Madhhabs in the Islamic law. Comparative legal analysis

Abstract

The author undertakes an attempt to conduct a comparative legal analysis of four Sunni madhhabs which are traditionally in practice in most Islamic states. The occurrence in early Islam of legal doctrines that later became the basis for the development of madhhabs was generated by the need to adapt the main propositions presented in Quran and Sunna to the new historical, socio-economic and political conditions that existed in the Muslim world by the end of the 7^th century. The need to resolve issues of Muslim law (fiqh) at the same time demanded to apply the additional sources (hadiths) and to develop special methodology of working with them. Most hadiths were interpreted by the Sunni differently what became an additional reason for creating systematic doctrines that, while distributing and canonizing the Sunni fiqh, were called madhhabs.

In the modern world, madhhabs keep playing a considerable role not only in the Islamic law but also in the everyday life of the ummah: mistakes made by ordinary Muslims (who are not aware of the correct interpretation of the Quran or Sunna) while construing this or that hadith or ayat are fraught with both, violating the rules of behavior and serious religious conflicts. And finally, it is by means of madhhabs that the fiqh principles mould the Islamic law into a coherent legal system.