected all the Islamic Jurists from Kufa and
Medina to their court in Baghdad.

Then difference of the Jurists were there and from these difference of Jurists
the 4 Sunni Schools came into operation from the 3rd period of Islamic law.
These schools are all equally orthodox:

1. Hanafi School

The founder of the first school was Imam Abu Hanifa (80-150 A.H). His
schools name is Hanafi School. He was educated in the Shia school of law
and he received the first instructions of Jurisprudence from the sixth Imam
Jafar Ibn Sadaq in Baghdad.

Coming back to Kufa his native city he founded a new system of his own
different from the Shia school of law. He was endowed with talents of an
exceptional nature and had the true lawyer’s gift of detecting nice distinctions
and possessed remarkable powers of reasoning and deduction which
combined with the resources of a retentive memory and clear understanding
soon brought him into prominence as the master of Jurisprudence.

So he acquired the title of the upholder of private judgment. In arriving at

legal conclusion he placed little reliance upon traditions and more upon
deductions. He stressed on Qiyas or analogical deduction then traditions so
some scholars think he was the upholder of private judgment or founder of
Qiyas. But he was not. He employed Qiyas more because the science of
Hadith did not fully develop at that time and no recognised collections were
available. He modified law calling it Istehsan. He assigned a distinctive name
a prominent position to the principle by which the theory of law is modified in
its application to actual facts, calling it Istehsan (Juristic preference), which
bears in many points a remarkable resemblance to the doctrine of equity.

He extended Ijmaa unlike other jurists he affirmed its validity in every age.
Ijmaa was also extended to the descendants (Tabiun) of the companions of
the prophet. From among his principle disciples he instituted a committee of
40 men for the codification of the laws. It took 30 years for the code to be
completed. The entire work is lost, but his contribution to the code is present.
There is a small collection of traditions based on his authority called
Masnadul-Imam Abu Hanifa.

Two very authoritative text of this school is Hedaya and Fatwa-i- Alamgiri.
His teachings were not liked by the Caliphs and so they cast him to prison.
As so believed they poisoned him to death. He was held in such esteem that
his funeral prayers as reported was said for 10 days and 50000 people
attended it on each day.

The Muslims of Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan and Turkey are Hanafis.

Also in Egypt, China and Arab – they are largely found. He left his two
disciples Abu Yusuf and Imam Mohammad. So we can say that he was the
founder of the theories and principles of Muslim Jurisprudence.
2. Maliki School

The Kufa School of Imam Abu Hanifa is distinguished from the Medina
School of Imam Malik-Ibn-Anas (97-179 A.H.). The name of his school is
Maliki School. He was not only a Jurist but a traditionalist. He exercised the
judgment if other things failed with the traditions and usages of Medina.

He introduced a principle corresponding of that to Imam Abu Hanifa’s

Istehsan which is known as Muslahat and which means public welfare-as
a basis of deduction.

He introduced a 5th source of law known as Istadlal. Istadlal is according to

him a principle of Juristic deduction which does not come within the scope of
analogy. Malik recognizes the validity of Ijmaa of the companions and
successors residing in Medina –Consensus of the Muslims of Medina (at that
time).

Al-Muwatta a well known book of his contains of 300 traditions. His followers
are found in northern Africa especially in Morocco and Algiers.
3. Shafie School

Imam –Ash-Shafie (150-204 A.H) was the disciple of Malik-Ibn-Anas and he

also took lectures from Imam Mohammad (The disciple of Imam Abu Hanifa).
His school’s name is Shafie school. He had exceptional juristic talents. He
was not only a Jurists but a traditionalist. He was known as the founder of
the science of usul or traditions although he applied Qiyas more than Malik.
He was an upholder of the traditions he examined them more critically and
made more use of analogy than Malik.

