Kalinga University

Faculty of Law

Course-BALLB_BBALLB
Subject- Family Law - II
Subject Code – BALLB401_BBALLB401 SEM.-IV
Unit 1

Schools of Muslim Law

The Amman Message, which was endorsed in 2005 by prominent Islamic scholars around the
world, recognized four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali), two Shia schools
(Ja'fari, Zaidi), the Ibadi school and the Zahiri school.
Sunni Islam is separated into four main schools of jurisprudence, namely, Hanafi, Maliki,
Shafi'i, Hanbali. These schools are named after Abu Hanifa, Malik bin Anas, al-Shafi'i, and
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, respectively.

Six beliefs of Islam

Belief in the existence and oneness of God (Allah). Belief in the existence of angels. Belief in the
existence of the books of which God is the author: the Quran (revealed to Muhammad), the
Gospel (revealed to Jesus), the Torah (revealed to Moses), and Psalms (revealed to David).

Islamic law or sharia law is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived
from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith.

Basic rules of Islam

The Five Pillars of Islam

 Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of faith.
 Salat: performing ritual prayers in the proper way five times each day.
 Zakat: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit the poor and the needy.
 Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan.
 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islamic scholars who lived during the first centuries of Islam developed different methods for
interpreting sharia. Most of them came to agree that sharia rules should be derived from the
following main sources: The Qur'an, which Muslims believe was revealed by God to
Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).

Who is a Muslim?

Muslims are people who follow or practice Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims
consider the Quran, their holy book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to
the Islamic prophet and messenger Muhammad. The majority of Muslims also follow the
teachings and practices of Muhammad (sunnah) as recorded in traditional accounts
(hadith). "Muslim" is an Arabic word meaning "submitter" (to God).

Applicability of Muslim law

Sharia is applicable only to the extent of personal laws and applicable to Muslims alone.
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 is the special statute. It provides how
much of the law of Shariath is applicable to Muslims in India.
Historical development of muslim law.
The Muslim law was followed from one of the very early dynasties of Sabuktigin which existed
during 991 AD. This was still the reign of Muhammad Ghori.

Slave Dynasty or Sher Shah Dynasty

During this era which included several dynasties like the Tughlak Dynasty and the Khalji
dynasty, there were two types of courts and the pleaders at that time were the Kaji and Mufti in
the entire territory of India. The two types of courts were the Shariat and the common law court.
British Era
On perusal of Indian history, we can determine that one of the reasons why British people laid
down their authority was due to their common understanding and truce with the Muslim rulers of
the Mughal dynasty in the areas of Delhi, Bengal and Bihar.

Introduction of Shia Law

Muslims are divided into classes on the basis of their beliefs, viz. Shia Muslims and Sunni
Muslims. During 1930s the distinction between the beliefs of two classes of Muslim sects
emerged and there appeared a social distinction between the two Secs, Sunnis and Shias.

Laws of Shia and Sunni Muslims

The Shia sect expounded the principle of Imamat. According to this principle the Imam that is
Ali and all his successors, shall be the theological ruler and the leader of the Sect. the Imam is
believed to be the final interpreter of all the legal principle like a Supreme Court of the country
and his decisions cannot be challenged.

Shariat Act, 1937

On October 7, 1937 the British enacted the most essential and only statute to regulate the
personal laws of the Muslims in India. The Act had only six sections with which it regulated all
of their activities.

The Wakfs Act, 1954

Wakf is a fiduciary arraignment between a person called the Wakif (the donor) and the Wakf
board (the trustee) to utilize the property called a usufruct of the wakf for the benefit of the Islam
religion. The entire process of Wakf works like trust and the most important regulation to
regulate this enacted after independence called the Wakf Act 1954.
The historical development of Muslim law did not end in 1954. It can be seen that Muslim law is
based on the customs and usages of the prophet and his successors and is extremely traditional in
nature. After independence, several changes were made to the Muslim law to modernise it and
uphold the Muslims.

Historical development of sharia law.

For the first Muslim community, established under the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad ats
Medina in 622, the Qurʾānic revelations laid down basic standards of conduct. During his
lifetime, Muhammad, as the supreme judge of the community, resolved legal problems as they
arose by interpreting and expanding the general provisions of the Qurʾān, thereby establishing a
legal tradition that was to continue after his death. With the rapid expansion of the Islamic realm
under Muhammad’s political successors, the Muslim polity became administratively more
complex and came into contact with the laws and institutions of the lands that the Muslims
conquered. With the appointment of judges, or qadis, to the various provinces and districts, an
organized judiciary came into being. Depending on the discretion of the individual qadi, judicial
decisions were based on the rules of the Qurʾān where these were relevant, but the sharp focus in
which the Qurʾānic laws were held in the Medinan period was lost with the expanding horizons
of activity.

