The Muslim Law is based on the teachings of the Quran and Prophet Mohammad. In all the circumstances where the explicit command is provided, it is faithfully provided but there have been many areas that are not covered by these sources and as a result, the great scholars had themselves devised their interpretation of what should be done in such a situation. As these scholars provided their interpretations (Qiyas) regarding the Muslim Law, it led to various opinions among many of them, and out of such differences, different schools of Muslim Law originated.

At the time of the death of the Prophet, there was a quarrel between the two groups of imamate(temporal leadership of the religion) in which one group favor the principle of the election in choosing the Imam known as ‘Sunni’ and one group opposed the principle of the election in choosing the Imam and proclaimed that the Ali is the successor of the prophet. This group is known as ‘Shia’. In Islam, the people have been divided into two sects having different views regarding certain aspects of Islam. Thus, the schools of Muslim law can be broadly classified into two categories: 1. Sunni Schools and 2. Shia Schools

Sunni School:

The name Sunni is derived from the phrase Ahl al-Sunnah, meaning the People of the Tradition. The ‘Sunni’ word is derived from the Arabic word ‘Sunnah’ which means ‘way’, referring to “One of the path” or “one who follows the traditions of the Prophet”.
One group that favors the principle of the election is choosing the Imam. This group is known as “Sunni’.Here, tradition refers to the practices based on what the Prophet Mohammad said, did agree with, and condemned. 

Shia Schools

The name Shia comes from a movement Shiat Ali, meaning the Party of Ali. The Shia Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was the rightful successor to the Mohmmad as leader of Islam. 

A. Hanafi School – Hanafi School is the first and the most popular school in Muslim law. Before being named Hanafi, this school was known as Koofa School which was based on the name of the city of Kufa in Iraq. Later, this school was renamed Hanafi School based on the name of its founder Abu Hanafee. The Prophet had not allowed his words and traditions from being written, the Hanafi School relied on the customs and decisions of the Muslim community. Thus, Hanafi School codified the precedent which in prevalent during that time among the Muslim community. The founder of this school Abu Hanafee had not written any book for laying down the rules of this school and therefore this school had grown through his two disciples- Imam Muhammed and Imam Abu Yousuf. Both of them gave to the Juristic preference (Isthi Hasan) and codified the Ijmas of that period. 

B. Maliki School – This school gets its name from Malik-bin-Anas, he was the Mufti of Madeena. During his period the Khoofa was considered the capital of Muslim Khaleefa where Imam Abu Haneefa and his disciples flourished with Hanafi Schools. He discovered about 8000 traditions of the Prophet but complied with only about 2000 of them. When the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa codified their law based on Ijma’a and Isthihsan. The Maliki school gives importance to the Sunna and Hadis whereas the Hanafi school gives importance to the people and Isthihsan. As per Maliki School and Law, they rarely accept the Ijma’a. As per the Law, the person who gave Fatwa challenged the sovereign authority of Khaleefa, he faced enmity and of lack of support from Muslim governments. Thus, this Maliki school did not get much popularity.

C. Shafi School – The Shafi School gets its name from the name of Muhammad bin Idris Shaffie, his period was between 767 AD to 820 AD. He was the student of Imam Malik of Madeena. Then he started working with the disciples of Imam Abu Haneefa and went to Khoofa. He concludes the ideas and the theories of the Hanafi School and Maliki School in a friendly manner. Imam Shaffie was considered one of the greatest jurists of Islam. He created the classical theory of the Shaffie Islamic Jurisprudence. According to this school, they considered Ijma’a as the important source of Muslim law and provide validity to the customs of the Islamic people, and follow more methods of the Hanafi School. the main contribution of Shaffie School is the Quiyas or Analogy. The followers of the Shafi School are spread in Egypt, Southern Arabia, South East Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia.  

D. Hanbal School – Ahmad bin Hanbal is the founder of the Hanbali School. He found the Hanbali school in 241 (AD 855). He is the disciple of Imam Shaffie and supports Hadis. He strongly opposed the Ijtihad methods. He introduced the theory of tracing the root of Sunna and Hadis and try to get answer all his questions. His theory was to return to the Sunna of the Prophet. When Imam Shafie left for Baghdad, he declared that Ahmad bin Hanbal was the only one who is the better jurist after him. The followers of the Hanbali school are found in Syria, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. 

