The Five Schools of Islamic Law

This copy has a slightly damaged spine but is otherwise in new condition.

This work on the Shariah or Islamic Law offers a comparative study of the Divine Law that, according to authentic Islamic doctrines, embodies the Will of God in society. The five major schools that are used in the comparison are: Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafii, Maliki and Jafari. The unity of the schools becomes apparent, but it is perhaps the differences that are of the greater interest because it shows how open the Law is to a variety of views. It is from this diversity of interpretations of the Law, which are based on the Quran and the Sunnah, that unity develops when each diverse group is willing to concede the possibility of the other's interpretation when it is based on the same two sources. The main issues of the five schools under discussion are inheritance (irs),  prescribed poor-due (zakat), twenty percent tax (Khums), will and bequest (wasiyat).