School of thought

Q Discuss the contribution of anyone of the following jurists towards the development of Islamic jurisprudence:

1. Imam abu hanifa b. Imam shafi  c. Imam malik

Q with reference to Islamic jurisprudence describe the various schools of thought.

Q write a comprehensive note on various school of Islamic law

Q Founders of different school of thoughts and their services in Islamic development.

Q define jurisprudence and discuss school of thoughts of jurisprudence.

Jurisprudence can be defined with reference to the modern jurisprudence and Islamic jurisprudence. The modern jurisprudence explain its meaning as given in dictionary where it has been said that the jurisprudence is the science of law but in islam the word jurisprudence has been translated into Arabic as fiqh which means ‘to understand’. Therefore the jurists or fiqah have tried to explain the word fiqah by saying that it means to understand the issues of Din e islam with the help of the holy quran and Sunnah of the holy prophet (SAW).

During the period of holy prophet all questions of issues could be easily decided by the holy prophet himself on the strength of wahi revealation or consultation. After the departure of holy prophet from this world the companions of the holy prophet known as sahaba used to consult each and every issue to understand its conceot.

The issue of captured land in Syria and Iraq during the period of Hazrat Umar (R.A) was decided after consultation because there was a dispute regarding interpretation in respect of lands, captured by the muslims. The dispute was this whether the captured land behanded over to their owner so that they should cultivate or the land should be distributed among the fighters as was done in the case or lands situated in Khyber. Hazrat Umar (R.A), Hazrat Usman (R.A) and Hazrat Ali (R.A) were of the view that the lands behanded over to their owners but Hazrat Bilal (R.A) opposed this suggestion. However the dispute was solve after consultation and discussion.

After the period of the companions of the holy prophet (P.B.U.H) the muslim acted on this principles but dispute started when different school of thoughts come into being such as HANFI, SHAFI, MALIKI, HANBALI, JAFER, and several others.

School of thought: there are generally five school of thoughts divided into sunni and shia schools which are referred in most of the books of fiqah such as:

Sunni school: The third period was marked by a theatrical and scientific study of the law and religion and It was during the reign of abbasides that the four sunni school of law were founded. The four sunni school are as under:

1. Mazhab-e-hanfi or fiqah hanfi
2. Mazhab-e-maliki or fiqah maliki
3. Mazhab-e-shafi or Fiqah shafi
4. Mazhab-e-Hanbali or Fiqah Hanbali

Shia school:

1. Mazhab-e- Jafri or Fiqah Jafri

It is notable that the word mazhab has not been used in the holy Quran or in the Sunnah of holy prophet (P.B.U.H). this word mazhab was adopted when the period of Taqlid started after Baghdad was destroyed by Halaku Khan in 1257/56 AD. The word mazhab can be explained with the help of two meanings. One meaning is of path to be adopted and followed, and the second meaning is religion.

Hanafi school of thought (Mazhab-e-hanafi): the founder of Hanafi school was Numan Ibn Thabit commonly known as Abu-Hanifa. He was born at kufah in the year A.H.80 and died in Baghdad in the year A.H.150, when he was born the umaiyadas were in power and died when abbasides were ruling.

He possessed remarkable powers of reasoning and deduction, which combined with the resources of a retentive memory and a clear understanding brought him rapid prominence as a master of jurisprudence.

Gifted as he was with exceptional talents, he very soon mastered the subjects he learned and was in a short time reckoned as an expert in the line of Fiqh(Jurisprudence). Hanafi school of thought, therefore, was subsequently recognized as the upholders of private judgments. Abu Hanifah compared to other Imams relied more on his power of reasoning. He was in favor of formulating independent views as he maintained that human beings are endowed with the faculty of mind which they have a right to use in arriving at legal conclusions. Since his school of thought emerged in Iraq, a place away from Madinah, the ancient seat of learning, complexities of life and new situations had influenced the learning of the scholars and this, to a large extent, is the reason, that the Hanafi school is popular as the upholder of private judgment as against the Shafe’i school of thought called, the upholder of Traditions or Ahl-e-Hadees.

• Qiyas or analogical deduction: he was the first to give prominence to the doctorine of qiyas or analogical deduction, though as a principle of law.
• Istehsan or juristic equity: he gave theory of law which modified in its application to actual facts calling it istehsan which bears in many points of remarkable resemblance to the doctorine of equity. a principle similar to Analogy, but not identifiable with it. Juristic Equity later became one of the recognized sources of Islamic Law.
• Ijma or consensus of opinion: Abu hanifa affirmed validity of ijma as a source of law. he extended the doctorine of ijma beyond what many of the contemporaries were willing to concede.
• Urf or usage: he recognised the authority of local custom and usage as the application of law. many decisions of law are based on usage or custom , so much so that it has been taken as a principle of law. Abu hanifa regarded it as a secondary source of law.
• Imam-e-Azam: Abu Hanifah, because of his exceptional achievements in the legal field was given the title of Imam-e-Aaazm(the greatest Imam).
• Disciples: Abu Hanifah left behind several disciples, some of whom subsequently became very popular. They were Abu Yousaf, Zafar bin Hazeel bin Qais, Muhammad bin Hassan bin Fuqahd Shibani and Hassan bin zaid Luloi. Two of them Abu Yousaf and Imam Muhammad were outstanding personalities.

Books: – Abu Hanifah wrote no books, but he lectured to and discussed juristic problems with a number of brilliant followers who tool it upon themselves to commit to writing and to implement the master’s views. He was the first to have introduced Fiqh as a science.

Maliki school of thought (Mazhab-e-Maliki): Imam Abu Abdullah Malik Ibn Anas was the founder of maliki school. The age of Abu-Hanifa was the age of jursits. He was born at Madina in 94.A.H. He lived in Madina and received his earliest impressions of islam from sahi Ibn Saad.

• Traditionalist: He was also known as a traditionalist. The moors of spains belonged to his school, which still counts numerous followers in northern Africa.
• Doctrine of public good : He introduced the doctrine of ” Public good” almost similar to that of Imam Abu Hanifah’s “juristic equity” (istehsan. He also added istidlal, yet another source of Islamic Law.
• He learned more about traditions and the usage of madina: he would added istidlal as a fifth source after four main sources of law, the Quran, the hadith, ijma and Qiyas. Istidlal is a principle of juristic deduction which according to his school doesn’t come within the scope of analogy.
• Laws formations: he embodied the laws laid down by the companions and their successors. He leaned more upon traditions and the usages of the prophet and the precedents established by his companions.
• Support the idea of amendments: he attached a prepondering weight to the usages and customs of madina relying on the presumption that they must have been transmitted from the time of the prophet.

Books: When Caliph Haroon Al Rasheed, the greatest man of the age, wrote asking Malik to come to Baghdad so that the Caliph’s sons might learn from him, Malik answered. “Knowledge does not ravel but is traveled to!”
It is stated that he declared a fatwah that forced conversion to Islam is undesirable, rather unislamic. The result was that the governor of Madinah at the time Ja’far bin Suleman, punished him with flogging. In his studentship he was taught jurisprudence by Rai Abdur rehman.
Disciples:
Amongst his disciples are Imam Muhammad bin Hasan Shaibani and Imam Shafe’i.

Shafi school of thought ( Mazhab-e-shafi): Muhammad Ibn Idris Ash-shafi I attained even greater eminence as a jurist. He was born in Palestine, being descended from Abdul-Mattalib, the grandfather of the prophet. He attended lectures on law and traditions.

• Importance to analogy: he was noted for his balance of judgement and moderation of views and though reckoned among the upholders of traditions, he examined the traditions more critically and made more use of analogy than Malik.
• Scope to Ijma: he allowed greater scope to ijma than Malik, Putting a more liberal and workable interpretation on the well known dictum of the prophet, My people will never agree in an error.

Books: He was the first to write a treatise on Usul or principles.

Hanbali school of law (Mazhab-e-hanbali): Abu Abdillah Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, known as Imam Hanbal founded the fourth and latest of the sunni schools of jurisprudence. He was born at Baghdad A.H.164 and studied under different masters. In law he adhered rigidly to the traditions

• Opinions on analogy: His interpreatation of them was literal and unbending, and according to some he allowed a very narrow margin to the doctorines of agreement and analogy.
• Court decisions: He was a man of great piety and uncompromising opinions, and was persecuted by the caliph Al-Mamun, because he adhered to his own views on certain points of divinity, and refused to conform to those that had found favour in court.

Books: A collection of 50,000 traditions was reported by Imam Hanbali known as Musnadul-imam Hanbal.

Jafari school of thought (Mazhab-e-Jafari ): is the school of jurisprudence of most Shia Muslims, derived from the name of Ja’far al-Sadiq, the 6th Shia Imam.

It differs from the four or sometimes Five Schools of Sunni jurisprudence in its reliance on ijtihad, as well as on matters of inheritance, religious taxes, commerce, personal status, and the allowing of temporary marriage or mutʿa.