What are the differences b/w the Islamic Schools of Thought?

Question

I asked this question already, but i got very few and very unsatisfactory answers. I just want to know what makes shafis different from hanafis, and what makes both of them different from hanbalis and malikis, etc etc. I know you dont have to follow one, and that all are correct, but....I just wish to understand what each of them do differently. =)
I would prefer a link to a site that could provide me with these details (note i want DETAILS!!!!!!!!) about the madhabs. Thank you =)

Ok, maybe you might not say "all are correct", bad phrasing...all are ISLAMICALLY ACCEPTED. As being acceptable...lol =) gosh ppl, answer the q!!

Answer 1

4 recognised madhahib (schools of thoughts) have survived until today. Firstly, I have to disillusion all madhhab-lovers: they don't go by which is more correct, or that those extinct were on falsehood or something, most influential madhhab is that which had the strongest political backing, and that would be Hanafis, since the Ottomans, Moghuls, and Ghaznavides all adhered to Hanafi madhhab. Hanbali is the least widespread because Hanbalis preferred to avoid rulers. It's all politics, dear.

As for their authenticity, all 4 were wrong in some small issues, and all 4 agree on all major issues. While Imam Malik might be a bit weak on salaah (no binding of arms in qiyam, looking forward instead of place of sajdah), Imam Abu Haneefah was the toughest of all on music and singing (he put takfeer on those who find delight in music), etc.

Disagreements occurred due to several factors:
- availability of hadeeth (Imam Al-Bukharee and Muslim were born after them), so one may know some ahadeeth which others didn't
- Malik considered acts of people of Medina to be living Sunnah

Besides the surviving 4 madhahib, there were also madhahib which have so far become extinct. Among them were Dhahiri madhhab, dominated Muslim Spain, which insisted solely on literal interpretation of texts and rejected qiyas, Jariri madhhab which was over-lenient on many issues, etc.

The differences are in legal rulings, such as prayer (the way of praying), what invalidates ablution, inheritance, wedding (Abu Haneefa allowed women to marry without a wali)...
Other differences are few, but they do exist, like opinion of Abu Haneefah that who abandons prayer doesn't need to be executed, and that of Imam Shafi'ee that sahir doesn't need to be executed.

Just check them out on Wikipedia to get some brief info, for details you'll need to study each of them separately.

Answer 2

changes of critiques between the 4 faculties of concepts are very minor. All Imams stated the those Imams who determination with me are also proper. Muslim can keep on with anybody. lots of the changes are how they understood what Prophet stated and what he did and how he achieved the mandatory prayers or others issues Muslims are reaquired to do. it truly is consistently the least knowledgeable Mullahs who make a large deal out of teen issues. as an get jointly one college of idea believed that Bismillah is part of Surah Fatiha, yet others stated no it isn't part of Surah Fatiha. it truly is basically further contained in the initiating of each Surah to be stated earlier start up studying any Surah. Abu Hanifah stated, that all who're praying behind Imam could say Ameen of their hearts, yet Malik and Shafi stated, it truly is alright to assert Ameen loudly. All agree that both are proper.

Answer 3

I'd thought of their differences would be in accordance of what do people has in common for such a post Islamic conditio, or maybe even for pre Islamic conversio procedure,i.e the Invisibility of The Lord (ALLAH), the diobedience of the Musyriqin,disbelievers and the Fasiquns and the Munafiquns, the chronological discrepancies in the stories of previous prohets, the quests on Ibadahs itself, the dilema amongst the people of the Books, etc. They sertaintly has their on scope and tertiary education or shall we say, facultative learning procedures for such a case a certaint query on Islam could be devine and answerables, or at least could be pre-thought and sistem,aticaly answered. As many of such question(s) could be asked almost at randomly and unprepeared on occasions,I'd think the Teacher,whoever would that be and where they are currently in place and time, could've themselve prepared for such an occassion before hand. Wouldn't they ?!

Answer 4

we can not explain this in one sentence as the four madhabs are different in almost everything.. fiqh is not something you can just explain in 2 lines..
see an example: according to shaafis, you have to re-new your wudhu if you touch a man or man touch you, but according to hanafees it is okay.. according to malikis and hanbalis: you only need to re-new the wudhu if the touch was with desire (but if you have tought someone without desire then okay) and the list goes on about everything.. really everything.. like: how to fast if you have to make up a prayer, how to do certain things etc.

Answer 5

http://islamqa.com/index.php?pg=rslt&txt=Islamic+Schools+of+Thought&st=2&fld=5&pglist=100&ln=eng

Answer 6

there is getta be a good kitab on the four imams somewhere out there..then you can read all about them and their rulings.

Answer 7

There is no disagreement between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis on the articles of the faith. They all agree on the truthfulness of the Qur'an and the statements of the Prophet without any exception. Both sides derive their views and conclusions in the religious matters from these two important sources.

There are, however, disagreements on some of the details of the Islamic laws. These disagreements are due, partly, to the difference in understanding and interpreting some of the verses of the Holy Qur'an and some of the statements of the Prophet.

Some of the disagreements on the details of the Islamic rules are due to the following reasons:

1. Absence of specific instructions in both the Qur'an and the statements of the Prophet.

2. Lack of clarity in some of these statements and the capability of being interpreted in more than one way.

3. The existence of two opposite statements, both attributed to the Prophet.

One of the examples of disagreement caused by difference in interpretation of the Holy Qur'an is the following:

All Muslims agree that ablution is a requirement for a sound prayer, and that ablution would be undone by intercourse. They disagree on whether mere physical contact between man and woman, such as shaking hands, would undo the ablution of both of them. The reason is the difference in interpreting the following verse:

"And if ye be ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the toilet, or ye have touched women, and ye find no water, then go to high clean soil and rub your faces.... " 4:43

Some schools take the word "touch" literally and think that touch in any way would undo the ablution. Other schools understand from the word touch the intercourse.

