The Significance of the Sunni Schools of Law in Islamic Religious History

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8967249
AutoresGeorge Makdisi (University of Pennsylvania, autor correspondente)
Ano1979
Volume10
Fascículo1
Páginas1-8
Data de publicação1979-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020743800053277
OpenAlexW2130262226
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas17
Referências citadas1

One of the more interesting phenomena in Islamic religious history is the development of the schools of law. This phenomenon has seldom failed to arouse ourinterest, though it has consistently eluded our understanding. The difficulty in grasping the significance of the schools of law is evidenced by vacillation in translating the term madhhab . This term was first translated as ‘sect,’ then as ‘rite’ or ‘school.’ But a Sunni madhhab could not be a sect, since the term ‘sect’ is applied to a dissenting religious body, one that is heretical in the eyes of other members within the same communion. That is not the case with the Sunni madhhabs , all of which are regarded equally as orthodox. Nor is the term ‘rite’ an adequate one, since it applies to a division of the Christian church as determined by liturgy; and, unlike a transfer from one rite to another in Christianity, a transfer requiring certain formalities, the transfer in Islam is made from one madhhab to another without any formalities whatsoever. The term ‘school,’ for lack of a better term, is the most acceptable; it is the one that offers the least difficulty

Christianity · Epistemology · History of religions · Islam · Liturgy · Political science · Rite · Sect · Sharia · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies