Overview

The Sunni schools of law are named for jurisprudents of the 8th and 9th centuries, but they did not actually function so early. The main division at that time was rather between adherents of ra'y and hadith. The schools had no regular means of forming students. Relying mainly on biographical dictionaries, this study traces the constitutive elements of the classical schools and finds that they came together in the early 10th-century, particularly with the work of Ibn Survaj (d. 306/918), al-Khallal (d. 311/923), and a series of hanafi teachers ending with al-Karkhi (d. 340/952). Malikism prospered in the West for political reasons, while the ahiri and Jariri schools faded out due to their refusal to adopt the common new teaching methods. In this book the author fleshes out these historical developments, while at the same time developing some different perpectives.

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9789004109520

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Reviews

' Melchert puts the institutional history of Islamic law on a new evidentiary basis. His account of the origins of the madhhab s of law is clear and carefully documented. Readers will find new accounts of how the different schools approached the law: of the nature of traditionalist jurisprudence, of its effect on jurisprudence by ra'y, of the compromise nature of the classical madhhab s of law. Of basic importance is Melchert's thorough knowledge of the sources and his insightful use of them. He has made a fundamental contribution to the field.'<br>George Makdisi, Professor Emeritus of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.<br>' this book could have enormous significance for scholars working in Islamic theology, history, and Sufism.'<br>Jonathan E. Brockopp, Religious Studies Review, 2000.<br>

Author Information

Christopher Melchert, Ph.D. (1992) in History, University of Pennsylvania, is a student of Islamic movements and institutions of the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. He has published half a dozen articles besides this, his first book.

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