The Shafi'ie, Hanbali, Zahiri, and Jariri Schools of Law

1.0. Introduction Madhhab is Muslim schools of thought that are focusing on the law or fiqh (religious jurisprudence). In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the companion of the prophet Muhammad SAW, are credited with founding their own. But these schools were gradually consolidated or discarded so that there are currently four recognized schools. The differences between these schools of thought manifest in some practical and philosophical differences. The prominent Islamic jurisprudence schools of Damascus in Syria, Kufa and Basra in Iraq, and Medina in Arabia survived as the Maliki madhhab, while the other Iraqi schools were consolidated into the Hanafi madhhab. The Shafi'ie, Hanbali, Zahiri and Jariri schools were established later, though the latter school eventually died out. It is claimed that the schools of Islamic legal thought were developed in the 9th and 10th centuries as a means of excluding dogmatic theologians, government officials and non-Sunni sects from religious discourse. Historians have differed regarding the time at which each of the various schools had emerged. It is said that Sunni Islam was initially split into six schools (Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'ie, Hanbali, Zahiri, Jariri) before various ruling dynasties later narrowed the number down to four, with the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt eventually creating four independent judicial positions, thus solidifying the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools. Conversely, some view that Sunni jurisprudence falls into two groups: Ahli al-Ra'i, or people of opinions, due to their emphasis on scholarly judgment and reason; and Ahli al-Hadith, or people of traditions, due to their emphasis on restricting juristic thought to only what is found in scripture.

2.0. The Development of School of Islamic Legal Thought The first development of Madhhab of imam is on the period of Umayyah dynasty. The early period of the Umayyah dynasty saw the division of Fiqh