Islamic Jurisprudence Assignment:

Sunni Schools of Law

Submitted by:
Priyamvada Yadav

B.A. LL.B. (H)

III Semester

Self-finance

Submitted to:
Dr. Ghulam Yazdani

Associate Professor

Faculty of Law

Jamia Millia Islamia University

New Delhi – 110025

 Introduction
Islam has two big sects since time immemorial, sunni and shia. Both the
sections drew their practice and faith from the Quran and the life of the
Prophet Muhammad and at the same time agree on most of the fundamentals
of Islam. But, the differences between the two sects resulted in the history of
divide between the two. The first and central difference emerged after the
death of Prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632. The issue was who would be caliph
(the deputy of God) in the absence of the prophet. The majority there chose
Abu Bakr, whereas one of the closest companions of the prophet, a minority
opted for his son-in-law and cousin – Ali. Subsequently, the ones who sided
with Abu Bakr came to be called Sunni (“those who follow the Sunna”) and
those who chose Ali came to be called as Shia (“partisans of Ali”). Later, Abu
Bakr became the first caliph and Ali became the fourth caliph. A minority
known as Ibadi, who are neither Sunni nor Shia, are prevalent in some parts of
Arabian sub-continent.

The Sunnis are the largest branch of the Muslim Community, at least 85% of
the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims. The name is derived from the Sunnah, the
exemplary behaviour of the Prophet Muhammad. All Muslims are guided by
the Sunnah, but Sunnis stress it, as well as consensus (ijma; the full name of
Sunnis is Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Ijma, people of the Sunnah and consensus).1

1
Sunni Islam, available at: http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2280 (Visited
on October 27, 2018)
Sunnis have always been guided by four schools of legal thought- Hanafi,
Maliki, Shafii, and Hanbali- each of which strives to develop practical
applications of revelation and the Prophet's example.

Although Sunni Islam comprises a variety of theological and legal schools,

attitudes, and outlooks conditioned by historical setting, locale, and culture,
Sunnis around the world share some common points: acceptance of the
legitimacy of the first four successors of Muhammad (Abu Bakr, Umar,
Uthman, and Ali), and the belief that other Islamic sects have introduced
innovations (bidah), departing from majority belief.

Sunni Islamic institutions developed out of struggles in early Islam over

leadership of the Muslim community. Political and religious positions,
articulated by scholars, arose out of disputes over the definition of “true”
belief, the status of those who profess Islam but commit a great sin, freedom,
and determinism. Sunnis tend to reject excessive rationalism or
intellectualism, focusing instead on the spirit and intent of the Quran.

Reform movements within Sunni Islam began to appear during the eighteenth
century in the works of scholars seeking to revive the dynamism of Islamic
thought and life in order to meet the demands of the modern world. These
movements gained momentum with the imposition of European colonial
control throughout the Muslim world. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries
witnessed the revival of Quranic studies as well as renewed commitment to
science and education as the path to independence and development within the
context of Islamic values and identity. Sunni thought of the eighteenth through
twentieth centuries has also re-examined traditional Islamic law. Many
modern reformers believe that fiqh (jurisprudence), as a human interpretation
of divine law, should be open to reinterpretation in accordance with present
circumstances and community needs. Almost all twentieth-century Muslim
countries are debating the role of Islamic law and civil codes in modern
society and the implications for constitutional law and the organization of the
state. Many Islamic thinkers reject the notion that Islam requires a particular
form of state and government, looking instead to Quranic principles such as
shura (consultation) for guidance. Some believe that religion and the state are
intended to be separate entities, while others, such as the Muslim Brotherhood
and Jamaat-i Islami, believe that an Islamic state is necessary to the
development of an Islamic social order. Many thinkers have studied in the
West and are open to dialogue with the West and commitment to a common
struggle for the causes of humanity. They have examined the impact of
European imperialism, Western neo-colonialism, exploitation by socialist-bloc
countries, the Cold War, the displacement of Palestinians, the lack of
democracy in the Muslim world, and other crisis factors. Most Muslim
thinkers today stress the importance of justice, especially social justice, in
Islam. A Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights has been
propounded, next to that of the United Nations. Increasing attention is also
being given to subjects such as women and gender, the family, religious
freedom, pluralism, the status of minorities, and religious tolerance. Islam is
increasingly emphasized as a total way of life, encompassing both religious
and worldly issues. Human beings are seen as God's stewards on earth, and
the Muslim community is intended to reflect God's will. In this view,
secularism is often rejected as being antithetical to religious values. Instead,
Islam is presented as perfectly suited for human society, individually and
collectively.
Sunni Schools of Law

