After the death of the Prophet in 632, his followers subsequently built an empire that would stretch from Central Asia to Spain less than a century after his death. But a debate over succession split the community, with some arguing that leadership should be awarded to qualified individuals and others insisting that the only legitimate ruler must come through Mohammed’s bloodline. At the time of the death of the Prophet, there was a quarrel between the two groups for imamate (the temporal leadership of the religion). One group advocated the principle of the election in choosing the Imam. This group is known as “Sunni”. The adherents to the Sunni doctrine are called Sunni. While, the other group opposed the principle of the election in choosing the Imam and proclaimed that Ali is the successor of the ‘Prophet’. They firmly believe that imamat must be devolved upon the successors of the prophet, i.e. (i) Ali, the son in law; and (ii) Fatima, the daughter of Prophet. This group is known as “Shia”. Thus, there are two main schools of Muslim Law: a) Sunni school and b) Shia school. In this article, we are studying different schools of Muslim Law. The overall classification of schools of Muslim Law are as follows:
Sub-Schools of Sunni School of Law:
The Sunnis base their doctrine on the entirely of the traditions and regard the concordant decisions of the successive Imams and the general body of jurists as supplementing the Koranic rules and as equal in authority to them. There are four important sub-schools of law among Sunni. They are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafei and Hanbali.
a) Hanafi School of Muslim Law:
It is the first and most popular and largest school of Law among Muslims. Imam Abu Hanifa (A.H. 80 – 150) founded this school. He was native of Koofa city; hence this school is also known as Koofa school. The majority of Sunnis in India are the follower of this school. It prevails in Northern India, Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Egypt.
The Prophet himself prohibited writing and preserving of his words and traditions. There were some questions where the Quran does not provide explicit commands. The doctrine of hadith was not developed at that time. Hence Hanifa relied mostly on ‘qiyas’ (analogical deductions). Two disciples of Imam of Abu Hanifa named Abu Yunus and Imam Mohammad codified their law based on Ijma and lsthihsan. Abu Yusuf relied upon traditions while Imam Mohammad cited traditions to justify conclusions arrived at by qiyas.
Two important and authoritative texts of this school are Fatwa-e-Alamgiri and Hidaya. Fatwa-e-Alamgiri is a digest of cases compiled under the order of Emperor Aurangazeb Alamgir. Fatwa means judicial decisions and Alamgir is the official name of Mugal Emperor.
Main features of this school are
- Less reliance on oral traditions (Ahadis) unless their authority is beyond doubt.
- Greater reliance on Qiyas;
- A little extension of the scope of Ijma.
- This school introduced doctrine of juristic equity which is known as ‘Istihsan’.
b) Maliki School of Muslim Law:
This school was founded by Malik–bin- Anas (A.H. 95 – 175) who was the Mufthi of Madeena. There are no followers of Maliki School in India. This school prevails in North and West Africa, Morocco and Spain.
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 Kitab-al-Muwatta which was the first and most authoritative book of Hadis. The Hanafi School gave importance to Ijma’a of the people and lsthihsan (Juristic preference) while the Maliki School was giving importance to Sunnah and Hadis. Maliki law is based on Sunnah. They accept Ijma’a only in rare cases and they will accept Ijma’a of the scholars of Madeena alone.
The most authoritative Book on Maliki School is Kitab-al-Muwatta by Imam Malik which is the first book on Hadis in Islam.
Note that 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 the 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.
c) Shafei School of Muslim Law:
This school was founded by Muhammad bin Idris Shafei (150 A.H. – 204 A.H.). He was a disciple of Imam Malik at Madeena and later he went to Koofa and worked with the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa. There are followers of Shafie School in Egypt, Cairo, Southern Arabia, South East Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Malabar (Kerala).
Imam Shafei conceived the idea of harmonizing the two schools Hanafi and Maliki in a friendly manner. He is considered as the greatest jurist of Islam. He is the creator of the classical theory of Islamic Jurisprudence. Shafei established Ijma‘a as an important source of Muslim law and gave validity to the custom of the people of Islam following more to the method of Hanafi school. Quiyas or analogy is the contribution of Imam Shaffie to Muslim law.
The only authoritative book of Islamic jurisprudence is Al-Risala is written by Imam Shaffie. He discussed the science of Islamic law and interpretation such as Ijma’a (Consensus), Qiyas (Analogy), Ijthihad (Personal reasoning) Isthihsan (Juristic preference) and Ikhthilaf (Disagreement) in a separate chapter in this book. His other book Kitab-ul-umn is the authority on Fiqh (the science of way of life).
d) Hanbali School of Muslim Law:
This school was founded by Ahmad bin Hanbal (A.H. 164-241). He was a disciple of Imam Shafei and strong supporter of Hadis. The followers of Hanbali school found in Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
He opposed the method of Ijthihad (personal reasoning) explained by Imam Shaffie. And instead, he formed a theory of tracing root (usool) of Sunnah or Hadis to get the answer. He collected about 80,000 Ahadis and codified them in his Book ‘Musnath’. Other important texts of this school are Taat-ur-Rasul and Kitab-ul-Alai.
Sub-Schools of Shia School of Law:
The Shia reject not only the jurists but also all the traditions not handed down by Ali or its immediate descendants. The three important schools of law among Shia are Isna Ashari or Ja-afari, Ismaili and Zayadi. Shia sect is a minority in the Muslim world. They have political power only in Iran though they were not a majority in that state also. In India, they are a microscopic minority. Shias do not accept qiyas.
f) Ithna-ashari School of Muslim Law:
The Ithna Asharia school called as Imamia School. They follow the ‘Ithna-Ashari’ law. Followers of this school are found in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and India. Majority of Shias in India follow this school. They are considered political quietists. This is the largest Shia school.
