Madhhab in Islamic law and the dissemination of Sunni’s legal text

Authors

  • Muhammad Junaid Sharif Virtual University of Pakistan
  • Muhammad Ijaz Sheikh Zayed Islamic Center, University of the Punjab

Abstract

The study aims to discuss the usage of the term “Madhhab” by the classical jurists to specify the opinions of a school of thought as well as the individual opinion in a specific case. The interpretation of the divine sources of Shariah the Quran and the Sunnah by the early jurists result towards the emergence of various schools of law. The emergence of two distinct schools ashab al-ray and ashab al-hadith during the 2nd century Hijri was the outcome of different approaches adopted by the classical jurists while interpreting the Quran and the Sunnah. The paper aims to discuss that during the life time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) no school of thought was emerged in Islam. After the sad demise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in early period there were a number of personal schools out of these only four Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi’iis and Hanbalis could survive under the umbrella of Sunni schools of law. This paper intends to argue the use of reasoning in the development of fiqh doctrine caused the formation of rationalist schools (ashab al-ray). The teaching circles of early jurists in different cities of Islamic empire like Kufa, Basrah, Baghdad, Madinah and Damascus resulted towards the formation of personal schools later disseminated by their devoted pupils and the progression of legal text.

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Published

2014-07-26