The Role of the Schools of Jurisprudence in Preserving Islamic Law - Research Paper Example

The Role of the Schools of Jurisprudence in Preserving Islamic Law Introduction The Islamic jurisprudence is one of the most important aspects in the life of Muslims, as it provides the individual with the guidance and rulings for the daily life’s practical aspects. It comprises the laws governing the daily life of a Muslim; Prophet Muhammad comprehensively explained and demonstrated practically these laws. Islamic scholars and jurists studied the Prophet’s life and the Quran and they adopted a detailed and refined methodology which they used in extracting legal verdicts and rulings (Haddad and Barbara 9). This methodology is what is known as the schools or the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. These schools have some differences among them on the application and usage of some aspects that are acceptable as forms of evidence. Presently, there are four schools of Islamic jurisprudence. While there are several differences between these schools on certain issues, these differences never cause conflict; instead, they provide the Islamic faith with a wealth of knowledge (Berg 22). The schools of jurisprudence play important role in preserving Islamic Law. Brief History of the Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence The history of Islamic jurisprudence is inextricably linked with the social and political developments that created challenges and opportunities for the jurists. It emerged and developed in the light of varied social and political changes and substantial transformation of Islam and sharia was witnessed. Certain aspects of Islamic jurisprudence were revealed from 610 to 632 AD to Prophet Muhammad and collected into the Islamic holy book- Quran. Other aspects are contained in the legacy of the Prophet, the hadith (Weiss 17). There are two sources of the Islamic law: revealed and non-revealed. Quran and Sunnah are the revealed sources, and they contain both general and specific guidance on religion and law, but it is the general and broad directives which occupy the greater part of their legal content. Both the revealed and non-revealed sources proved insufficient to the needs of the changing and dynamic Islam society, a reality that became evident after the Prophet’s death. The death of the Prophet was followed by the period of turbulence of caliphs of Medina between 632 and 661. Prophet Muhammad’s successor had the power of introducing new legislation, but this power seemed to have been occasionally exercised during the Medinan period, thus supplementing the Quran (Alhaddad 31). Although the existing legislation was somehow adequate for the Medina’s Muslim community, the expanding Islamic empire under the first Islam dynasty, the Umayyad caliphate, lacked a legal establishment capable to accommodate a great complexity of cultures and races. Whereas the Caliphate was an Islamic institution, the Umayyads were to a considerable extent secular ruler and they only participated partly in the administration of the religion (Motzki 27). Gradual transformation of the Muslim society to urban culture from nomadic culture established new challenges for the Islamic law. The Quranic or religious elements of the law of the law became hugely submerged in the complex mass of legal materials that had been produced. Even though the Umayyad caliphate was successful in building a big and vast empire, they were criticized for the detachment from Islamic principles. During this time, a new authority was necessary so as to bring back and expand the Islamic law to accommodate matters concerning the Muslims. In the late period of the Umayyads, the first delegates acting as Islamic judges were appointed and their jurisdiction solely extended to Muslims. Subsequently, the framework of a new Arab Muslim society was created and a new justice administration emerged known as the Islamic jurisprudence. The work of the Islamic judges became increasingly specialized and gained authority in giving opinions regarding questions of religious importance (Haddad and Barbara 20). Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence There are four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence: the Hanafi School, the Maliki School, the Shafi School, and the Hanbali School. These four major schools recognized with varying enthusiasm degrees the Quran, the Prophet’s Sunnah, a measure of personal interpretation, and the community’s consensus as a basis of sharia or the Islamic law. The Hanafi School (699-767 AD) is the oldest of the four and attracts the largest following among Muslims in the world even today. Its founder was Nu’man Abu Hanifah of Kufa in the modern day Iraq (Berg 28). Generally, this school reflects the views of the Iraq’s jurists. Even though Abu Hanifa did not write or compose any books on law himself, his many opinions and discussions were recorded by his disciples and it is what forms the basis of Hanifa School. He was a religious lawyer and a theologian, a position that he used in exercising significant influence during his time. He had a very consistent legal thought and he used high reasoning degrees and attempted to avoid extremes. He laid emphasis on the Muslim community ideas. This school not only has a strong following in Iraq, but also in Turkey, India, countries of the Fertile Cresent, and Lower Egypt among others (Faruki 49). The second school of Islamic jurisprudence is the Maliki School. It is the next school in order of time having been founded in 795 AD by Malik bin Anas of Medina. This school reflects the practices and views associated with the city of Medina. Malik bin Anas served as a Medina Judge and he compiled his decisions in a book called ‘al-Muwatta, interpreted as ‘the Leveled Path’. He preferred to rely more on the teachings and traditions associated with the Holy Prophet Companions. This school’s adherents are predominantly in the Northern African countries such as Tunisia (Haddad and Barbara 44). The Maliki School was followed by the Shafi School of Islamic jurisprudence; this school was founded in 820 AD by Imam al-Shafi. It is important to