Disagreements on the details of the Islamic rules exist not only between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis; they exist among the Sunnis themselves and among the Shi'ites themselves. With little exceptions, there is not any Shi'a's view or verdict that disagrees with all the Sunnis' views, and there is not any Sunni's view that is opposed to all Shi'ites' views. You can almost pick up any Sunni's verdict or interpretation, and you are bound to find the same view shared by some Shi'ites; and vice versa.

Disagreement on the details of some of the Islamic rules did not cause the Muslims to be divided into sects. It, however, caused the formation of many schools of thoughts which are called "Madhhabs." (Madhhab is a set of opinions or verdicts attributed to an outstanding imam who is considered, at least by his followers, as the prime authority in jurisprudence and Islamic law). Among these Madhhabs are the following living schools: Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Ja'fari, and Zaydi.

All these schools rely, and draw on, the Qur'an and the hadiths of the Prophet. But the first four are called Sunni, and the last two are called Shi'i.

The difference between the Shi'ite and the Sunnite schools is not greater than the difference among the Sunnite schools themselves. The political affiliation, however, made the followers of the Sunni schools frown upon the Shi'ite schools, and vice versa.

The following is a translation of the declaration which was published in the Egyptian and Lebanese press:(1)

His eminence (Sheikh Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltute) was asked: Some people view that in order to have religiously sound devotions and transactions, the Muslim has to follow one of the four known (Islamic) Madhhabs: Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki. This excludes the two Shi'i Madhhabs: Imami (Ja'fari) and Zaydi. Do you agree with this view without qualification and advise the Muslims not to follow the Ithna-Ashari Imami (Ja'fari) school for example?

His eminence answered (by setting forth the following points as an introduction to his verdict which is the last part of his answer):

1. It is permissible to the "non-Mujtahid" (the one who is not qualified to give his own opinion or verdict in the Islamic law) to follow the opinion of any of the "Ulama" (Muslim scholars), whose knowledge and piety are believed, provided such an opinion reaches its follower in a correct and nearly certain way, directly or indirectly. We should not be concerned with a view expressed in some books which claims that the four Madhhabs are the only ones to follow or that it is not permissible for a person to change from one Madhhab to another.
Sheikh Izzuddeen, the son of Abdulsalam said: The Muslims used to seek information about the Islamic laws, from any "alim" (Muslim Scholar) they happened to meet, regardless of the school to which he belonged. And such a way of obtaining information never was disapproved (by the Muslim Scholars) until these schools (the four appeared with their followers who became so bigoted that the follower of a Madhhab would follow his "imam" (leader) even if his opinion was supportable by no evidence. He followed him as if he were a messenger prophet. This is a shyness from the truth and soundness; it should not be accepted by the people of understanding.
2. The word "Shi'a," by which the followers of Ali (the son of Abu-Talib) are known, is derived from the word "Mushaya'ah" which means to follow. So the Shi'a of a person are his companions and followers. The name (Shi'a) has been given to many groups who disagree with Islam in many basic beliefs and laws. It is not permissible to follow the teaching of such groups because they are out of the circle of Islam.
3. There are other groups related to "Ali, " and they are his well-guided Shi'a who oppose and condemn the misguided ones. Of these good Shi'a is the group which is known by the name of "Ja'fari" or "Imami Ithna-Ashari. "
4. This well-known group follows principles that are taken from the Book of God and the teaching of His Messenger which reached them through their imams in both fundamental belief and Islamic law. The difference between the Ja'fari and Sunni schools is not greater than the difference among the Sunni schools themselves. They (the Ja'faris) believe in the fundamental principles of Islam as they are stated in the Glorious Qur'an and the certain teaching of the Prophet. They also believe in all the rules whose inclusion in the religion of Islam is self-evident and whose recognition is required for being a Muslim and the denial of which excludes the person from Islam .
5. The Madhhab of these Ja'fari Shi'ites in the Islamic laws is completely recorded and well-known. It has its own books, conveyers (who related the statements of the Prophet and the imams) and the supporting evidence. The authors of these books and those from whom these authors had received the (hadiths) are well-known, and their scholarly and jurisprudential ranks are respected among the Muslim scholars.
THE DECLARATION
From this explanation, it becomes evident that:

1. Islam does not command any of its followers to follow a particular Islamic Madhhab. On the contrary, it establishes for every Muslim the right to follow, at the beginning, any one of the correctly conveyed Madhhabs, whose verdicts are recorded in their respective books. It is permissible also for any one that follows one of these schools to change to another one - any other school - and he is not sinning by doing that.

2. The Ja'fari school which is known as ''the Madhhab of the Ithna-Ashari, Imami Shi'i" is a sound Madhhab. It is permissible to worship God according to its teaching, like the rest of the Sunni Madhhabs.

3. The Muslims ought to know this and get rid of their undue bigotry for particular Madhhabs. The religion of God and His law do not follow, nor are they bound to, a particular Madhhab. All (the founders of these Madhhabs) are Mujtahid (qualified to give verdict), reward-deserving from God, and acceptable to Him. It is permissible to the "non-Mujtahid" to follow them and to accord with their teaching, whether in devotions or transactions.

Answer 8

All are correct? LOL