al-Fiqh ala al-Madhahib al-Arbaa
- Author died
- 1360 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya
al-Fiqh ala al-Madhahib al-Arbaa (The Jurisprudence According to the Four Schools) is a comparative manual of Islamic jurisprudence compiled by the Egyptian scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Jaziri (1299–1360 AH / 1882–1941 CE) covering the four Sunni legal schools: the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali madhhabs .
Background and Composition
The project was originally initiated under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf to provide an accessible reference of Islamic jurisprudence for mosque imams and scholars . The first volume was initially produced with the collaboration of a committee of scholars representing the four legal schools .
Following its initial release, al-Jaziri received numerous communications pointing out legal errors, ambiguity, and excessive brevity in parts of the first volume . He subsequently re-examined the work from beginning to end, referenced standard legal texts, added detailed topical headings and indexes to facilitate searchability, and refined the phrasing . Encouraged by public demand for the revised volume on worship, al-Jaziri undertook the authorship of the remaining sections on transactions and personal status independently .
Structure and Scope
The work is organized across major subject areas of Islamic law:
- Volume 1: Devotional acts (Ibadat), including ritual purification, prayer, and related rulings .
- Volumes 2 and 3: Financial and civil transactions (Mu'amalat), such as sales, trade, and judicial procedures .
- Volume 4: Personal status and family law (al-Ahwal al-Shakhsiyya), treating family obligations, marriage, and custody .
- Volume 5: Prescribed penalties and legal punishments (Kitab al-Hudud) .
Al-Jaziri died before the fifth volume was sent to print, leaving its chapters in draft notebooks . The publisher, al-Maktaba al-Tijariyya al-Kubra, subsequently obtained the manuscripts from his family and organized them to complete the five-volume set .
Method
The text is arranged to present shared legal definitions or agreed-upon matters in the primary text at the top of the page, while attributing the specific rules, conditions, and points of difference among the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools in the lower sections or footnotes . Al-Jaziri aimed to present the legal rulings in simplified phrasing and structured headings to allow non-specialists to locate the position of each school with ease .
Reception and Critique
The book achieved wide circulation among students and general readers due to its accessible layout and its consolidation of dispersed positions from across the four madhhabs into a single work .
However, scholars have noted several limitations in the compilation. Critiques highlight that the work largely omits the scriptural proofs (adilla) and underlying legal reasoning relied upon by each school . Reviewers also identified recurring errors in the attribution of views to specific madhhabs, instances where opinions were drawn from non-standard texts, and the inclusion of transmissions that are not considered the standard or relied-upon positions within those traditions .
Answer updated