note that al-Shafi was a disciple of Malik bin Anas and so he equally placed great importance on the Holy Prophet Traditions. This school explicitly formulated the rules that establish sharia or the Islamic law. Al-Shafi was a great thinker and had impeccable grasp of principles, as well as a clear understanding of the legal and judicial problems. The adherents of Shafi School are predominantly in Syria, Indonesia, India, and Lower Egypt (Weiss 39). The final school of Islamic jurisprudence in the order of time is the Hanbali School that was founded in 855 AD by Ahmad bin Hanbal of Baghdad. It should be noted that Hanbal himself did not establish a separate school but rather it was done by his followers and disciples. This school is considered as the most conservative of the four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Its intolerance and rigidity ultimately caused its decline over the years following its establishment (Alhaddad 62). However, it was revived in the eighteenth century with the rise of Wahhabism, as well as the growing influence of the House of Sa’ud. Hanbali School is presently only followed in Saudi Arabia. This school insists on the Holy Quran and Hadith’s literal injunctions, and extremely strict adherence of religious duties. Generally, even though Muslims apply the Islamic law in accordance to the details and principles founded on the four ancient schools, legal institutions are coming up from time to time, and as such there are no clear answers regarding these early schools of Islamic jurisprudence. It is the same argument that explains the development of these four schools over time; in the light of the new facts, Islamic scholars and Imams were and still asked to provide their decisions using the Islamic traditional tools of legal science popularly known as ‘fatwa’ (Berg 53). Role of the Schools of Jurisprudence in Preserving Islamic Law When looking at the practices and doctrines of the Islamic religion over the decades and across the world, it is evidently clear that the four discussed schools of jurisprudence have not only survived centuries, but have also shared the territory of significant influence throughout the Islamic world. Whereas the nature and the strengths of Islam can be attributed to other features in the religion, the role of the schools of jurisprudence is very important that it cannot in any way be detached to the religion of Islam (Alhaddad 66). Muslim scholars agree that the four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence played and continue to play a fundamental role in preserving not only the Islamic law, but also the tradition of Islamic scholarship. These schools provided Muslim scholars to evolve judicial or legal principles from the Prophetic traditions and the Quran. These schools closed the gates of independent judgment and restricted the free and open development of the law, thus preserving Islamic law. Also, these schools played a fundamental role in preserving the Islamic Law by restricting the development of diversified and complicated technical terminologies that would have prevented people from achieving the required level of independent judgment and according to the Quran and Hadith (Haddad and Barbara 65). Over the centuries, there were fears among Muslims that development of differences in opinion may affect unqualified individuals whose religion and opinion could not be trusted. The emergence and subsequent spread and adoption of these schools significantly helped in preserving the Islamic law as jurists were restricted to interpretation of the authoritative and respected manuals of these schools (Weiss 83). Besides, since the gates of emergence of more schools of Islamic jurisprudence were closed and judicial decisions based only on these four schools and the Quran and Hadith as well, the traditions and methodologies of Islamic law were preserved. The existence of these four schools of Islamic jurisprudence restricts incorporation of new rulings and interpretations into the sharia law. It should, however, be noted that the new issues that emerged were incorporated into these four main schools on the basis that they are not inconsistent with these schools and the Quran. The new issues were forwarded to legal specialists who responded with their opinions and later integrated those new issues to the particular handbooks of schools of jurisprudence (Berg 76). In addition, these schools emphasized that the authority of the Muslim jurists were entirely derived from the God’s authority and that there is no authority that is vested in the individual jurists. As such, the authority of the jurists is dependent upon the methodology employed; to date the traditional schools methodology are the guiding principles for the jurists who are searching the intentions of God (Faruki 50). The requirements of human beings’ daily life, as well as the expanding culture are demanding adaptation of legal rules to novel or new circumstances. However, these four schools of jurisprudence have helped in ensuring that there is no unnecessary adaptations of legal rules that are inconsistent with the Islamic law. Islamic law as founded on the teachings of the Quran, Hadith and the schools of Islamic jurisdiction has been more resistant to change compared to other legal systems which are controlled by non-Muslims. This is the main reason for the preservation of the Islamic law (Motzki 105). It should be noted that there was a period when the Islamic law seemed to be submerged by a huge administrative legal system that threatened its entirety in the wake of new social, economic and political developments. However, the schools of jurisprudence played a key role in bringing the law and subsequently the social order back to the very fundamentals of the Islamic religion (Weiss 77). Certain doctrines in the schools of jurisprudence such as the doctrine of analogical reasoning or ‘qiyas’ and the doctrine of general consensus or ‘iima’ were designed partly to encourage Islamic law stability and to curb the foreign traditions influence into the Islamic jurisprudence. Muslim scholars and clerics agree that to some extent the development of these