Aligarh Muslim University

Malappuram Campus,
Kerala.
Session 2019-20

GCT- I

On
Mohammedan Law

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Akshun Agrawal Ms. Naseema P K

Roll NO -18BALLB60 Assistant Professor

Enroll No - GL0743 AMU Malapuram Centre

IVth Semester Department Of Law

Submitted On- 08th May 2020 …………………………
(Signature)
 GCT- I
Q. Elaborate the different School of Muslims Law in the light of the
Sects of the each School namely Shia & Sunni Schools of the
Mohammedan Law.

Ans.
Introduction –
Islam is pre-eminently, democratic and republic one, and the peoples
religion par excellence. Though great freedom of opinion is allowed, but it should be
noted that in Islam all institutions like political, legal and social etc. are guided by divine
law and their freedom is within the bounds of Allah‟s Commands.
The basis on which all Schools of Islamic jurisprudence developed their doctrines is
the same and it only in matters of secondary nature, they differ each other. These
differences are due to their various methods of interpretation of the Holy Quran and the
Sunna, the fundamental sources of Islamic law. All Schools accepted the superiority of
these fundamental sources and based their system on them and with their own way of
understanding and interpreting them. Thus, they are the stream of one ocean that is Sharia
and their aim is to guide the people towards understanding of Islam and in following the
right path and thereby to obey Allah‟s Commands in which lies his, the welfare of
individual, as well as the society in general.

Schools under Muslim Law

In Islam, the people have been divided into two sects having different views regarding
certain aspects of Islam. Thus, the schools of Muslim law can be broadly classified into
two categories:
1. Sunni Schools
2. Shia Schools
 1. Sunni Schools
In Sunni sect, there are four major schools of Muslim law which are as follows;

 Hanafi School or Kufah School

Imam Abu Hanifa was the founder of Hanafi School (80 A.H. to 150 A.H). Abu
Hanifa an-Numan-ibn-Thabit, commonly known as Imam Abu Hanifa, the founder of
most important of the Sunni Sects was born in the year 80 A.H. at Kufa. He first studied
scholaristic divinity, but soon abandoned it in favour of jurisprudence. He got an
opportunity to meet Anas, a famous companion of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), at the
age of 12 or 13 years and attended the lectures of Imam Jaffar as Sadiq. He joined the
institution of Imam Hammad, he heard Hadidths, it is an admitted fact that he learnt
Hadith from as many Scholars as possible, as he considered that it is not possible to study
fiqh without the study of Hadith.
He was an independent, well off man, who made his living as a merchant having a
business of clothes. He performed Hajj several times.
After the death of his teacher, Hammad in 120 A.H., he succeeded him and started
giving discourses in fiqh and other persons who were desirous to learn fiqh from him. His
public lectures in Kufa soon gave him fame as a great jurist and his utterances gained great
weight, people flocked daily to hear him and to question him on the rituals and law.
Abu-Hanifa was a pious and honest man, with independent character. He never
accepted any post in the Government and became victim of Ummayad rulers as well as
Abbasid.
In the year 132 A.H. he constituted a committee of 40 members for the codification
of Islamic law and this committee took 22 years to complete its work. He studied 5 lakh
legal problems, thus, compiled is known as Kutub Abu Hanifa. After completion of
codification he delivered a speech before his disciples and other eminent persons who
were present at that time in the Jama Masjid of Kufa. He said, “I have completed the work
of codification of Islamic legal principles and now Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh) has
achieved such eminence that further generations will consult its principles to solve their
legal issues”. “I am handing over the vehicle of fiqh well-adorned for its just and proper
utilization”. He added, “ I feel pleasure to declare that my disciples are so well versed and
expert in the field of Islamic Jurisprudence that among them 40 persons are fully qualified
for the post of Qadi (Judge) and 10 among these 40 are able to train people for the post of
Qadi (Judge). He further instructed, “if anybody among you will accept the post of Qadi,
he must decide cases impartially and without bias”.
Towards the end of Ummayad Caliphate, Ibn Hubaira, the governor of Iraq, offered
Abu-Hanifa the post of Kazi, but he declined it and for his act of refusal was flogged by
the Governor. During Abbaside dynasty, Al-Mansur put him behind the bars ostensibly for
the same reason, and he died in the year 150 A.H. He was held in such high esteem that
his funeral prayers were offered for ten days and on each occasion about 50,000 people
attended the congregation.
Among all the Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence his school got so much popularity
that majority of the population of the Muslim World at present is following the Hanafi
School.
Main features of this School:
(a) Less reliance on tradition unless their authority is beyond oubt. (Abu
Hanifa was stricter than others in lifting the traditions.)
(b) Greater reliance on Qiyas;
(c) A little extension of the scope of Ijma. (Abu Hanifa advocated the validity
of Ijma in every age, though in theory it was strictly confined to companions of
prophet.
(d) Recognizing the authority of Local custom and usages as guiding the
application of law. (e) Evolving the doctrine of Istihsan. (It means the modification
of theory of law in its application to actual fact)