He introduced the middle course of Imam Abu Hanifa and Malik Ibn-Anas on
analogy and traditions. He allowed greater scope of Ijmaa than Malik but he
supported Malik Ibn Anas’s 5th source of law as Istadlal and rejected Imam

Abu Hanifa’s equity of the Jurists. He first established a treatise (A long

written work dealing thoroughly with one subject) investigating the principles
and methods of jurisprudence known as “Risala”. His principles are followed
in Egypt, Africa, Arabia and in some parts of India specially Bombay and
Madras.
4. Hanbal School

Finally we came to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (164-241 A.H.) pupil of Imam –
Ash-Shafie. He was the founder of Hanbal School. He strictly recognised or
had an extreme reaction to the school which was known as Ahl-Al-Ray or
people of opinion / Ahl-A-Hadith.

He strictly followed hadith literally. He was a very strictly in character and

was unbending on his interpretation of the hadith.

Tabari a historian refused to accept him as a jurist but recognised him as a

mere traditionalist. His Masnad-ul-Hanbal contains of 50,000 traditions. His
followers are only found in middle of Arabia and no where else. He allowed
a narrow margin within Qiyas and Ijmaa.

Conclusion: So we conclude that though all jurists agree on Quran and

Sunna they differ in Qiyas and Ijmaa. Abu Hanifa was founder of Qiyas and
he was the first to use it. But Malik was in favour of traditions and he used it.
Shafie followed the middle course of analogy and traditions. Hanbal was
strictly and literally following the hadith or traditions.
6. Shia School of Thought

After the death of the prophet (632 A.D) it became necessary to elect a Caliph
or successor to the prophet to assume leadership of Islam.

The Hashimites the kinsmen of Mohammad (S.M) maintained that the office
belonged by right to Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the prophet. But the
Koreishites insisted upon proceeding by election and elected Abu Baker as
the 1st caliph. After his death Omar was elected. Upon his decease the
caliphate was offered to Ali on the condition that he should govern in
accordance to the precedents established by the two former Caliphs. Ali
declined to accept the office on those terms, declaring that in all cases if
there is no law, or decision of the prophet, he would rely upon his own
judgment.

The Caliphate was offered to Osman. In his life time he appointed one of his
kinsmen Muawiyah as the Governor of Syria. Osman was murdered and Ali
was elected caliphate. Defeated in several battles Muawiyah appealed for
arbitration. In the arbitration it was held that Ali and Muawiyah should be set
aside to heal the wounds which the differences of Ali and Muawiyah had
inflicted in the Muslim world. But one of the arbitrators confirmed Muawiyah
in his office. Ali was later killed while he was engaged in prayers in a mosque
in Kufa (see the details, Ameer Ali, p. 3-7 (1928).

This Shias who attach themselves to Ali deny the rightful succession of the
first three caliphs (Fyzee p. 39). The Shias do not admit the genuineness of
any tradition not received from the Ahl-I-Bait i.e. “The people of the house”
(of Mohammad) consisting of Ali and Fatima and their descendants. They
repudiate entirely the validity of all decisions not passed by their own spiritual
leaders and Imams (Ali, p. 7). According to Shias Imams are the final
interpreters of the law on earth. He is an Imam not by election but by divine
right, because he is descendant of the Prophet as Ali.
 The Prophet
Mohammad
(d. A.H. 10)

Ali (d. A.H. 41)

Hussain Hassan
(d. A.H. 61) (d. A.H. 50)

Ali Zaynal-Al-
Abedin (d.94)

Md. Ali Baqir

Zayd (d. 122)
(d. 113)

Jafar Al Sadiq
(d. 148)

Ismail Hussain Al-

Kazim
(Seveners of
Ismailies) (d. 183)

Ali Al Rida
(d. 202)

These are the 12

imams known as Md. Al-
Jawad/Taqi
Ithna Asharis or (d.220)
twelvers
Ali Al-Hadi/Naqi
(. 254)

Al-Hasan Al-
Aksari (d. 260)

Md. Ali Muntazai

(disappeared in
260)