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THE BRANCHES of ISLAM and the SCHOOLS of LAW Before Moving

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THE BRANCHES of ISLAM and the SCHOOLS of LAW Before Moving CHAPTER ONE THE BRANCHES OF ISLAM AND THE SCHOOLS OF LAW Before moving into the main body of the book, it seems to be an appro- priate juncture at which, for the benefi t of my non-Muslim readers, I should set out, as briefl y as possible, details of the two main branches of the faith and their diff erent schools of law. I shall be referring to these over and over again, and some readers will doubtless fi nd much to puzzle them. It should be noted, however, that a Muslim of either sex, who has attained the age of puberty, may renounce the doctrines of the school or sub-school to which he or she belongs, and adopt the tenets of any other school or sub-school, to the law of which he or she will then be subject. Th ere are no special formalities involved in such a change; a slight alteration in the saying of the prayer is all it will take to eff ect it. Th ere are two main branches of the faith, the Sunni and the Shi’ah (also known as the Shi’ite). Th is division originated as a result of the dispute concerning the Imamate of the spiritual leadership of Islam, which came up for settlement on the death of the Prophet. Th ose who uphold the principle of election by the people, with the ultimate choice of their own imams (caliphs) by means of votes, are the Sunni, the largest branch of the faith, today comprising some eighty-fi ve per cent of the world’s Muslims. Th e Sunni, representing the orthodox mainstream sect of Islam, recognize the fi rst four caliphs as the true suc- cessors of Prophet Muhammad. Th ey base their teachings on the Qur’an and traditional Muslim law (the Sunnah, derived from the words and the acts of the Prophet) and regard the decisions of the jama’a (those voted into leadership by the people) as of binding authority. Th e Shi’ah (taken from the word sha’a—meaning to follow) are those who advocate that the offi ce of imam should go to the Prophet’s own family by right of succession, or to his nominees. Th ey form the princi- pal minority sect of Islam, and are mainly infl uential in Iran, Iraq and the Indian subcontinent. Th e Shi’ah is composed of the followers of Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad), repudiating the authority of the Sunni jama’a and recognizing only the decisions given by its own spiritual leaders (the imams). It has its own system of law and theology, and emphasizes, more than the main Sunni branch, traditionalism and the political role of Islam. 12 chapter one While the Sunni have, throughout history, held the belief that just government can be established on the basis of correct Islamic prac- tice, the Shi’ah believe that such government by election can only be inherently unjust. Th e dispute between the two factions gave rise to a characteristic complexity in the judicial doctrines of the two schools. It should be pointed out, however, that the diff erence between the Sunni and the Shi’ah centres more on the questions relating to politi- cal events of the past, rather than to any general principles of law and jurisprudence. Th ese schools are sub divided yet again. Th e principle Shi’ah sub-schools are (1) Th e Ithna-Asharis, (2) the Ismailis, and (3) the Zaydites, and the diff erence between them is not so much in the interpretation of law, as in the points of doctrine. Th e largest of these sub-schools, the Ithna-Asharis, is the offi cial doctrine of Iran and of the Shi’ahs of the Arab Middle East and Pakistan (also known as the Ja’faris, aft er the sixth Imam Ja’far, who was the first to codify the Shi’ah law). Th e Ithna-Asharis are literally “the Twelvers”: the Shi’ah sect which believes in twelve infallible Imams. Th e four Sunni sub-schools are the Hanafi , the Maliki, the Shafi ’i, and the Hanbali. Each of these sub-schools derives its name from its founder. Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Hanafi School, Malik ibn Anas of the Maliki School, ibn al-Shafi e of the Shafi ’i School, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal of the Hanbali School. Th eir doctrines are essentially the same as regards traditional principles, and diff er from one another merely in matters of detail. It may be appropriate to mention that although there are many schools of Muslim law, they have a sectarian, not a territorial, basis. Th e laws of the various schools might diff er, but the followers of the same school in diff erent parts of the world are governed by the same law. Unfortunately, it has to be recognized that a far more extremist approach to Islam has given rise to serious confl ict, particularly in recent years, between the religious factions in areas such as Afghanistan (where the majority of the population are of the Hanafi School of the Sunni sect) and Iraq and Iran (the majority being of the Ithna-Asharis School of the Shi’ah, or Shi’ite, sect). Of course such religiously based confl icts have not been confi ned solely to Islam. Religious confl icts have existed, and still exist, worldwide, even among the other major religions such as Christianity, and one can only hope that such confl icts can be resolved with a much-needed return to global peace and harmony. Th ere is one further sect to which I will be referring when dealing with the legislations, and that is the Druzes of Lebanon and Syria. .
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