 The Maliki School (Madina School)

Imam Malik ibn Anas (93 A.H.–179 A.H.). Imam Malik ibn Anas was born at
Madina in the year 93 A.H. His full name was Abu Abd Allah Malik ibn Anas. Madina is
the sacred city of Islam, where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) spent later part of his life and
established Islamic State. From this holy city the teaching of Islam spread through out the
world. Maliki School of Islamic Jurisprudence, which is also known as Madani School,
commenced its life from the city of learning.
Imam Malik was not only a great traditionalist but also a jurist who founded a
school of jurisprudence. He is fortunate enough to have been born in the city of prophet
(PBUH), got education there, gave discourses in law and religion in the Mosque of
prophet (PBUH) (Masjid-e-Nabavi), people from nooks and corners of this world used to
come to learn from him and he never left Madina and spent his whole life for the cause of
Islamic learning there.
Imam Malik started giving discourses in fiqh and Hadith when he got permission from his
Shuyukh of Haidth and Jurisprudence. He himself said “I did not start give discourses in
law and religion unless and until I was declared eligible for that by 70 teachers of Hadith
and jurisprudence.”
He devoted his whole life for the study of Jurisprudence and Hadith. He used to give his
discourses in the mosque of Prophet (PBUH). (Masjid-e-Nabavi). Scholars and people
gathered around him to learn fiqh and Hadith and to get solutions to legal problems. He
was scrupulously careful in giving Judgement, and whenever
he had least doubt as to the correctness of his decision, he would say “I do not
known”. His book, the Muwatta, though a comparatively small collection of
Hadith, and limited only to Hadith and practices of people of Madina, is a great work of its
kind, and one of the most authoritative.
He was also a pious man with an independent character and never bowed before
political authorities and gave decisions before bias. He spent 50 years of his life in the
study of Jurisprudence and Hadith and died at the age of 85 in the year 179 Islamic era and
was buried in al-Baki. After his death his disciples continued to work on the same line and
spread the doctrine of the school in many countries of the world.
Imam Maliki‟s greatest contribution is his book Muwatta. Regarding the importance
of this book, Imam Shafi remarked, “Beneath the sky, on the earth, no book after Holy
Quran is most authentic than Muwatta-e-Imam Malik”. Such is the importance and
eminence of the contribution of Imam Malik.
He is regarded as the greatest exponent of the traditions and one of the greatest
authority on the Hadith. He was a born jurist and a traditionalist of a very high order.
Imam Malik is the author of Al-Muwatta, containing about 300 traditions. This book
is connecting line between fiqh literature of earlier days and collection of Hadith in later
times.
Main features:
1. Acceptance of traditions, which in the opinion of Imam Malik, were
authentic, even if tradition carried authority of only one narrator.
2. Acceptance of practices, usages customs of the people of Madina and
of the saying of companions of prophet (PBUH).
3. Resource to Qiyas (Analogy), only in the absence of explicit of test.
4. Recognition of Principle of public welfare (Al-masalih al- mursalah)
as basis of deduction.
5. Adding to the four main sources of Muslim Law, one more source
viz.,Istidial i.e., principle of logical deduction.