The dominant Shia legal school is sometimes termed the Ja’fari Fiqh, after the lmam Jaafar Sadiq (a.s.), the Sixth Infallible Imam of the world of Shiism. The Ja’fari [Hafari] fiqh of the Imami Shias is in most cases indistinguishable from one or more of the four Sunni madhahib, except that “Mutah” or temporary marriage is considered lawful by the Fiqh Jafari, whereas it is prohibited in all the Sunni schools. The important text is ’Shara’ya-ul-Islam’
There were twelve imams. Their major belief is that last of these Imams has disappeared and to be returning as Mehdi (Messiah). This school is further divided into (i) Akhbari (they are rigid traditionalists) and (ii) Usuli (they allow free scope to human reason in the interpretation of the Quran and estimate genuineness of tradition).
The followers of this school believe that starting from Imam Ali (A. S) there had been twelve Imams who possessed spiritual powers. Twelve Imams are:
- Ali ibn Abu Talib (600-661), also known as “Ali, Amir ul- Mu’mineen” (commander of the faithful), also known as “Shah-e Mardan Ali” (King of men)
- Hasan ibn Ali (625-669), also known as “Hasan al Mujtaba”
- Husayn ibn Ali (626-680), also known as “Husayn al Shaheed\ also known as “Sah Hiiseyin”
- Ali ibn Husayn (658-713), also known as “Ali Zainul Abideen”
- Muhammad ibn Ali (676-743), also known as “Muhammad al Baqir”
- Jafar ibn Muhammad (703-765), also known as “Ja’far as Sadiq”
- Musa ibn Jafar (745-799), also known as “Musa al Kadhim”
- Ali ibn Musa (765-818), also known as “Ali ar Ridha”
- Muhammad ibn Ali (810-835), also known as “Muhammad al JawadT (Muhammad at Taqi), also known as “Taqi”
- Ali ibn Muhamad (827-868), also known as “Ali alHadi” , also known as “Naqi”
- Hasan ibn Ali (846-874), also known as “Hasan al Askari”
- Muhammad ibn Hasan (868-?), also known as “Hujjat ibn al Hasan” , also known as “Mahdi”
g) Ismaili School of Muslim Law:
They believe that there were seven imams. and Ismail who was the seventh Imam formed this school. In India, they consist of two groups, viz, the Khojas or Eastern Ismailis, representing the followers of the present Aga Khan, who is believed to be 49th Imam in the line of the prophet, and the western Ismailis, who are popularly called Bohras and may be divided into Daudis and Sulaymanis and various other small groups. The word “Bohra” merely means merchant and does not signify any particular school of Muslim law.
The Khojas and Bohras of Mumbai (Bombay) belong to this school. They are identified with esoteric and gnostic (having special knowledge) religious doctrines.
Ismailis are more open to the importance and role of women and less literal or strict and more tolerant in their view and practice of Islam in my experience.
h) Zaidy School of Muslim Law:
They are not found in India but found in South Arabia. This sect is the most prominent in Yemen. The followers of this school are known for their political activism.
The beliefs of this school are closer to the orthodox Hanafi Sunni school and often rejected by Twelver Shia school. They recognize the principle of an election as the basis of the succession and consider the Imam is nothing more than a ‘right guide’.
The Motazila School:
The Motazila emerged as a separate sect of Islam around 9 Century A. D. This school was established by Ata-al-Ghazzal during the reign of Mamun. Although they do not associate themselves from any of the two existing sects yet, it is said that they were defectors from the Shia community. The followers of this school believe that Quran is the only basis for their doctrines. Most of the traditions have been rejected by the Motazilas. One of the characteristic features of the Motazilas is that this is the only school in Islam which practices strict monogamy. Marriage with more than one wife at a time is unlawful under the Motazila principles. Another peculiarity is that there cannot be any divorce without interference of a judge. Divorce by Talaq is not recognized under this school. At present the followers of Motazila sect are comparatively very less in number.
Choice and Applicability of School:
Choice of School of Law:
Every adult Muhammadan may choose any school he or she likes and may renounce one school in favour of another. And thereafter, the person will be subjected to the law of new school.
In Haya-un-Nissa v. Muhammad, 17 I.A. 73 case the court held that in the case of contemporary law, that any person can change his sect and adopt another sect.
In Nasrat v. Hamidan, I.L.R. (1882) 4 Al. 20, case the court held that a Sunni (wife) contracting a marriage with Shia (husband) does not thereby become subject to the Shia law.
Applicability of Different Schools of Muslim Law:
- When the parties to suit are Muslims of the same school, the law of school will apply.
- If they do not belong to the same school, the law of school of the defendant will apply.
- If a Muslim, in a good faith, changes his school of law in Islam, his personal law ordinarily changes with immediate effect.
- When a person, who has changed his school of law in Islam, dies, the law of succession applicable to his estate will be the law of the school which he professed at the time of the death.
Conclusion:
Muslim law is governed by the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Mohammad. Sunnis and Shias are the two main sects of Islam and both of these sects have their own schools. Although there are differences of opinions amongst these schools of Muslim Law, the Muslim world considers all of them to be correct. Thus, no school has more prominence over another. The teachings of these different schools of Muslim Law can be compared to different paths which all lead to the same destination.