The four sunni schools of law derive their base from the Quran and the
Sunnah as the primary sources, and ijma (consensus of opinion) and qiyas
(analogical deduction) as the secondary sources. Differences of opinion
among the people sometimes caused conflicting judgments. For example, it is
the law according to Quran and Sunna that a wife is entitled to maintenance
from her husband. But whether a decree can be passed for recovery of past
maintenance, the Hanafi School says that it is wrong to decree past
maintenance which is lapsed by not claiming in time. But according to Shafii
School, a wife is entitled to recover past maintenance as dues from husband
and his property. Both schools have their own reasons and arguments for their
opinion.

The four important schools of law are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali.

1. Hanafi School

Although the foundation of fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence was laid down in the
epoch making period of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), the systematic work of
codification of Islamic law was only commenced by Imam Abu Hanifa in the
2nd century of Islamic era of Kufa, the famous city of learning. The city of
Kufa was founded by the order of the 2nd Caliph Hazrat Umar. He appointed
Abdullah Ibn Masud as Deputy, Instructor and Mufti of the city. He lived in
Kufa for ten years and gave important discourses in law and religion.
Caliph Ali, who was himself a great jurist and a scholar of holy Quran made
Kufa his capital in 35 A.H. About 1500 companions of the Prophet took
permanent settlement in Kufa. In this way Kufa grew as a seat of learning
under the above patronage and guidance of Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam and
Abdullah Ibn Masud.2

The legal learning from Hazrat Ali and Ibn Masud reached to Alqamah
Aswad, Shuriah and Shabi, the Tabin and pupils of aforesaid companions of
the Prophet. After these scholars their disciples Ibrahim Nakhai, Shabi Hasan
Basri and others also studied law on the same line and from these scholars
Islamic learning reached to Hammad Abi Sulaiman, who further developed
Islamic legal learning. He was teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa, the founder of
the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. The legal learning from Hammad
reached to Abu Hanifa, whose opinions were collected and preserved in
writing by his disciples and companions Abu Yusuf and Imam Mohammed.
From here the legal learning in Kufa entered into the glorious period of
Islamic jurisprudence. From Kufa this school spread throughout Arabia and
other countries of the world. Today majority of the Muslim population is
following this school.

Salient Features:

The expansion of Islam beyond the borders of Arabia, the foundation and
organisation of the Caliphate, the extension of Islamic State and accession of
new lands into it, resulted into contract of different cultures and races. The
simple Islamic society had to face various political, social and legal problems.
It was Imam Abu Hanifa, who felt the need of time and with a sacred goal to
preserve the divine law of Islam as ordained by God in Quran in the light of
the precepts of the Prophet (PBUH), he started systematic study of Islamic

2
Khan, Mohammad Hameedullah, The Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence, p.59
jurisprudence and began the codification of Islamic law. In this work he was
assisted by his learned disciples like Imam Abu Yusuf, Zafar Imam
Muhammad, who were experts in various disciplines.

The Hanafi Madhhab draws a clear distinction between the fard and wajib.
Although majority of the jurists consider the two as synonymous to each
other, followers of the Hanafi school of thought must regard them otherwise.
This is because in the Hanafi Madhhab, Fard is communicated by a clear
definite text with no ambiguity or speculation while Wajib is written by a
speculative text. As a consequence, the obligation emanating from a fard is of
a far greater degree than that from an obligation emanating from a wajib. The
omission of a fard invalidates the act, such as the unanimous view of the
jurists that the omission of the stay at Arafa, which is a fard act, renders one’s
hajj null and void. Whilst the omission of sa`i (pacing) between al-Saffa and
al-Marwa, which is communicated by a speculative authority will not
invalidate the hajj. Another distinction is that one who refuses to believe in a
fard such as salah orzakah is rendered an unbeliever. However, the denial of
believing in an obligation established by a speculative authority will not make
one an unbeliever.