 Shafi’s School

Imam Muhammad ibn Idris Ash-Shafi (150 A.H. – 204 A.H.)Imam Abu Abd Allah
Muhammad ibn Idris Ash Shafi, the founder of Shafi School of Islamic Jurisprudence was
born in 150 A.H. in Ghazza (Palestine). He belonged to the tribe of Quraish, he was a
Hashmi and thus, remotely connected with the Prophet (PBUH). His mother was Ummal
Hassan Binte-Hamza ibn al Qasim ibn Yazid ibn Imam Hussain. Thus, he related to
Prophet from both paternal as well as Maternal side. His father died when he was only two
years old and was brought up in very humble circumstances in the sacred city of Mecca. In
Mecca he studied Hadith and fiqh with Muslim ibn Khalid Zindji (died 180 A.H.) and
sufyan ibn aina(died 198 A.H.). He memorized Holy Quran and Muwatta at the age of ten
years and when he was about 20 years he went to Madina to Malik Ibn Anas, studied fiqh
under him and remained there till his master‟s death in 179 A.H. He developed a school of
Jurisprudence influenced by both Hanafi and Maliki fiqh and wrote many books, it was
called Madhab-e-Qadeem of Imam Shafi‟s (old School of Jurisprudence). In this way he
got mastery in Hanafi Jurisprudence as well as Maliki. He went to Egypt. There he
attached himself to Abd Allah, son of newly appointed governor of Egypt. As a result of
disturbances there, he left Egypt and went to Mecca from where he returned in 200 A.H. to
Egypt and remained there till his death in 204 A. H. His legal thinking got slight
modification in Egyptian environment and there he wrote many books. This was called his
new School for Islamic Jurisprudence or „Madhab Jadeed‟ of Imam Shafi‟s and he died on
the last day of Rajab 204 A.H.
Imam Shafi is regarded as one of the greatest Jurist in the history of Islamic
Jurisprudence. Modern Critics place Imam Shafi very high as a Jurist. He is the creator of
classical theory of Islamic Jurisprudence and is regarded as founder of the Science of
Unusual. He examined traditions critically and more use of Qiyas than Imam Malik and he
perfected doctrine of Ijma.
Shafi was also a pupil of Imam Mohammad who was one of the disciples of Abu
Hanifa. He inherited the knowledge of traditions from his master Imam Malik. He also got
the legacy of talents and discretion from his other master Imam Mohammad, with the
result that his School had the tint and influence of Hanafi School as well as Maliki School.
Not only did he work through the legal material available but in his Risala he also
investigated the principles and methods of Jurisprudence.
He was first to compile sources of law. He writes in a systematic way on the origins
of Jurisprudence in his famous treatise al-Risala. Al-umm is another work of Shafi,
containting seven volumes and was compiled by his pupil al-Rabi ibn Sulayman. Iktilaf-al-
Hadith and Musanad-al-Imam Shafi are other works of Imam Shafi. His most famous
pupil was Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

Main features:
(a) Acceptance of four sources of law; the Quran, the Sunnah; the Ijma and the
Qiyas.
(b) Acceptance of Istidial as fifth source of law;
(c) Non-Acceptance of Ishithsan of Hanafi School and al Malihal-mursalah of
Maliki School.

 The Hanbali School

Imam Abu Abdullah Ahmed ibn Muhammad Hanbal ibn Hilal (164 A.H.–241A.H.):
Imam Abu Abdullah Ahmed ibn Muhamad Hanbal, commonly known as ibn Hanbali was
the founder of the Hanbali School of Islamic Jurisprudence. Ibn Hanbal was born at
Bagdad on Rabi 1-164 A.H. He Studied under different masters and made extensive
travels to learn Hadith and Fiqh. In his early age he studied Fiqh under Imam Abu Yousuf
and heard Hadith from Hisham and Sufyam ibn Aina and other traditionalists. His
inclination of mind was towards the study of Hadith, therefore he made a very extensive
study of Hadith and went to Mecca and Yemen etc. to hear Hadith from the traditionalists
of those centers. After he had returned home, he took lessons from Imam Shafi in fiqh.
The frame of his learning, piety and Justice gathered a host of disciples and admires
around him. In fact he was more a traditionalist than a jurist. He died at Baghdad on the
12th of Rabi 241 A.H. It is true that Imam Ahmed Hanbal was undoubtedly more
traditionalists than a jurist. But it is wrong to say that he had not contributed towards the
development of Islamic Jurisprudence. Imam ibn Hanabal‟s method of formulating legal
principles was simple. He sought his answers of legal questions from Holy Quran and next
source was Hadith. But he learned more towards the Hadiths.
Imam ibn Hanabal was more traditionalists than a jurist and made use of this source
(traditions) extensively. His interpretation of Hadith was literal and unbending. He leaned
so much on Hadith that it is said that he accepted weak Hadith and did not adhere to the
strict principle of scrutinizing the transmission of Hadith. Imam Hanabal‟s collection of
traditions known as Musnad Ahmed, which contains nearly thirty thousand Hadiths, does
not apply strict rules of criticism. From the very nature of exertion of Hadith it is evident
that he made very little reasoning, as he was dependent almost entirely on Hadith, the
result was that he admitted even the weakest Hadith.
Imam Hanbal was the author of several treatises, among these the important ones
are: Musnad al-Iman Hanbal (It contains a collection of 5000 traditions); Taat-ur- Rusul
and Kitab-ul-Alal.
His pupils included Ismail al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn Daub.

