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The Zahiri school or Zahirism is a
school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...
of
Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica
''Fiqh'' is of ...
within
Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...
. It was named after
Dawud al-Zahiri Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf al-Ẓāhirī (; 815–883 CE / 199–269 AH) was a Sunni Islam, Sunnī Muslim Ulama, scholar, Faqīh, jurist, and Islamic theology, theologian during the Islamic Golden Age, specialized in the study of Sharia, Isl ...
and flourished in
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during the
Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
under the leadership of Ibn Hazm. It was also followed by the majority of Muslims in
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, the Balearic Islands, and
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
. The Zahiri school lost it's presence around the 14th-century. The school is considered to be endangered, but it continues to exert influence over legal thought. Today It is followed by minority communities in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. The Zahiri school is characterized by strict adherence to literalism and reliance on the outward (''ẓāhir'') meaning of expressions in the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
and ''ḥadīth'' literature; the consensus (''ijmāʿ'') of the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (''ṣaḥāba''), for sources of
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
(''sharīʿa''); and rejection of analogical deduction (''qiyās'') and societal custom or knowledge (''urf''), used by other schools of Islamic jurisprudence, although the anti-Hazm wing of Zahiris usually accept religious inference. After a limited success and decline in the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, the Zahiri school flourished in Islamic Iberia, particularly under the leadership of the Andalusian Muslim jurist Ibn Hazm. The Zahiri school is said to have lingered on in various locations under various manifestations before being superseded by the Hanbali school.


History


Emergence

During his formative years, al-Ẓāhirī relocated from
Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...
to
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
and studied the prophetic traditions (''ḥadīth'') and Quranic exegesis (''tafsīr'') with a number of notable Muslim scholars of the time,Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. II, C-G, pg. 182. Eds. Bernard Lewis, Charles Pellat and Joseph Schacht. Assist. J. Burton-Page, C. Dumont and V.L. Menage. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1971. Photomechanical print. including Abū Thawr, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Al-Dhahabi, , v.13, Entry 55, pp. 97–108Abu Ishaq al-Faqih, Tabaqat al-Fuqaha, pg.92 His study under renowned figures of traditionalist theology (''Atharī'') was in contrast to the views of his father, who was a follower of the less orthodox Ḥanafī school. Christopher Melchert, The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th–10th Centuries C.E., pg. 179. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997.Dr. Omar A. Farrukh
ZaharismA History of Muslim Philosophy
Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project
Goldziher, pg.28 Indian Muslim reformist Chiragh Ali has suggested that Ẓāhirī's school was, like that of Ibn Ḥanbal, actually a direct reaction to the Ḥanafī system of jurisprudence. The Ẓāhirī school was initially called the ''Dāwūdi'' school after Dawud al-Ẓāhirī himself, and attracted many adherents, although they felt free to criticize his views, in line with the Ẓāhirī school's rejection of legal conformity (''taqlīd''). Alongside the Ḥanbali jurists, Ẓāhiris constituted one of the major schools that originated from the '' Ahl al-Ḥadīth'' school, which advocated the superiority of the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, ''ḥadīth'' literature, and ''
sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...
'' (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
during his lifetime) in legal jurisdiction, and denied the validity of
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
(''‘āql'') as an independent source of Islamic law. By the end of the 10th century, members of the madhhab were appointed as judges (''qāḍī'') in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, Shiraz,
Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...
, Firuzabad, Ramla,
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, Fustat, and
Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...
. Umm al-Qura University professor Abdul Aziz al-Harbi has argued that the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (''ṣaḥāba'') followed the methods and rulings of the Ẓāhirī school, and therefore it can be regarded as "the school of the first generation."Falih al-Dhibyani
Al-zahiriyya hiya al-madhhab al-awwal, wa al-mutakallimun 'anha yahrifun bima la ya'rifun
. Interview with Okaz. 15 July 2006, Iss. #1824. Photography by Salih Ba Habri.


Westward expansion

Parallel to the school's development in the east, Ẓāhirī ideas were introduced to North Africa by theologians of the
Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...
school who were engaged in lively debates with the
Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...
school, and to the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
by one of Dawud al-Ẓāhirī's direct students. Unlike
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
lands, where the Ẓāhirī school developed in parallel and in opposition to other madhhabs (chiefly Hanafi, Shafi‘i, and
Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...
), in the West it only had to contend with its Maliki counterpart, which enjoyed official support of the Umayyad rulers. Starting in the late 9th century CE, an increasing number of "hir" scholars emerged in various regions of the Iberian peninsula, but none of their works have survived. It was not until the rise of the Almohads that the Ẓāhirī school enjoyed official state sponsorship. While not all of the Almohad political leaders were Ẓāhirīs, a large plurality of them were not only adherents but were well-versed theologians in their own right. Additionally, all Almohad leaders – both the religiously learned and the laymen – were extremely hostile toward the Malikis, giving the Ẓāhirīs and in a few cases the Shafi‘is free rein to author works and run the judiciary. In the late 12th century, any religious material written by non-Ẓāhirīs was at first banned and later burned in the empire under the Almohad reforms.


