Islamic Law

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111 CE) was among the most influential thinkers in Islamic history. His Ihya Ulum al-Din synthesized law, theology, and mysticism, while his critique of Aristotelian rationalism and account of spiritual crisis remain landmarks of medieval thought.

Abu Dawood Sulaiman ibn al-Ash'ath (817–889 CE) was one of the six canonical hadith scholars of Sunni Islam. His Sunan Abu Dawood, distilled to about 4,800 hadith, was the first major collection organized around Islamic legal topics, becoming an essential reference for jurists.

Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man ibn Thabit (699–767 CE) founded the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the most widely followed legal tradition in the Muslim world. A silk merchant turned scholar, he developed a method balancing scripture with reason, and died in Abbasid imprisonment.

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767–820 CE) founded the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and was the architect of Islamic legal theory. His Al-Risala established the first systematic framework for deriving law from its sources, resolving a crisis of conflicting legal opinions.

Malik ibn Anas (711–795 CE) was the Imam of Medina and founder of the Maliki school of jurisprudence. His Al-Muwatta was the first systematic work joining hadith with legal reasoning, and his idea of the living practice of Medina as a source of law was a distinctive contribution.

The madhabs, the schools of Islamic law that developed methods for deriving rulings from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Four Sunni schools and the Shi'a traditions have guided Muslim practice for over a millennium; they are schools of method, not sects.

Founded in 638 CE as a military garrison, Kufa became one of the most consequential cities of early Islam — capital of Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, birthplace of the Iraqi legal tradition, a center of Arabic grammar and hadith, and the city where the Abbasid revolution was launched.

An Indian Hanafi jurist widely titled Mufti-e-Azam, or Grand Mufti of India. He led Madrasa Aminia in Delhi for nearly half a century, was a founder and twice president of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, and left some four and a half thousand legal rulings collected as Kifayat al-Mufti.

A Pakistani Hanafi jurist who led Darul Uloom Karachi as its president from 1986 until his death in 2022. Titled Grand Mufti, he served on Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology and wrote on zakat, on Hanafi law, and on the hadith commentary Fath al-Mulhim.

A Pakistani Hanafi jurist and writer on Islamic law, trained at Darul Uloom Karachi and in economics and law at Karachi and Punjab. He served on Pakistan's higher courts, completed the hadith commentary Fath al-Mulhim, and shaped the standards of modern Islamic finance.

Sharia is the comprehensive legal and moral framework of Islam, derived from the Quran and Sunnah. It encompasses ethics, spirituality, and social justice, aiming to promote human welfare and establish a just society based on divine guidance.

The Sunnah represents the teachings, practices, and sayings of Prophet Muhammad, serving as the second primary source of Islamic guidance after the Quran. It provides practical examples of how to implement Quranic principles in daily life.

The division between Sunni and Shia Islam, originating from disputes over leadership succession after Prophet Muhammad's death, evolved into distinct theological, legal, and political traditions that have shaped Islamic civilization.

The legal status accorded to Christians, Jews and other recognised religious minorities under Islamic rule. It secured life, property, worship and communal autonomy in return for a special tax and defined restrictions, and lasted into the twentieth century.

The Farewell Pilgrimage (Hajjat al-Wada) of 632 CE was the only Hajj Prophet Muhammad performed after the Hijra. Its rites, recorded in detail by his companions, became the model for Hajj in Islamic law, and his addresses at Arafat and Mina set out enduring obligations.

The Quran is the scripture of Islam, held by Muslims to be the speech of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad over some twenty-three years. It comprises 114 surahs and, in the Egyptian standard edition, 6,236 verses.