Topic: Who is Muslim and Schools of Muslim Law

Introduction
Muslim law or Islamic law is known to be originated from the divine
and not like the man-made laws that are passed by the law makers and
are governed by the principle of modern system of law. Islam signifies
submission to the will of god and means peace, purity, salvation and
obedience. Muslim believes that there is only one god Allah.

The traditional Islamic law or Islam’s legal system is well known as

sharia, it is an Arabic word which in the literal sense is referred to as the
way. Sharia is originated from the Allah and this is the reason that
Muslim considers it as holy. Muslim consider it a word of god which
regulate and evaluate human conduct. It is said that Islamic
jurisprudence is also something that goes back to the lifetime of
Mohammed

In the case of Narantakath vs Prakkal (1922) , It was stated thea there

are two basic bekiefs od Muslim, first ,the existence and oneness of God
and second was the belief in the truth of Propehet Mohanned’s mission.

Page 1 of 12
 Who is Muslim?
The term Muslim means “submission”. A Muslim is a person who
follows Islam. Muslim law applies to a born Muslim or a person who is
a converted Muslim.

Muslim law even applies to certain other categories of people also such
as the Kojas, Halai, Memons, sunni Bohras of Gujrat Daoodi and
Sulaimani Bohras and Molesalam Broach Girasis.

In Azima Bibi vs Munshi Samalananda 1912, it was observed that a

child born out of Muslim couple would be Muslim, even if he by choice
goes to a Hindu temple. The person would be a Muslim till the time he
does not renounce his religion and converts to another religion.

In Bhaiiya Sher Bahadur vs Bhaiya Ganga Bakshi singh 1914 it was

held that if a Muslim women has a child from a Hindu man but the child
from the time he was born was brought up as a Hindu then in this case
he would be called a Hindu.

The Supreme court in Sarla Mudgil vs. union of Indis AIR 1995 SC
and Lily Thomas vs. union of India AIR 2000 SC has held that, if a
Hindu married man converts his religion to Muslim just because of the
reason as to marry as second time then it will be void and he will be
punished under Section 494 of Indian Penal Code for Committing
Bigamy
Page 2 of 12
Under Muslim law, if a married man renounces his religion then in that
case his marriage ends immediately but this is not the case for Muslim
women who convert her marriage would not come to an end if her
marriage was done according ti the rituals of Muslim law unless and
until she was a convert Muslim and again re-embraces her faith.

Schools under Muslim Law

The division between the sunni and the shia originated in the
sipute concerning the question of spiritual leardeship of Islam

Prophet Mohammed
{Spiritual leader and funder of Islam}
After his death there arose confusion who to be the next leader

Minority View:
Majority View
There should be no election but
There should be held
instead nomination. They wanted
election to choose the
that the successor should be
successor of Islam.
related by Blood to Prophet Moh.
Majority Muslim under the So wanted nomination and no
leadership of Aisha Begam election. Minority under the
contested election and leadership of Fatima nominated
elected
Ali as 1st Imam and formed new
Abu Bakr as 1st Caliph of sect i.e.,. Shia Sect
Sunni Sect
“Shia” means smaller fraction in
larger sect.
Page 3 of 12
 1st period of Islam: 622 AD- 632 AD

 Prophet Mohammed

2nd Period of Islam: 632 AD- 634 AD

 Abu Baqr ( 1st Caliph of Sunni sect and administrator

3rd period of Islam: 634 AD-644 AD

 Omar/Umar ( 2nd Caliph of Sunni sect)

4th Period of Islam: 644AD- 656 AD

 Osman (3rd Calih of Sunni Sect)

After assassination of Osman the entire sunni sect got disorted and Ali
headed both the sect

Ali

4th Caliph of Islam ( Shia and Sunni Sect)

Hassan (son of Ali became the 5th Caliph)

Husain ( Son of Ali became the 6th Caliph)

Continued war between the sunni and shia sect for the quest of who will
be the successor contined till 900 AD and till this period no new

Page 4 of 12
 ideodogy emerged and till this sunna and Quran were the only source of
ideology.

Sects of Muslim Law

Sunni Sect Shia Sect Motazila Sect

Hanafi school Ismailia school

Maliki school Zyadiya school

Shafei school Ethna-Ashari school

Hanbali school
Schools under Sunni Sect

 Hanafi School {699-767 AD}

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.

The founder of this school Abu Hanafee .This school became widely
spread in various territories, as a result, the majority of Muslims in

Page 5 of 12
countries such as India, Pakistan, Syria, and Turkey belong to Hanafi
School. In India, since the majority of Muslims are from Hanafi School,
the Courts decide the case of a Sunni Muslim as per the Hanafi School
unless it is specified that they belong to other schools.

