"Ancient" schools According to
John Burton, "modern research shows" that
fiqh was first "regionally organized" with "considerable disagreement and variety of view". In the second century of Islam, schools of
fiqh were noted for the loyalty of their jurists to the legal practices of their local communities, whether
Mecca,
Kufa,
Basra, Syria, etc. (Egypt's school in
Fustat was a branch of Medina's school of law and followed such practices—up until the end of the 8th century—as basing verdict on one single witness, not two, and the oath of the claimant. Its principal jurist in the second half of the 8th century was al-Layth b. Sa'd.)
Al-Shafiʽi wrote that, "every capital of the Muslims is a seat of learning whose people follow the opinion of one of their countrymen in most of his teachings". The "real basis" of legal doctrine in these "ancient schools" was not a body of reports of
Muhammad's sayings, doings, silent approval (the
Hadith) or even those of
his Companions, but the "living tradition" of the school as "expressed in the consensus of the scholars", according to
Joseph Schacht.
Al-Shafi‘i and afterwards It has been asserted that
madhahib were consolidated in the 9th and 10th centuries as a means of excluding dogmatic theologians, government officials and non-Sunni sects from religious discourse. Historians have differed regarding the times at which the various schools emerged. One interpretation is that Sunni Islam was initially split into four groups: the
Hanafites,
Malikites,
Shafi'ites, and
Zahirites. Later, the
Hanbalites and
Jarirites developed two more schools; then various dynasties effected the eventual exclusion of the Jarirites; eventually, the Zahirites were also excluded when the
Mamluk Sultanate established a total of four independent
judicial positions, thus solidifying the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools. Some are of the view that Sunni jurisprudence falls into two groups: ''Ahl al-Ra'i
("people of opinions", emphasizing scholarly judgment and reason) and Ahl al-Hadith'' ("people of traditions", emphasizing strict interpretation of scripture). 10th century
Shi'ite scholar
Ibn al-Nadim named eight groups: Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i, Zahiri,
Imami Shi'ite, Ahl al-Hadith, Jariri, and
Kharijite.
Abu Thawr also had a school named after him. In the 12th century Jariri and Zahiri schools were absorbed by the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools respectively.
Ibn Khaldun defined only three Sunni
madhahib: Hanafi, Zahiri, and one encompassing the Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools as existing initially, noting that by the 14th-century historian the Zahiri school had become extinct, only for it to be revived again in parts of the Muslim world by the mid-20th century. Historically, the
fiqh schools were often in political and academic conflict with one another, vying for favor with the ruling government in order to have their representatives appointed to legislative and especially judiciary positions. Examples of the latter approach include networks of Indonesian
ulama and Islamic scholars residing in Muslim-minority countries, who have advanced liberal interpretations of Islamic law. ==Schools==