Muslim jurisprudence, the science of ascertaining the precise terms of the Sharīʿah, is known as
fiqh (literally, “understanding”). Beginning in the second half of the 8th century, oral
transmission and development of this science gave way to a written legal literature devoted to
exploring the substance of the law and the proper methodology for its derivation and
justification. Throughout the medieval period, the basic doctrine was elaborated and
systematized in a large number of commentaries, and the voluminous literature thus produced
constitutes the traditional textual authority of Sharīʿah law.

Shia School of muslim law.

As per Shia Sect, there are three schools of law. Shia Sect is considered as the minority in the
Muslim world. They enjoy the political power only in Iran though they don’t have the majority
in that state also.

A. Ithna-Asharis

These schools are based on the following of Ithna-Ashari laws. The followers of these schools
are mostly found in Iraq and Iran. In India also there is the majority of the shia muslim who
follows the principles of the Ithna-Asharis School. They are considered political quietists.

B. The Ismailis

According to Ismailis school, in India there are two groups, the Khojas or Western Ismailis
represents the followers of the present Aga Khan, who they considered as the 49th Imam in this
line of Prophet, and the Bohoras i.e. the Western Ismailis are divided into Daudis and
Sulaymanis.

C. Zaidy

The followers of this school are not found in India but are maximum in number in South Arabia.
This sect. of the shia school is the most dominant among all in Yemen. The followers of these
schools are considered as political activism. They often reject the twelver shia school
philosophies.

List out 4 major schools under Sunni Muslim Law.

In Sunni sect, there are four major schools of Muslim law which are as follows;

A. Hanafi School

Hanafi School is the first and the most popular schools in Muslim law. Before being named
Hanafi, this school was known as Koofa School which was based on the name of the city of
Koofa in Iraq. Later, this school was renamed as Hanafi School based on the name of its founder
Abu Hanafee.

B. Maliki School

This school gets its name from Malik-bin-Anas, he was the Mufti of Madeena. During his period
the Khoofa was considered as the capital of Muslim Khaleefa where Imam Abu Haneefa and his
disciples flourished with Hanafi Schools.

C. Shaffie School

The Shaffie School gets its name on the name of Muhammad bin Idris Shaffie, his period was
between 767 AD to 820 AD. He was the student of Imam Malik of Madeena. Then he started
working with the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa and went to Khoofa.The followers of Shafie
School are spread in Egypt, Southern Arabia, South East Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia.

D. Hanbali School

The Ahmad bin Hanbal is the founder of the Hanbali School. He found the Hanbali school in 241
(AD 855). He is the disciple of Imam Shaffie and supports Hadis. He strongly opposed the
Ijthihad methods. He introduced the theory of tracing the root of Sunna and Hadis and try to get
the answer all his question.

Write a short note on Sunni law.

Sunni, Arabic Sunnī, member of one of the two major branches of Islam, the branch that consists
of the majority of that religion’s adherents. Sunni Muslims regard their denomination as the
mainstream and traditionalist branch of Islam—as distinguished from the minority denomination,
the Shiʿah.

The Sunnis recognize the first four caliphs as the Prophet Muhammad’s rightful successors,
whereas the Shiʿah believe that Muslim leadership belonged to Muhammad’s son-in-law, ʿAlī,
and his descendants alone. In contrast to the Shiʿah, the Sunnis have long conceived of the polity
established by Muhammad at Medina as an earthly, temporal dominion and have thus regarded
the leadership of Islam as being determined not by divine order or inspiration but by the
prevailing political realities of the Muslim world. This led historically to Sunni acceptance of the
leadership of the foremost families of Mecca and to the acceptance of unexceptional and even
foreign caliphs, so long as their rule afforded the proper exercise of religion and the maintenance
of order.

The Sunnis recognize the six “sound” books of Hadith, which contain the spoken tradition
attributed to Muhammad. The Sunnis also accept as orthodox four schools of Islamic law:
Ḥanafī, Ḥanbalī, Mālikī, and Shāfiʿī. In the early 21st century the Sunnis constituted the majority
of Muslims in all countries except Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and perhaps Lebanon. They
numbered about 900 million in the early 21st century and constituted a majority of all the
adherents of Islam.

Hanafi school of muslim law.

The Hanafi school, which is the most popular one amongst Muslims, derives its name from its
founder, Abu Hanafi. This school basically relies on customs and precedents of the Muslim
community as the traditions of Prophet Mohammed.

This is because the Prophet had disallowed codification of his words and sayings. Hence,
whenever the Quran did not explain something, this school relied on the Prophet’s traditions.

The Hedaya is the most authoritative book of this school. It covers topics like inheritance as well
as succession amongst followers of this school. Sirajiyya is also an important work in this regard.

The Hanafi school is the most followed school amongst all schools of Muslim law and the
Muslims in India. Thus, whenever courts have to interpret Islamic law principles, they generally
rely first on this school.