Decline

The Ẓāhirī school enjoyed its widest expansion and prestige in the fourth Islamic century, especially through the works of Ibn al-Mughallis, but in the fifth century it lost ground to the Hanbalite school.Mohammad Sharif Khan and Mohammad Anwar Saleem, ''Muslim Philosophy And Philosophers'', pg. 34. New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, 1994. Even after the Zahiri school became extinct in Baghdad, it continued to have some followers in Shiraz. Hossein Nasr and Morteza Motahhari, "The Religious Sciences." Taken from ''The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs''. p. 476. Ed. Richard N. Frye.
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1999.
Ẓāhirism maintained its prestige in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
until 788 A.H. and had an even longer and deeper impact in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. In the 14th century C.E., the Zahiri Revolt marked both a brief rekindling of interest in the school's ideas as well as affirmation of its status as a non-mainstream ideology. Al-Muhalla, a medieval manual on Ẓāhirī jurisprudence, served in part as inspiration for the revolt and as a primary source of the school's positions. However, soon afterwards the school ceased to function and in the 14th century
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...
considered it to be extinct. With the
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
and the loss of Iberia to Christian rule, most works of Ẓāhirī law and legal theory were lost as well, with the school only being carried on by individual scholars, once again on the periphery. Wael Hallaq has argued that the rejection of ''
qiyas Qiyas (, , ) is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Quran in Islamic jurisprudence, in order to apply a known injunction ('' nass'') to a new circumstance and cre ...
'' (analogical reasoning) in Ẓāhirī methodology led to exclusion of the school from the Sunni juridical consensus and ultimately its extinction in the pre-modern era. Christopher Melchert suggests that the association of the Ẓāhirī school with Mu'tazilite theology, its difficulty in attracting the right patronage, and its reliance on outmoded methods of teaching have all contributed to its decline.


Modern history

The Zahiri school became extinct around the 14th-century. It was sometimes characterized as a fifth school of thought (''
madhhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...
'') within Sunni Islam, In particular, members of the Ahl-i Hadith movement have identified themselves with the Ẓāhirī school of thought. In the modern era, the Ẓāhirī school has been described as "somewhat influential", though "not formally operating today". In particular, adherents of the modern-day Ahl-i Hadith movement in India and Pakistan have self-consciously emulated the ideas of the Ẓāhirī school and identified themselves with it.Daniel W. Brown, ''Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought'': Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, pp. 28 and 32.
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1996.
M. Mahmood, ''The Code of Muslim Family Laws'', p. 37. Pakistan Law Times Publications, 2006. 6th ed. The family of Hasan al-Hudaybi reportedly was Zahiri. Modernist revival of the general critique by Ibn Hazm – the school's most prominent representative – of Islamic legal theory among Muslim academics has seen several key moments in recent Arab intellectual history, including Ahmad Shakir's republishing of Al-Muhalla, Muhammad Abu Zahra's biography of Ibn Hazm, and the republishing of archived epistles on Ẓāhirī legal theory by Sa'id al-Afghani in 1960 and Ihsan Abbas between 1980 and 1983. In 2004 the Amman Message recognized the Ẓāhirī school as legitimate, although it did not include it among Sunni madhhabs, and the school also received recognition from
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
's former Islamist Prime Minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi.Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim, "An Overview of al-Sadiq al-Madhi's Islamic Discourse." Taken from ''The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought'', p. 172. Ed. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi'. Hoboken:
Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...
, 2008.
The literalist school of thought represented by the Ẓāhirī madhhab remains prominent among many scholars and laymen associated with the Salafi movement, and traces of it can be found in the modern-day Salafi movement. The school experienced a revival in the
Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
. There have been attempts to revive the school in the mid-20th century.