2. Maliki School

This school derived it name from Malik–bin- Anas who was the Mufthi of
Madeena. His period was from AD 713 to 795 (Hijra 179). Originally
referred to as the School of Hejaz or the School of Medina. Predominant in
North Africa and significantly present in Upper Egypt, Sudan, Bahrain,
United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. Characterized by strong emphasis on
hadith; many doctrines are attributed to early Muslims such as Muhammad 's
wives, relatives, and Companions. A distinguishing feature of the Maliki
school is its reliance on the practice of the Companions in Medina as a source
of law. Additionally, Malik was known to have used ray (personal opinion)
and qiyas (analogy).

During the eighth century, the capital of Muslim Khaleefa was at Koofa where
Imam Abu Hanifa and his disciples flourished with Hanafi School. When the
disciples of Imam of Abu Haneefa codified their law based on Ijma’a and
lsthihsan, Imam Malik at Madeena, the city of the Prophet codified Sunna and
Hadis on the permission given by Khaleefa Umer-bin Abul Aziz. Imam Malik
collected about 8000 traditions of the Prophet. He testified and compiled only
about 2000 out of these traditions. He codified it in subject wise in his Book
Mu-atha which was the first and most authoritative book of Hadis.3

When Hanafi School gave importance to Ijma’a of the people and lsthihsan
(Juristic preference) the Maliki School was giving importance to Sunna and
Hadis. Maliki law is based on Sunna. They accept Ijma’a only in rare cases
and they will accept Ijma’a of the scholars of Madeena alone. As he gave
Fatwa challenging the sovereign authority of Khaleefa, he faced enmity and of
lack of support from Muslim governments. Thus, this school did not get much
popularity and now they predominate only in North and West Africa.

Though there are no followers of Maliki School in India, when Dissolution of

Muslim Marriages Act 1939 was enacted, some provisions for it were taken
from Maliki law because it was giving more rights and freedom for women in
the law marriage and divorce. In Hanafi law, a woman has to wait seven years
to dissolve her marriage if whereabouts of husband is not known. But the
period is only two years in Maliki law thus in Dissolution of Muslim Marriage
Act, this Maliki Provision accepted as the law.

3
Maliki School, http://www.islmawareness.net/Madhab/Maliki/maliki.html(Visited on 10th November
2018).
The most authoritative Book on Maliki School is Mu-atha of Imam Malik
which is the first book on Hadis in Islam. Thus, it is accepted as authority by
the whole Muslim world. I have seldom quoted from Mu-watha in this work.

3. Shafii School

This school is known in the name of Muhammad bin Idris Shafii whose period
was from AD 767 to 820. He was a student of Imam Malik at Madeena and
later he went to Koofa and worked with the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa.

His conceived the idea of harmonizing the two schools Hanafi and Maliki on a
friendly manner. Imam Shafii is considered as the greatest jurist of Islam. He
is the creator of the classical theory of Islamic Jurisprudence.

Shafii established Ijma‘a as an important source of Muslim law and gave

validity to custom of the people of Islam following more to the method of
Hanafi school. Quiyas or analogy is the contribution of Imam Shafii to
Muslim law.

Prominent in Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan with a significant number of

followers in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Hejaz, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia and
among Sunnis in Iran and Yemen. Official school for Ayyubid dynasty in
Egypt, and prominent during the Mamluk regime that followed. Displaced by
the Hanafi school there when the Ottomans occupied Egypt in 1517.
Combined knowledge of fiqh as practiced in Iraq with that of Hejaz.
Considers hadith superior to customary doctrines of earlier schools in
formulation of Islamic law. Denies preference (istishan) as source of law.
The only authoritative book of Islamic jurisprudence is Al-Risala of Imam
Shafii. He discussed the science of Islamic law and interpretation such as
Ijma’a (Consensus), Quiyas (Analogy), Ijthihad (Personal reasoning) Isthihsan
(Juristic preference) and Ikhthilaf (Disagreement) in separate chapter in his
book Risala. His other book Al-Umm is the authority on Fiqh (science of way
of life).4

Minhaj–al–Talibin of Imam Navavi is the authority on Shafii law. I have used

these two books, Al-Risala and Minhaj–al-Talibin in compilation of this work.

There are followers of Shafii School in Egypt, Southern Arabia, South East
Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Muslims of Malabar (west coast of Indian
peninsula) are followers of Shafii School.

