page_title: Fiqh
section_title: Schools of jurisprudence
hierarchical_section_title: Fiqh / Components / Schools of jurisprudence
caption_attribution_description: English: Derived from File:Madhhab_Map2.png (Madhhab) Español: Distribución de las escuelas de derecho islámico (madhhab) predominantes en las regiones de mayoria musulmana. Français&#160;: Distribution des écoles de loi islamique (madhhab) prédominantes dans les régions majoritairement musulmanes.
context_page_description: Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is often described as the human understanding and practices of the sharia, that is human understanding of the divine Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah. Fiqh expands and develops Shariah through interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists and is implemented by the rulings of jurists on questions presented to them. Thus, whereas sharia is considered immutable and infallible by Muslims, fiqh is considered fallible and changeable. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam as well as political system. In the modern era, there are four prominent schools of fiqh within Sunni practice, plus two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a faqīh.
  Figuratively, fiqh means knowledge about Islamic legal rulings from their sources and deriving religious rulings from their sources necessitates the mujtahid to have a deep understanding in the different discussions of jurisprudence. A faqīh must look deep down into a matter and not suffice himself with just the apparent meaning, and a person who only knows the appearance of a matter is not qualified as a faqīh.
context_section_description: There are several schools of fiqh thought (Arabic: مذهب‎ maḏhab; pl. مذاهب maḏāhib)
  The schools of Sunni Islam are each named by students of the classical jurist who taught them.  The Sunni schools (and where they are commonly found) are
  Hanafi (Turkey, the Balkans, the Levant, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, China, Egypt, and Russia's Muslim community)
  Maliki (North Africa, West Africa and several of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf)
  Shafi'i (Kurdistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Egypt, East Africa, Southern Yemen, and southern parts of India)
  Hanbali (Saudi Arabia) see Wahhabism
  Zahiri (minority communities in Morocco and Pakistan)
  Jariri, Laythi, Awza'i, Thawri, and Qurtubi no longer exist.
  The schools of Shia Islam comprise:
  Ja'fari (Twelver Shia: Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.)
  Isma'ili (minority communities in Central Asia, India, and Pakistan)
  Zaydi (Northern Yemen)
  Entirely separate from both the Sunni and Shia traditions, Khawarij Islam has evolved its own distinct school.
  Ibadi (Oman)
  These schools share many of their rulings, but differ on the particular hadiths they accept as authentic and the weight they give to analogy or reason (qiyas) in deciding difficulties.
  The relationship between (at least the Sunni) schools of jurisprudence and the conflict between the unity of the Shariah and the diversity of the schools, was expressed by the 12th century Hanafi scholar Abu Hafs Umar an-Nasafi, who wrote: `Our school is correct with the possibility of error, and another school is in error with the possibility of being correct.”
caption: Map of the Muslim world with the main madh'habs.
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