Madh'hab

A Madh'hab (مذهب) is a school of Islamic law or fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Within Sunni Islam there are four mainstream schools of thought, which are accepted by one another, and the Shi'ite school of fiqh which (according to a fatwa by Al-Azhar, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam)^[1] is also now accepted by some Sunnis as a legitimate fifth school of Islamic Law. The five major schools of Islamic law agree on many things, including the death sentence for apostates.^[2]

The various schools of Islamic law all developed as theologians and jurists debated among themselves more than a hundred years after Muhammad's death on how to identify and interpret what Muhammad had left behind by way of oral traditions.

The nature of the schools of law

The schools of law differ primarily in the authentication and interpretive methodologies they employ to firstly determine which scriptures (hadiths, for the most part, since the Qur'an is considered authentic by consensus) are soundly attributable to Muhammad and to secondly determine how these scriptures should be understood and reconciled with one other in such a manner as to allow the derivation of legal rulings.

It should be noted that the schools of law are in themselves neither static nor homogeneous, as they have each developed and formalized a great deal since the times of their eponymous founders and consist internally of a diverse variety of opinions. As such, the schools of law are perhaps better characterized as enclosed arenas of debate wherein a common set of rules are followed. When it comes to inter-madhab debate, there is no common set of rules that is obliged beyond the thinly theological (such as the divinity of the Qur'an) and, as such, the topic of debate is frequently the rules themselves rather than the substantive rulings they give rise to.

Non-conformist Salafis

Starting in the early 19th century, Muhammad ibn abd al-Wahhab gave rise to what become the modern day trend in Sunni Islamic thought known as Salafism. Salafism, almost necessarily wildly diverse internally, is the basic idea that the four classical schools of Islamic law have developed too cumbersome a set of legal methodologies that staying loyal to both the exact words of scripture and any respective madhab's interpretive methods is impossible. Lacking a strict method of interpretation, the Salafis look back to the practices of the early Muslims and Muhammad's companions to determine how scripture should be interpreted, and almost always prefer to just cite a hadith directly in response to a legal question rather than provide a systematically-derived and probably more nuanced answer - though, since many hadith are in themselves unclear and contradictory, this becomes a contentious and even impossible task, thus forcing either disagreement or a resort to some to a less developed interpretive approach that brings about a reconciliation of the texts.

The five schools

The Hanafi madhab (Sunni)

The Hanafi madhab was founded by Imam Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man (d. 767) in Kufa, Iraq.

The Maliki madhab (Sunni)

The Maliki madhab was founded by Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) in the city of Medina, located in the Hijaz.

The Shafi'i madhab (Sunni)

The Shafi'i madhab was founded by Imam ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 820), who, after being born in Gaza, would travel to Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Cairo, and Baghdad.

The Hanbali madhab (Sunni)

The Hanbali madhab was founded by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), who, after growing up in Baghdad, would travel throughout Iraq, Syria, and the Arabian peninsula.

The Ja'far madhab (Shi'ite)

The Shi'ite Ja'fari madhab was founded by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765), the 6th Shi'ite imam, who born in Medina..

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