4. Hanbali School

This is the last formed school of Sunni Muslim law. Ahmad bin Hanbal died
in Hijra 241 (A D 855) was the founder of this school. He was a disciple of
Imam Shafii and strong supporter of Hadis. He opposed the method of
Ijthihad (personal reasoning) explained by Imam Shafii. And instead he
formed a theory of tracing root (usool) of Sunna or Hadis to get the answer.
His theory was to return to the Sunna of the Prophet. So, he collected about
80,000 Hadis and codified them in his Book ‘Musnath’. It is said that when
Imamm Shafii left Baghdad, he declared that he had not left behind him a
better jurist and pious man than Ahmad bin Hanbal. The followers of Hanbali
school found in Syria, Phalastine and Saudi Arabia. When religious reforms

4
Aqil Ahmad, Textbook of Mohammedan Law (24th ed. ,Central Law Agency, 2012).
were made in Saudi Arabia in 18th century on the inspiration of Abdul
Wahab, they accepted Hanbali school and now in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
(Mamlukiyathu ssuoodi al Arabiyya) where two Harams, Makka and Madeena
situate, they are generally following Hanbali school of law.

The Hanbali 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, Hanbali 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.

Although the Muslims generally apply the Islamic law according to the
principles and details laid down by the four ancient jurists, legal situations
keep arising from time to time for which there are no clear answers in these
early schools of law. To cope with this changing aspect of Islamic society,
particularly in the light of new facts, specialists in the field of Islamic law are
asked to give their decisions using the traditional tools of legal science. Such a
decision is called a fatwa and the religious scholar who gives this decision is
called a mufti.
Significance of the Sunni
Schools of Law

The process of sunni schools of law proceeded from personal legal opinion
(fatwa), arrived at through personal reasoning (ijtihad), and from there to
disagreement (khilaf), and eventually to consensus (ijma), through the
instrumentality of the disputation (munazara). This process is amply
documented in the history of Muslim education. 5It is a process that cuts
across the schools of law (madhahib), involving individual jurisconsults of
any and all Sunni schools. It worked this way at the very beginning, in the
first Islamic century, when there were no recognizable schools of law; it
worked this way in the following century when the schools emerged
designated geographically; it continued to work this way when they became
personal schools, and later still when the personal schools proliferated so that
their number was said to have multiplied into the hundreds; and the process
remained the same when the Sunni schools finally dwindled to four.

In short, the process was same before the advent of the schools of law as we
know them, and it remained the same afterward throughout their development.
The reason for this is that the process involved, not the schools as such, but
rather the individual jurisconsult.

5
George Makdisi, The Significance of the Sunni Schools Of Law in Islamic Religious History, Volume 10.
Conclusion
The religion of Islam remains as one. The practices of a Muslim believer is
based on whatever Allah the Almighty has given to us, completed onto the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the form of the Quran and the
Hadith. The following hadith says thus: Verily We: it is We, who have sent
down the Dhikr and surely, we will guard it from corruption (Al-Hijr 9).
Hence, the religion of Islam is intact and obviously the Quran and the Hadith
must be the only form of the faith that we must follow. The death of the
Prophet (peace be upon him) left a legacy of a new wave of the Islamic
Ummah, faced with unprecedented issues and new dilemmas that require the
right judgement and proper solutions. Hence, many brilliant scholars must use
their rational power and reasonable judgement to derive possible solutions
from the Quran and the Sunnah itself (Ibrahim IS, 2008). Each of the scholars
who have found the four most important Sunni Madhhaheb has not added
anything to the religion of Islam. Neither do they claim to be followed. The
schools they have established was a result of their pursuit of knowledge in
relation to their faith in Islam. Hence, this explains the differences among the
school of thoughts. Each great scholar has learned the Quran properly, and
this provided them with the intelligence necessary in understanding the
Islamic faith. However, what defined each scholar from another is their
methods of deducing and constructing new bases and verdicts from their
knowledge and understanding of the Hadith.

This concludes that each of the Islamic school of thoughts have existed only
for the benefit of the Islamic Ummah. Their difference in deeds, ethics and
character, if in contradiction to the Quran and the Sunnah, must be rejected
because as stated in the Quran:
‘For you the best ideal is Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Therefore, the path
that can lead a Muslim to paradise is the one which is prescribed and adopted
by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) himself and his companions. One who will
adopt that way would get salvation otherwise shall be doomed and death
(Halakat) would be his fate.’