 In Hanafi School, “Al Hedaya” is the most important and

authoritative book which was created over a period of 13 years by
Ali bin Abu Baker al Marghinani.

This book provides laws on various aspects except for the law of
inheritance. Lord Warren Hasting tries to translate the Hedaya to
English. He appointed many Muslim Scholars to translate the book.

But the Sirajiyya is considered as the authoritative book of the Hanafi

Law of Inheritance. The book is written by the Sheikh Sirajddin, and the
first English translation is written by Sir William Jones.

 Maliki School {713- 795AD}

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.

Page 6 of 12
He discovered about 8000 traditions of Prophet but complied only about
2000 of them.  When the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa codified their
law based on Ijma’a and Isthihsan.

The maliki school gives the importance to the Sunna and Hadis whereas
the Hanafi school gives the importance to the people and Isthihsan. As
per Maliki School and Law, they rarely accept the Ijma’a.  As per the
Law, the person gave Fatwa challenging the sovereign authority of
Khaleefa, he faced enmity and of lack of support from Muslim
governments. Thus, this Maliki school did not get much popularity.

 “Mu-atha” of Imam Malik is considered as the most authoritative

book of the Maliki School. This book is also the first book written
on the Hadis in Islam and this book is considered as the authority
over all Muslims in the World.

 Shaffie School { 767-820 AD}

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.

He conclude the idea’s and the theories of Hanafi School and Maliki
School in a friendly manner. The Imam Shaffie was considered as one of
Page 7 of 12
the greatest jurist of Islam. He created the classical theory of the Shaffie
Islamic Jurisprudence.

According to this school, they considered Ijma as the important source

of the Muslim law and provide validity to the customs of the Islamic
people and follows more methods of Hanafi School. the main
contribution of Shaffie School is the Quiyas or Analogy.

 The “Al-Risala” of Imam Shaffie was considered as the only

authoritative book of Islamic Jurisprudence. In that book they
discuss and interpret the Ijma (Consensus), Quiyas (Analogy),
Ijthihad (Personal reasoning) Isthihsan (Juristic preference) and
Ikhthilaf (Disagreement) in separate chapter in his book Risala.

 His other book Al-Umm is the authority on Fiqh (science of way

of life).

The followers of Shafie School are spread in Egypt, Southern Arabia,

South East Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia.  

 Hanbali School {780- 855 AD}

The Ahmad bin Hanbal is the founder of the Hanbali School. 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

Page 8 of 12
and Hadis and try to get the answer all his question. His theory was to
return to the Sunna of the Prophet. When the Imam Shafie left for
Baghdad, he declared that the Ahmad bin Hanbal was the only one after
him who is the better jurist after him. The followers of Hanbali school
found in Syria, Phalastine and Saudi Arabia.

Shia Sect

Ali

{1st Imam and Spritual and administrative head}

Hasan

{Son of Ali 2nd Imam}

Hussain

{Son of Ali 3rd Imam}

Zal-ul-Abdill

(son of Hussain and 4th Imam}

Mohammed Baqir

{son of Zal-ul-abdill and 5th Imam}

Page 9 of 12
 Zaid

{Son of Zal –ul Abdil ,minorith consider him as Imam}

Zafar Sadik

{Son ofMohammed Baqir and 6th Imam}

Zasakzib

{Son of Zafar sadik and 7th Imam}

Ismail

{disingereted due to ideological difference of father Zafar sadik}

Schools under Shia Sect

As per Shia Sect, there are three schools of law. Shia Sect is considered
as the minority in the Muslim world.

 Ithna-Asharis

This 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.. This school is considered as the most
dominant school of the shia muslims.

Page 10 of 12
 Ismailya School

According to Ismailya 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.

The Bohoras and Khojas of Mumbai are considered as the followers of

this school. It is considered that the follower of these schools has special
knowledge of religious doctrine.

 Zaidya School

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.

Conclusion

Muslim law is governed by the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet
Mohammad. There have been many different schools which follow their

Page 11 of 12
own interpretations of these teachings on points on which the Quran is
silent.

While the major schools of Muslims can be divided under the two sects
of Shia schools and Sunni schools, these two can further be divided into
various sub sects.

Each school has its own beliefs and practices, one school cannot be said
to be better than the other schools and thus even though there are many
schools in Muslim law, they all lead to one path.

Thus, the teachings of these schools can be compared to different paths

which all lead to the same destination.

Page 12 of 12