Understanding the Jurisprudential Thoughts Behind the Legal Reasonings of the Maliki and Hanafi Schools

Abstract

It is common knowledge among students of Islamic Law that opinions coming from either Maliki Madhab or Hanafi Madhab are commonly termed ‘Opinion of the Hanafi School’ and ‘Opinion of the Maliki School’, which is not only in reference to the opinions of their founders but also by extension opinions of their students or scholars that subscribe to the ideology of the schools. However, it is not known to most how that particular opinion was reached. What influenced such opinion? Which methodologies were used in arriving at such opinion? And what are the underlying reasons behind these legal thoughts? An attempt has been made to answer these questions, by studying the lives of these two Imams, their academic sojourns, their methodologies; and by extension the factors that influences their thoughts and also the features of their respective madhab which is a clear reflection of their thoughts and methodologies.