Main Features:

The adherents of Hanabali School recognize five main sources:

(a) The Quran;
(b) The Sunnah;
(c) The Ijma of the companions of Prophet, if there is nothing to contradict
them, and sayings of some of the companions when these are consistent with the
Quran and the Sunnah;
(d) „Zaief‟ and „Mursal‟ traditions (traditions having a weak chair of
transmission and lacking in the name of some of the transmitters); and
(e) Qiyas whenever it is necessary.
 2. Shia Schools

As per Shia Sect, there are three schools of law. Shia Sect is considered as the
minority in the Muslim world. They enjoy the political power only in Iran though they
don‟t have the majority in that state also.

A. Ithna-Asharis

These schools are based on the following of Ithna-Ashari laws. The followers of
these schools are mostly found in Iraq and Iran. In India also there is the majority of the
shia muslim who follows the principles of the Ithna-Asharis School. They are considered
political quietists. This school is considered as the most dominant school of the shia
muslims. the ja‟fari fiqh of the shias in most cases indistinguishable from one or more of
the four sunni madhahib, except mutah is considered as the lawful marriage. The people
who follow the Ithna Asharis school believe that the last of the Imams disappeared and to
be returning as Mehdi(Messiah).

B. The Ismailis

According to Ismailis school, in India there are two groups, the Khojas or Western
Ismailis represents the followers of the present Aga Khan, who they considered as the 49th
Imam in this line of Prophet, and the Bohoras i.e. the Western Ismailis are divided into
Daudis and Sulaymanis.

The Bohoras and Khojas of Mumbai are considered as the followers of this school.
It is considered that the follower of these schools has special knowledge of religious
doctrine.

C. Zaidy

The followers of this school are not found in India but are maximum in number in South
Arabia. This sect. of the shia school is the most dominant among all in Yemen. The
followers of these schools are considered as political activism. They often reject the
twelver shia school philosophies.
Other schools

Besides the schools under Shia and Sunni sects, there are some other schools which
are also present which are:

 Ibadi School

Ibadi is a school which belongs neither to the Shia nor Sunni sect and this school claim
that its history traces back to the times of 4th Khaleefa Ali. The Ibadi school gives more
preference to the Quran and they do not give the Sunna much importance. This school has
its followers in Oman. One of the most important points about this school is that besides
the Quran, it has provided principal consideration to Ijtihad (personal reasoning) which
has been partially accepted by the Sunnis and has been completely rejected by the Shias.

 Ahmadiya School

The followers of Ahmadiya school claim to be Muslims but they do not follow Prophet
Muhammed. This school has a recent origin and they are followers of one Ahmed who
was alive in the 19th century.

This school is said to have a British-Indian origin and Mirza Ghulam Khadiani is the
founder of this school, who served the British Government. Even though this school
claims to be a follower of Islam, none of the Muslim Government has accepted them as
Muslims because they believe this school‟s faith is completely against the faith of
Muslims.

The Khadiyan village which is situated in Punjab in India is said to be the birthplace of
Ahmed and thus it is their holy place and the followers are also known as Kadhiyani.
There is no authoritative book of this school and because its origin is also recent, it has no
recognition by the other authoritative books of Islam.

There are many differences between the Ahmadiya School and Muslims therefore, they
are not regarded as part of Islam. The major points of difference between them are as
follows:

1. The Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad was the Messenger of God on Earth
and he was the last Prophet who had spoken with God. Thus, his teachings are an
important part of the lives of Muslims but the Ahmadiyas believe that God still
communicates with his holy servants even after Prophet Mohammad.
2. The Ahmadiyans claim that the list of Prophets before Mohammad includes Buddha,
Krishna, Zoroaster and Ramchandra and they claim it is according to the Quran but
 the non-Ahmadiyans do not accept such claims and refuse to acknowledge them as
Prophets.
3. Unlike the Muslims, the Ahmadiyans do not accept the claim of the Sultan of
Turkey as the Caliphate and they claim that every Muslim person should remain
loyal to the Government of their country.
4. While Muslims believe that Mahdi will have a holy war or Jihad and Islam will be
spread by the sword, the Ahmadiyas believe that it will be spread by arguments and
heavenly signs and not through violence.

Conclusion
Muslim law is governed by the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Mohammad. There
have been many different schools which follow their own interpretations of these
teachings on points on which the Quran is silent. While the major schools of Muslims can
be divided under the two sects of Shia schools and Sunni schools, even the schools under
these sects have been further divided into various schools.

Each school has its own beliefs and practices and because is no set rule regarding the
matters on which the Quran is silent, one school cannot be said to be better positioned than
the other schools and thus even though there are many schools in Muslim law, they all
lead to one path. Thus, the teachings of these schools can be compared to different paths
which all lead to the same destination.