THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHAFIE SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

The founder of shafi’i school of thought, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris Al-
Shafi’i was born in Gaza, Palestine in 150 AH. After he move to mecca, Imam Shafi’i
become the student of Muslim bin Khalid al-Zenji who was his first teacher 1. Some of his
famous teacher in Mecca include Sufyan bin 'Uyainah and Sa'id bin Salim Al-Qaddah. When
Imam Shafi’I turn 20 years old and finish his education in mecca, he travelled to Madinah to
study Muwatta by Mālik bin Anas, the founder of maliki school and later become his student
for 10 years. The time Imam Shafi’i spend in Medina to seek knowledge enable him to
become scholar of hadith2

Imam Shafi’i started his own institution (madrasah) in Mecca and begin to author
book and manuscript to explain his fiqh such as Khilaf Malik which focus on criticising his
teacher Imam Malik on fiqh related issue. Imam Shafi’i stay in mecca for 12 years before
returning to Baghdad in 195 AH. While in Baghdad, he author two of the best know book by
him, Al-Risalah where he explain about  legal significance of the Quran and the sunnah and
Al-Umm which is a compilation of several other books which contain  Islamic code
of law that is used as an authoritative guide by the Shafi'i school of fiqh until today. Imam
Syafi’I made several amendments to his book when he encounters and interact with Maliki
scholar while visiting Egypt in 199 AH.

Imam Shafi’i passed away in 204 AH at the age of 54 and buried in Egypt. With
regard to his immense and great knowledge on fiqh and his renounced learning institution he
founded, many of his great student began to spread shafie school throughout the Islamic
empire mainly in the region of Persia and Khorasan located in modern day Iran. In
Transoxiana. Shafi’I scholar clash with Hanafi school of thought but nonetheless they were
able to compete with Hanafi scholar. Shafie school of thought held firm ground when sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni, ruler of the Transoxiana of Ghaznavids dynasty embraced shafie school.
Todays. Shafie school is followed by the ummah in Southern Egypt, Western Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei.3 Some of the world most renowned scholar such as
Imam-ul-Haramain Abdul Malik bin Abdullah al-Juwayni, HujjatulIslam Imam Muhammad

1
Muslim bin Khalid Az-Zanji: Guru Pertama Asy-Syafi’i di Mekkah retrieved from
https://bincangsyariah.com/khazanah/muslim-bin-khalid-az-zanji-guru-pertama-asy-syafii-di-mekkah/

2
Hazrat Imam Shafi‘I retrieved from https://www.alhakam.org/hazrat-imam-shafii/

3
Islamic Jurisprudence & Law retrieved from https://veil.unc.edu/religions/islam/law/
al-Ghazali, Allama Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Abu Hamid al-Asfara‘ini and Taqi al-Din al-Subki
associated with shafie school.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MALIKI SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir was born on 93 AH in the city of medina.
Imam Malik received education from various scholar of Madina in the area of hadith, history
and fiqh. One of such is Abdur Rehman bin Hurmuz who teach imam mallik about fiqh.
Aside from fiqh, Ibn Hurmuz had knowledge of the fundamentals of Islam and the views of
sects of the time and their history 4. Imam Malik also had the honour to study with Ibn Shihab
al-Zuhri who was prominence scholar of hadith and one of the pioneers of Al-Seerat an-
Nabawiyyah or sirah with is the biography of the prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Unlike other
imam, all Imam Malik teacher belong to medina. Imam Malik didn’t travel elsewhere in
pursuit of education like Imam Shafi’i who study in mecca. Baghdad, Egypt etc.5

After completing his education, with the approval and guidance of his teachers, he
began teaching hadith. Imam Malik began teaching in Masjid al-Nabawi. His madrasah
slowly gained popularity and his lessons of hadith received praised throughout medina. His
popularity increased, and acceptance spread, so much so that he received the titles of Imam
Dar-ul-Hijrat, Ustaz Medinatur-Rasul and Amirul Momineen fil-Hadith. Imam malik student
can from all sort of land in the Islamic empire for instance Spain, Africa and Turkistan just to
name a few. One of the great students of imam maliki is imam syafii, the founder of syafii
school of thought it self. imam syafie remained the stuetn of imam maliki for 10 years so
much so historian believe some of imam syafii way of fiqh can be tribute back to imam
maliki.6

The popularity of maliki school of thought is to be caused by maliki student, who was
respected scholar, jurist and high rank government official. Six khalifah of the Abbasid
empire were, at one point, the student of Imam Malik. Those are Abu Jafar Mansur, Hadi,
Mahdi, Harun al-Rashid, Al-Amin and Mamun al-Rashid. Abdullah bin al-Hakam was also a
famous student of Imam Malik and a knowledgeable Islamic jurist.  His book, Al-Mukhtasir
al-Kabir consists of 18,000 rulings. He wrote a biography on Umayyad caliph Umar bin
Abdul Aziz in light of Imam Malik’s account. Abdullah bin al-Hakam served as the governor
4
Life of Imam Malik (RA) retrieved from https://today.salamweb.com/life-of-imam-malik-ra/
55 6
Hazrat Imam Malik retrieved from https://www.alhakam.org/hazrat-imam-malik/
6
in a region of Egypt. The Maliki school of thought gained popularity in Spain through Isa bin
Dinar and Yahya bin Yahya al-Laythi, both of whom were devoted and talented students of
Imam Malik. Today, Muslim who associated themselves with Maliki school of thought live
mostly in North Africa, West Africa, Chad, Sudan, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Emirate of Dubai
(UAE), and in northeaster parts of Saudi Arabia7