schools of Islamic jurisprudence appeared to be resistant of external influences particularly the Western influences (Faruki 63). The development sought to retain and preserve the Islamic character, essentially preserving the legal opinions’ character. The Islamic figures associated with the foundation of the four schools of jurisprudence drew their conclusions from the Quran itself and made application of these conclusions to various social life aspects including the law of inheritance and the family law. Also, they started to address the branches of law that were not connected with the divine text, thus forming the basis for preservation of Islamic law (Alhaddad 104). The grand heritage of the traditional schools of jurisprudence is today still at the center of the Islamic jurisprudence. Nonetheless, the application of the law is not to the scale that was hoped for when the jurisprudence process started. There is fear among sections of Muslims that there is increased isolation of Islamic law from the realities of government and law in the contemporary Muslim societies (Haddad and Barbara 106). They are therefore calling for a restoration process of the institution of Islamic jurisprudence that recognizes the new realities. This raises a big question of whether sharia or the Islamic law can actually be restored. Religious scholars argue that this possibility seems unlikely because sharia could not fully guide the societies while in its pure form. As such, they argue that attempts of preserving Islamic law were and are still unsuccessful. However, there are those scholars who are disagreeing with this view by arguing that sharia or Islamic law is not a code of law as it is viewed or understood in the modern definition of law; expressed in a set of prohibitions, commands, and rules. They instead argue that Islam, including Islamic law is a philosophy and duty of life which needs a strong sense of direction as articulated in the in the Quran (Motzki 123). Human beings have been created by God to serve Him, as well as to create a surrounding or an environment where God’s world is upheld. It is for this reason that each Muslim must be aware of the need to lead his or her life in conformity with the wishes and orders of God. The importance of the schools of Islamic jurisprudence is reflected in the immediately mentioned statements. Schools of jurisprudence provide a basis for Muslims to understand matters of their religion (Berg 111). The Quran and the Hadith addresses the importance and the role of Islamic jurisprudence by demanding that Muslims should continue to study Islamic jurisprudence so that they are able to guide the other members of the society. This position is affirmed in the Hadith where Prophet Muhammad is seen emphasizing on the importance of Islamic jurisprudence by saying that when God intends good for a faithful He will grant him the good understanding of Islamic jurisprudence. This explains why the companions of the Prophet, as well as the subsequent religious and legal scholars went to great lengths to apply specific methodologies in deducing rulings and laws from the Islamic law sources. This situation went on until Islam was left with four documented schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Faruki 148). Conclusion The schools of jurisprudence play an important role in preserving Islamic law. Islamic law is one of the most important aspects in the Islamic religion and in the life of a Muslim. This is because it provides the religion as a whole and individual faithful with the guidance and rulings for the practical features of their daily lives, including issues related to marriage, business, divorce, personal hygiene, and fasting among others. Islamic scholars and jurists studied the Prophet’s life and the Quran and they adopted a detailed and refined methodology which they used in extracting legal verdicts and rulings. Muslim scholars agree that the four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence played and continue to play a fundamental role in preserving not only the Islamic law, but also the tradition of Islamic scholarship. It should be noted that these schools emphasized that the authority of the Muslim jurists were entirely derived from the God’s authority and that there is no authority that is vested in the individual jurists. There was a period when the Islamic law seemed to be submerged by a huge administrative legal system that threatened its entirety in the wake of new social, economic and political developments. The schools of jurisprudence played a key role in bringing the law and subsequently the social order back to the very fundamentals of the Islamic religion. Certain doctrines in the schools of jurisprudence such as the doctrine of analogical reasoning or ‘qiyas’ and the doctrine of general consensus or ‘iima’ were designed partly to encourage Islamic law stability and to curb the foreign traditions influence into the Islamic jurisprudence. However, there are religious scholars who argue that attempts of preserving Islamic law were and are still unsuccessful. This assertion is disputed by those who argue that that sharia or Islamic law is not a code of law as it is viewed or understood in the modern definition of law; expressed in a set of prohibitions, commands, and rules. They instead argue that Islam, including Islamic law is a philosophy and duty of life which needs a strong sense of direction as articulated in the in the Quran. Works Cited Alhaddad, Muhammad A. Islamic Jurisprudence: Tradition of the Holy Prophet = Fiqh As-Sunna. Lahore: Al-Faisal Nashran, 2005. Print. Berg, Herbert. Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins. Boston [u.a.: Brill, 2003. Print. Faruki, Kemal A. Islamic Jurisprudence. Delhi: Adam Publishers & Distributors, 1994. Print. Haddad, Yvonne Y, and Barbara F. Stowasser. Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004. Print. Motzki, Harald. The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh Before the Classical Schools. Leiden ; Boston ; Ko?ln: Brill, 2002. Print. Weiss, Bernard G. Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Leiden [u.a.: Brill, 2002. Print. Read More