Madh'hab

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A Madh'hab (مذهب) is a school of Islamic law or fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Within Sunni Islam there are four mainstream schools of thought, which are accepted by one another, and the Shi'ite school of fiqh which (according to a fatwa by Al-Azhar, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam)^[1] is also now accepted by some Sunnis as a legitimate fifth school of Islamic Law. The five major schools of Islamic law agree on many things, including the death sentence for apostates.^[2]

The various schools of Islamic law all developed as theologians and jurists debated among themselves more than a hundred years after Muhammad's death on how to identify and interpret what Muhammad had left behind by way of oral traditions. Additionally, adherence to a school of Islamic law appears to be more a matter of geography than conscience since, as followers of each school exist, for the most part, in certain geographical regions, often divided by country lines.

The nature of the schools of law

The schools of law differ primarily in the authentication and interpretive methodologies they employ to firstly determine which scriptures (hadiths, for the most part, since the Qur'an is considered authentic by consensus) are soundly attributable to Muhammad and to secondly determine how these scriptures should be understood and reconciled with one other in such a manner as to allow the derivation of legal rulings.

It should be noted that the schools of law are in themselves neither static nor homogeneous, as they have each developed and formalized a great deal since the times of their eponymous founders and consist internally of a diverse variety of opinions. As such, the schools of law are perhaps better characterized as enclosed arenas of debate wherein a common set of rules are followed. When it comes to inter-madh'hab debate, there is no common set of rules that is obliged beyond the thinly theological (such as the divinity of the Qur'an) and, as such, the topic of debate is frequently the rules themselves rather than the substantive rulings they give rise to.

Non-conformist Salafis

Starting in the early 19th century, Muhammad ibn abd al-Wahhab gave rise to what would become the modern day trend in Sunni Islamic thought known as Salafism. Salafism, almost necessarily wildly diverse internally, is the basic idea that the four classical schools of Islamic law have developed so cumbersome a set of legal methodologies that staying loyal to both the exact words of scripture and any respective madh'hab's interpretive methods is impossible. Lacking a strict method of interpretation, the Salafis look back to the practices of the early Muslims and Muhammad's companions to determine how scripture should be interpreted, and almost always prefer to just cite a hadith directly in response to a legal question rather than provide a systematically-derived, nuanced answer - though, since many hadith are in themselves unclear and apparently contradictory, this becomes a contentious and even impossible task, thus forcing either disagreement or a resort to some to a more rudimentary (and crucially less systematic or standardized) interpretive approach that brings about a reconciliation of the texts.

The five schools

The Hanafi madh'hab (Sunni)

The Hanafi madh'hab was founded by Imam Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man (d. 767) in Kufa, Iraq. The Hanafi madh'hab is adhered to in the Levant, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the largest part of Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, the Balkans, and by large parts of the Muslim populations of Russia and China. Large religious movements that exist within the Hanafi sphere are the Barelvi and Deobandi movements. Altogether, Hanafis form a plurality of Muslims world wide (roughly 30%).

The Hanafi madh'hab is descended from the Ahl al-Rai' (the so-called "partisans of reason") of Iraq from the early Muslim community, of which Abu Hanifah was a part. As such, the interpretive methodology of the Hanafis can be broadly described as favoring reasoning over an uncritical regurgitation of scripture. In more concrete terms, this means allowing reasoning by analogy (qiyas) on legal/moral matters where scriptures are absent (the other madh'habs would come to adopt this concept to some degree, but the Hanafis adopted it first and arguably employ it most liberally). Another manifestation of this general preference for reasoning over, say, resorting to relying on weakly authenticated scripture (as the Hanbalis generally do), is the legal principle of Istihsan, or juristic preference. Istihsan is the practice of favoring an epistemologically and methodologically weaker opinion simply for the sake of "public interest" or maslaha.

As with all the other madh'habs, the views of the Hanafis school changed over time, are internally diverse, and in many instances disagree today with the opinions of its founder, Abu Hanifah. The two most important transmitters of the Hanafi school are Abu Hanifah's top two students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.

The Maliki madh'hab (Sunni)

The Maliki madh'hab was founded by Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) in the city of Medina, located in the Hijaz.

The Shafi'i madh'hab (Sunni)

The Shafi'i madh'hab was founded by Imam ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 820), who, after being born in Gaza, would travel to Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Cairo, and Baghdad.

The Hanbali madh'hab (Sunni)

The Hanbali madh'hab was founded by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), who, after growing up in Baghdad, would travel throughout Iraq, Syria, and the Arabian peninsula.

The Ja'fari madh'hab (Shi'ite)

The Shi'ite Ja'fari madh'hab was founded by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765), the 6th Shi'ite imam, who born in Medina.

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