The Four Imams & their Schools

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The Four Imams and their School, New,
*[-A4] Large Paperback - xxvi + 560 = Total 586 pages,
by Gibril Fouad al-Haddad,
Foreword by Sayyid Yousuf Hashim al-Rifa'i,
Published by ISC of America.

Now in Stock February 2025

Description :

The Great Edifice of Islamic Law is held up by four towering figures of the early middle ages: Imams; Abu Hanifa, al-Malik, al-Shafi’i, and Ibn Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with them. 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.''

Dr. Gibril Fouad Haddad was born in Beirut in 1380/1960. He embraced Islam while a graduate student in French literature at Columbia University in New York. He currently lives and teaches in Dar al-Salam Brunei. Since 1997 he has published many translations of classical texts by the living masters of the past and present.

Table of Contents :

---Dedication,
---Epigraphs,
---Teacher-Student Lineage of the Early Imams.

Author's Prefatory Notes :
---Chains of Transmission,
------Main Sources,
------Dates,
------Websites,
---Abbreviations,
---Commendation by Sayyid Yusuf Hashim al-Rifa'i,
------English Translation,
------Arabic Text.

The Four Imams and their Schools,
---Preface,

---[1]. Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man,

---[2]. Malik ibn Anas,

---[3]. al-Shafi'i,

---[4]. Ahmad ibn Hanbal,

---Appendices,
------The Controversy over the Pronunciation of the Qur'an,
------The Titles Shaykh al Islam, Muhaddith, Alim, Amir al-Mu'minin fil Hadith, and Ahl al-Hadith,
------A Concise Sunni Glossary of Fiqh, Hadith, Kalam, and Tasawwuf,
------Bibliography.

---Indices,
------Index of Qur'anic Verses,
------Index of Hadiths,
------Index Nominum,
------Index Operum,
------Index of Topics and Arabic Terms,
------Index of Groups, Sects and Tribes,
------Index of Places,
------Index of Poetry.