THE GREAT EDIFICE of Islamic Law is held up by four towering figures of the early middle ages: Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi i, and Ibn Hanbal. Because of their immense dedication and intellectual acuity, these men enjoy recognition to this day as Islam s most influential scholars. By assessing and ranking hadith, by cultivating a deep knowledge of the Arabic language, and by virtue of their great native intelligence, they are credited with having shaped the development of the fundamental systems of Muslim jurisprudence, avoiding the twin pitfalls of subjective rationalism and blind literalism. By doing so they not only protected their religion from chaos and disorder, but showed the Muslims, both ordinary and expert, the safest and most reliable ways of avoiding error in the understanding and practice of the divine law. This detailed study offers biographies of these four men and their leading pupils. It surveys the distinctive features of their jurisprudence, and assesses their achievement. An especially helpful feature is a long and detailed glossary of Islamic technical terms. Meticulously rooted in the core texts of Islamic scholarship, this book will be an important resource for Shari`a students everywhere. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad is the author of the first complete translation of Imam Baydawi's commentary of the Quran in any language. Among his works recently published by ISCA are The Rightly-Guided Caliphs: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī; The Muhammadan Light in the Qurʾan, Sunna, and Companion-Reports; The Prophet Muhammad's Knowledge of the Unseen; and the forty-hadith-through-forty-Sharifs bilingual Hadith compendium The Musnad of Ahl al-Bayt. He is currently working on the first English translation of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani's early Lebanon Sufi associations (1978-1981). He lives with his family in Brunei Darussalam.

In todays times there seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to the subject of following a madhab and Fiqhi Rulings. This seems to be one of the major reasons behing the differences and disagreements in the Muslim Ummah, especially today. However, it is of great importance to know about the lives of four Jurists of Islam whose works have survived until this day. Their juristic pronouncements have held sway over the entire Muslim world throughout history. This concise treatise will help us get to understand some of their methodologies when it came to extracting rulings from the two main sources of Islam, the Qur'an and Hadeeth. Although this treatise does not prove to remove all of the confusions and doubts among the Muslims, it definitely serves as a beginning point in order to get to know who these great Jurists of Islam were. I believe that for a simple layman, this book will prove extremely beneficial as a starting point before moving on to reading more advanced literature on this subject. Contents of the Book: CHAPTER 1: Imam Abu Haneefah About Imam Abu Haneefah His Birth, Upbringing and Education His Teachers His Lectures and Rulings His Knowledge The Compilation of Fiqh The Hanafi School of Thought His Character and Personality Imam Abu Haneefah - A Man of Principles His Imprisonment and Death His Students His Contribution and Islamic Legislation in Present Times CHAPTER 2: Imam Maalik About Imam Maalik Prevailing Conditions before his Birth His Birth, Upbringing and Education Start of Religious Lectures His Reverence for Ahadeeth and Love for the Prophet (S) Political Conditions of that Time His Selflessness and Modesty Imam Maalik – A Man of Principles His Caution Exercised in Rulings Main Principles of Maaliki School of Thought The Muwatta of Imam Maalik His Character and Personality His Death CHAPTER 3: Imam Shaafi'ee About Imam Shaafi'ee His Birth, Upbringing and Education Under Imam Maalik's Tutelage The Period of Hardship Under Imam Muhammad's Tutelage His Stay in Makkah and Widespread Fame The Basis of Principles of Fiqh His Disagreement with Imam Maalik A Balance between Ahlus-Sunnah and Ahlul-Rai Principles of The Shaafi'ee School of Thought His Dealings and Morality His Death CHAPTER 4: Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal About Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal His Birth, Upbringing and Education His Study Circle His Trial Scholar Par Excellence in Hadeeth and Fiqh Principles of the Hanbali School of Thought The Impact of the Hanbali School of Thought The Lifestyle of Imam Ahmad His Death Visit our eBook Store at: www.payhip.com/idpebooks Contact us at: [email protected]

The Lives of the Twelve is a pioneering work that details the lives of the Twelve Shia Imams. While most works on the Twelve Imams focuses on the basics of their lives, this text goes into the details of their social and political lives and how they affected change throughout their societies. Through extensive research, Shaykh Mahdi Pishvai has been able to craft together many details which were not widely known before. This is the first time a book of this caliber has been published in the English language. Today, we live in times where morality and a sense of right and wrong have all but disappeared. In light of this, we can turn to the teachings and wisdom of the Twelve in order to see how we can help bring back morality and that human sense of differentiating between right and wrong in our society. This work is composed of four distinct volumes, each of which goes into the lives of three of the twelve Imams. This volume deals with the social and political lives of Imam Ali (a), Imam Hasan (a), and Imam Husayn (a).

Abu Hanifah Nu'man ibn Thabit was one of the greatest pioneers in the history of Islamic Law, particularly in legal reasoning. The Hanafi Legal School that he founded has become the most widely followed among the world's Muslims. Based on primary sources, this study of the life and legacy of Abu Hanifah also surveys the evolution of Hanafi legal reasoning (fiqh) in different regions of the Islamic world and assesses its historical distinctiveness. Mohammed Akram Nadwi is a research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and is the author of several works including al-Muhaddithat: the Women Scholars in Islam (2007).

Why are there four schools of Islamic Law? It is necessary for Muslims to follow them, or should we take Islam direct from the Qur'an and the Sunna.This short work outlines the answer which the great scholars of the Sharia have given to these questions. Basing itself on the realization that it is binding on every Muslim to tallow the Qur'an and the Sunna, it explains the scholars' view that this is best achieved by following a great Mujtahid, and that amateur efforts to derive the Sharia from the revealed sources will lead to distortions of the Revelation.Divided into two sections, one giving the main argument in straightforward terms, and the other providing detailed notes to back up the argument, this book is necessary reading for every Muslim who wishes to follow the Qur'an and the Sunna accurately and completely.

Ibn Rajab's essay Refutation of Those Who Do Not Follow the Four Schools advocates for the necessity of following Islamic scholarship in general, and legal scholarship in particular. A large portion of the essay covers the history of the development of Islamic scholarship and how the Muslim Community came to recognize scholars as the source for authoritative knowledge. Readers of the essay will notice that Ibn Rajab is engaging individuals who saw themselves as equal or superior to prior generations of scholars, free to cast aside scholarship and to reinterpret without any need for requisite skills and knowledge. Although written seven centuries ago, it might as well have written with today's reformers in mind.

After the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Muslims were divided regarding whom they should follow as their political and religious leader. The Sunnis followed the Prophet’s companions whilst the Shias followed the 12 Holy Imams chosen by God. The Shia Imams were from the lineage of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from his only surviving daughter, Lady Fatimah (SA). Successive Shia Imams lived amongst the Muslims for generations and guided them to the true Islamic teachings of the Prophet. All of the Shia Imams were respected by the Muslims for their spirituality, divine knowledge, and being the progeny of the Prophet. The Imams were a symbol of resistance against the injustice and oppression of the Umayyads and the Abbasids. As a result, the Imams endured many calamities and hardships. They were harassed, imprisoned, and martyred by the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphs. This book reviews the lives of these 12 Holy Imams and provides an overview of their religious, social, and political achievements. Please visit our website at www.12shiaimams.com to find more about the Shia Imams including our recent videos.

Zarurat-ul-Imam, or The Need for the Imam, spells out in depth the urgency and need for the Imam of the age, and his qualities and hallmarks as the Divinely appointed guide, the voice articulate of the age, and the constant recipient of Divine revelations, and how all these qualities are fully present in the person of the holy author.