Principles

Of the utmost importance to the school is an underlying principle attributed to the founder Dawud ibn 'Ali; who had robustly denounced the delicacies and ambiguities in ''
Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica
''Fiqh'' is of ...
'' sciences. According to Dawud, the validity of religious issues is only upheld by certainty, and that speculation cannot lead to the truth. This certainty is to be determined by the outward or literal (''Zahir'') meaning of the Qurʾān and ''
Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
''. Devin J. Stewart, "Muhammad b. Dawud al-Zahiri's Manual of Jurisprudence." Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society Volume 15: Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Edited by Bernard G. Weiss. p. 111.
Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
: 2002.
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and Bibliographic database, databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South ...
.
Most Ẓāhirī principles return to this overarching maxim. Japanese Islamic scholar Kojiro Nakamura defines the Ẓāhirī schools as resting on two presumptions. The first is that if it were possible to draw more general conclusions from the strict reading of the sources of Islamic law, then God certainly would have expressed these conclusions already; thus, all that is necessary lies in the text. The second is that for man to seek the motive behind the commandments of God is not only a fruitless endeavor but a presumptuous one.Kojiro Nakamura, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." ''Orient'', v. 10, pp. 89–113. 1974 Another major characteristic was their fierce condemnation of ''
Qiyas Qiyas (, , ) is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Quran in Islamic jurisprudence, in order to apply a known injunction ('' nass'') to a new circumstance and cre ...
'' (analogical reasoning) as a heresy and distortion of ''
Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
'' (Islamic law) but still accept religious inference. The Ẓāhirī school of thought generally recognizes three sources of
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
within the principles of
Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica
''Fiqh'' is of ...
. The first is the Qur'an, considered by Muslims to be the verbatim word of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
(Arabic: الله ''
Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...
''); the second consists of the prophetic as given in historically verifiable reports, which consist of the sayings and actions of the
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
; the third is absolute consensus of the Muslim community. Certain followers of the Ẓāhirī school include religious
inference Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinct ...
as a fourth source of Islamic law. The school differs from the more prolific schools of Islamic thought in that it restricts valid consensus in jurisprudence to the consensus of the first generation of Muslims who lived alongside Muhammad only. Chiragh Ali, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 281. Edited by Charles Kurzman. New York City:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2002.
While
Abu Hanifa Abu Hanifa (; September 699 CE – 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic,Pakatchi, Ahmad and Umar, Suheyl, "Abū Ḥanīfa", in: ''Encyclopaedia Islamica'', Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. and epony ...
and
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal (; (164-241 AH; 780 – 855 CE) was an Arab Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. T ...
agreed with them in this,Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq, "The Doctrine of Ijma: Is there a consensus?," June 2006 most followers of the Hanafi and
Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...
schools generally do not, nor do the other two Sunni schools. Additionally, the Ẓāhirī school does not generally accept analogical reasoning as a source of Islamic law,Adang, ''Zahiri Conception'', p. 15. nor do they accept the practice of juristic discretion, pointing to a verse in the Qur'an which declares that nothing has been neglected in the Muslim scriptures. While al-Shafi‘i and followers of his school agree with the Ẓāhirīs in rejecting the juristic discretion, all other Sunni schools accept the analogical reasoning, though at varying levels.


Distinct rulings

*Some followers of the Ẓāhirī school differ with the majority in that they consider the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
to have been a female prophet. *
Riba ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
, or interest, on hand-to-hand exchanges of gold, silver, dates, salt, wheat and barley are prohibited per Muhammad's injunction, but analogical reasoning is not used to extend that injunction to other agricultural produce as is the case with other schools.Adang, ''Zahiri Conceptions'', p. 44. The Ẓāhirīs are joined in this by early scholars such as Tawus ibn Kaysan and Qatadah. * Admission in an Islamic court of law is seen as indivisible by Ẓāhirīs, meaning that a party cannot accept some aspects of the opposing party's testimony and not other parts. The Ẓāhirīs are opposed by the Hanafi and Maliki schools, though a majority of Hanbalites share the Ẓāhirī position. * Another example of the ignoring of analogical reasoning by Ẓāhirīs and how it separates that school from most ''
madhhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...
'', is their attitude towards dogs. Pious Muslims commonly avoid dogs, arguing the hadith -- "If a dog drinks from your bowl then you must wash it seven times" -- indicate that dogs are unclean on the grounds that there is no other reason for thoroughly cleaning what dogs have used. Ẓāhirīs, in contrast, maintain that (in the words of one adherent), "if the prophet meant 'the dog is an unclean animal', ... he would have said 'the dog is an unclean animal'" but they accept religious inference which is similar to analogy.


Reception

Like its founder Dawud, the Ẓāhirī school has been controversial since its inception. Due to their some so-called rejection of intellectual principles considered staples of other strains within Sunni Islam, adherents to the school have been described as displaying non-conformist attitudes.