2. Shia Schools : 

As per Shia Sect, there are three schools of law. Shia Sect is considered the minority in the Muslim world. They enjoy political power only in Iran though they don’t have the majority in that state also. Following are the Schools under the Shia sect

A. Ithna-Asharis – These schools are based on the following of Ithna-Ashari laws. The followers of these schools are mostly found in Iraq and Iran. In India also there is the majority of Shia Muslims follow the principles of the Ithna-Asharis School. They are considered political quietists. This school is considered the most dominant school among Shia Muslims. the Jafari fiqh of the Shias in most cases indistinguishable from one or more of the four Sunni madhahib, except mutah is considered a lawful marriage. The people who follow the Ithna Asharis school believe that the last of the Imams disappeared and to be returning as Mehdi(Messiah). 

B. The Ismailis – According to the Ismailis school, in India, there are two groups, the Khojas or Western Ismailis represent the followers of the present Aga Khan, who they considered as the 49th Imam in this line of Prophet, and the Bohras i.e. the Western Ismailis are divided into Daudis and Sulaymanis. The Bohras and Khojas of Mumbai are considered the followers of this school. It is considered that the follower of these schools has special knowledge of religious doctrine. 

C. Zaidys – The followers of this school are not found in India but are maximum in number in South Arabia. This sect. of the Shia, school is the most dominant among all in Yemen. The followers of these schools are considered political activists. They often reject the twelve Shia school philosophies.

Other schools: Besides the schools under Shia and Sunni sects, there are some other schools that are also present which are:

 1. Ibadi School – Ibadi is a school that belongs neither to the Shia nor Sunni sect and this school claim that its history traces back to the times of 4th Khaleefa Ali. The Ibadi school gives more preference to the Quran and they do not give the Sunna much importance. This school has its followers in Oman. One of the most important points about this school is that besides the Quran, it has provided principal consideration to Ijtihad (personal reasoning) which has been partially accepted by the Sunnis and has been completely rejected by the Shias. 

2. Ahmadiya School – The followers of the Ahmadiya school claim to be Muslims but they do not follow Prophet Muhammed. This school has a recent origin and they are followers of one Ahmed who was alive in the 19th century. This school is said to have a British-Indian origin and Mirza Ghulam Khadiani is the founder of this school, who served the British Government. Even though this school claims to be a follower of Islam, none of the Muslim governments has accepted them as Muslims because they believe this school’s faith is completely against the faith of Muslims. The Khadiyan village which is situated in Punjab in India is said to be the birthplace of Ahmed and thus it is their holy place the followers are also known as Kadhiyani. There is no authoritative book of this school and because its origin is also recent, it has no recognition by the other authoritative books of Islam. There are many differences between the Ahmadiya School and Muslims therefore, they are not regarded as part of Islam. The major points of difference between them are as follows:

 1. The Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad was the Messenger of God on Earth and he was the last Prophet who had spoken with God. Thus, his teachings are an important part of the lives of Muslims but the Ahmadiyas believe that God still communicates with his holy servants even after Prophet Mohammad.

 2. The Ahmadiyans claim that the list of Prophets before Mohammad includes Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster and Ramchandra and they claim it is according to the Quran but the non-Ahmadiyans do not accept such claims and refuse to acknowledge them as Prophets. 

3. Unlike the Muslims, the Ahmadiyans do not accept the claim of the Sultan of Turkey as the Caliphate and they claim that every Muslim person should remain loyal to the Government of their country. 

4. While Muslims believe that Mahdi will have a holy war or Jihad and Islam will be spread by the sword, the Ahmadiyas believe that it will be spread by arguments and heavenly signs and not through violence.

Conclusion

While the major schools of Muslims can be divided into the two sects of Shia schools and Sunni schools, even the schools under these sects have been further divided into various schools. Each school has its own beliefs and practices and because is no set rule regarding the matters on which the Quran is silent, one school cannot be said to be better positioned than the other schools thus even though there are many schools in Muslim law, they all lead to one path