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HANAFI SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Numan bin Thabit bin Zuta also known as Imam Abu Hanifah was born on  80 AH in
Kufa, Iraq. Imam Abu Hanifah came from a business family. At young age Imam Abu
Hanifah take care of his father garment business. Imam Abu Hanifah was consider the
wealthiest among all other major imam. However, the burden of family business did not stop
him to seek knowledge at the young age. Imam Abu Hanifah had a lot of teacher. Some
source claim around 4000 pople have called abu hanifah student which include 7 from the
sahabab (companion). 93 from the tabi‘in and the remailing is from atba‘ tabi‘in.8. One of the
most important and influential teachers of fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifah was Imam Hamaad bin
Abi Sulaiman who was a scholar of hadith traditions and narrators and was a famous scholar
and jurist of his time in Kufa.9

Imam Hamaad bin Abi Sulaiman was a great scholar who acquired knowledge from
many pretigeis scholar and his instituan or madrasah was linked with such a
prestigious ijtihad promoting madrasah that was an authority in the fields of traditions,
narrators, nass (sources of ruling) and tafaqquh. Imam hammad bin abi sulaiman was very
influential to imam abu hanifah. Imam abu hanifah spend 18 years studying with him did not
start becoming a teacher until after Imam Hammad death in 120H10 the centre mosque of kufa
become the madrasah for imam Abu Hanifah to which he had lot of student. Abu al-Wafa al-
Qurashi claimed imam Abu Hanifah have around 4000 students while Ibn Hajar al-Haytami
claimed it around 800 student. His student is form various specialties such as linguistics,
hadith, history, tafaqquh, qiyas and sociology

7
Islamic Jurisprudence & Law retrieved from https://veil.unc.edu/religions/islam/law
8
Mohd Anuar Mamat Scholarship of Imam Abu Hanifah Al-Nu’man in Education by
9
Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa by Malik Saif-ur-Rahman retrieved from https://www.alhakam.org/hazrat-imam-
abu-hanifa/

10
Zafar Ishaq Ansari Abū Ḥanīfah Muslim jurist and theologian by retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Hanifah
 Hanafi school of thought spread far and wide despite Imam Abu Hanifa never wrote
any book himself. However Some journals are attributed to him such as Al-Fiqh-ul-Akbar,
which was on doctrine and Kitab-ul-Alim wal-Muta‘allim, which was on the etiquette of
gaining knowledge. Two of his student Imam Yaqub bin Habib al-Ansari also known as
Imam Abu Yusof and Imam Muhammad bin Hasan al-Shaybani preserved Imam Abu
Hanifah view on fiqh. Imam Abu Yusuf was the qazi al-quzat (chief jurist) during the time of
Harun al-Rashid, which was a respectable position under the Abbasid rule. During Abbasid
reign, most of the qazis (jurists) appointed was belonging to the Hanafi school of thought thus
make entire government highly influenced by the Hanafi beliefs. Today Muslim in India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Central Asia, The Caucasus, The Balkans, Turkey and
Egypt associated themselves with Hanafi school of thought

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HAMBALI SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Abū ʿAbdillāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal Ash-Shaybānī or imam ahmad was
born on 164 AH Baghdad. Just like other prominence imam, imam ahmad bagin seeking
knowledge at the very young age. One of his earliest teacher was Abu Yusuf who was a
renowned student and companion of Imam Abu Hanifa, to which he study fiqh, hadith and
the lives of the Companions11. At the age of 22. Imam Ahmad travelled to Basra, Kufa and
the Hejaz to study hadith from world-famous muhadithin (scholars of Hadith). During his trip
to Hejaz that he first met Imam Shafi’i. In Mecca. Imam Ahmad become the student of
Sufyan bin Uyanah who also the teacher of imam syafii in Mecca. In Yemen, he studied the
narrations of the famous muhadith  Abdur Razzaq bin Al-Hammam and acquired a certificate
of authority12.

Imam ahmad specialty is fiqh and legal rulings of the Companions. However, his
field of interest remained hadith and the lives of the Companions and thus, he dedicated his
whole life to learning and teaching these subjects. At the age of 40, Imam Ahmad founded his
own institution (madrasah) in 204AH after his most beloved teacher, Imam Shafi‘i passed
away. Imam Ahmad author book of hadith compilation called Musnad Imam Ahmad which
contain 30,000 to 40,000 hadith and narrations of Companions. Imam ahmad work is so

11
Ahmad B. Hambal by Livnat Holtzman retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299276832_Ahmad_ibn_Hanbal
12
Alhakam_admin_@. (2020, January 31). Hazrat Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal retrieved from
https://www.alhakam.org/hazrat-imam-ahmad-bin-hanbal/
extraordinary that it is said to be guardian and foundation of all future muhadithin such as
Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim who referred to Musnad Imam Ahmad while preparing
their compilations

Imam Ahmad way of fiqh have become widely accepted by his followers, alongside
his books. his students, including Abu Bakr al-Athram, Abu Bakr al-Maruzi and many more
spent their lives devoted to spreading his doctrines. Renowned scholar such as Imam Ibn
Taymiyyah and Imam Ibn al-Qayyim were affiliated with Hambali school of thought.
However. Hanbali school of thought is regard as too orthodox and conservative. Hanbali
scholar have many disputes with new mujtahid on their different approach on ijtihad 13. The
followers of the Hanbali school were harsh on the public and would not stop from creating
disorder. For that reason, Hanbali school are not widely acceptable by people and today only
the country of Saudi Arabia affiliated themselves with Hanbali school14

13
Alhakam_admin_@. (2020, January 31). Hazrat Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal retrieved from
https://www.alhakam.org/hazrat-imam-ahmad-bin-hanbal/
14
Islamic Jurisprudence & Law retrieved from https://veil.unc.edu/religions/islam/law/