Views on the Ẓāhirī within Sunni Islam

The Ẓāhirī school has often been criticized by other schools within Sunni Islam. While this is true of all schools, relations between the Hanafis, Shafi‘is and Malikis have warmed to each other over the centuries; this has not always been the case with the Ẓāhirīs. Not surprisingly given the conflict over al-Andalus, Maliki scholars have often expressed negative feelings regarding the Ẓāhirī school. Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, whose father was a Ẓāhirī, nevertheless considered Ẓāhirī law to be absurd. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, himself a former Ẓāhirī, excluded Dawud al-Ẓāhirī along with
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal (; (164-241 AH; 780 – 855 CE) was an Arab Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. T ...
from his book on Sunni Islam's greatest jurists, though Ignác Goldziher has suggested that Ibn Abdul-Barr remained Ẓāhirī privately and outwardly manifested Maliki ideas due to prevailing pressures at the time. At least with al-Ballūṭī, one example of a Ẓāhirī jurist applying Maliki law due to official enforcement is known. Ẓāhirīs such as Ibn Hazm were challenged and attacked by Maliki jurists after their deaths. Followers of the Shafi‘i school within Sunni Islam have historically been involved in intellectual conflict with Ẓāhirīs. This may be due to Al-Shafi'i being a major proponent of the principle of Qiyas; rejected by the Zahiris. ''Étude sur la théorie du droit musulman'' (Paris : Marchal et Billard, 1892–1898.) Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim, while himself a critic of the Ẓāhirī outlook, defended the school's legitimacy in Islam, stating rhetorically that their only sin was "following the book of their
Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...
and example of their Prophet."


Zahirism and Sufism

The relationship between Ẓāhirism and
Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
has been complicated. Throughout the school's history, its adherents have always included both Sufis as well as harsh critics of Sufism. Many practitioners of Sufism, which often emphasizes detachment from the material world, have been attracted to the Ẓāhirī combination of strict ritualism and lack of emphasis on dogmatics.


Zahiris

Discerning who exactly is an adherent to the Ẓāhirī school of thought can be difficult. Harbi has claimed that most Muslim scholars who practiced independent reasoning and based their judgment only on the Qur'an and Sunnah, or Muslim prophetic tradition, were Ẓāhirīs. Followers of other schools of thought may have adopted certain viewpoints of the Ẓāhirīs, holding Ẓāhirī leanings without actually adopting the Ẓāhirī school; often, these individuals were erroneously referred to as Ẓāhirīs despite contrary evidence. Additionally, historians would often refer to any individual who praised the Ẓāhirīs as being from them. Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi has most often been referred to as a Ẓāhirī because of a commentary on one of Ibn Hazm's works, despite having stated twice that he isn't a follower of the Ẓāhirī school of thought. Similarly, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari would include Ẓāhirī opinions when comparing differing views of Sunni Muslims, yet he founded a distinct school of his own. The case of Muslim figures who have mixed between different schools have proven to be more problematic. Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, for example, referred to himself as a Ẓāhirī when pressed on the matter. When Ibn Hazm listed the most important leaders of the school, he listed known Ẓāhiralh bin Qasim, al-Balluti, Ibn al-Mughallis, al-Dibaji and Ruwaym, but then also mentioned Abu Bakr al-Khallal, who despite his Ẓāhirī leanings is almost universally recognized as a Hanbalite.


Imam Bukhari

Scott Lucas states "The most controversial aspect of al-Bukhari's legal principles is his disapproval of qiyas" and "A modern study of personal status laws in the Arab world by Jamal J. Nasir contains one sentence that explicitly mentions that the Ẓāhirīs and al-Bukhari rejected qiyas..." Lucas also points out that the legal methodology of Bukhari is very similar to that of Ibn Hazm.


Followers of the Ẓāhirī school

* Abd Allah al-Qaysi (died 885), responsible for spreading the school in Spain. *Abu l-'Abbās "Ibn Shirshīr" Al-Nāshī Al-Akbar (died 906 CE), prominent kalām theologian and teacher of Niftawayh.Ess, Josef van, Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra, Vol.4, at page 164. * Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri (died 909), son of the school's namesake. * Ibn Abi Asim (died 909), early scholar of hadith. * Ruwaym (died 915), spiritual pioneer from the second generation of Sufism. * Niftawayh (died 935), student of the school's namesake and teacher of his son. * Ibn al-Mughallis (died 936), credited with popularizing the school across the Muslim world. * Al-Masudi (died 956), early Muslim historian and geographer. * Mundhir bin Sa'īd al-Ballūṭī (died 966), early judge in Spain for the
Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
. * Al-Qassab (died 970), Muslim warrior-scholar. * Ibn Khafif (died 982), early mystic from the third generation of Sufism. * Ibn Hazm (died 1064), Andalusian polymath, author of numerous works. * Al-Humaydī (died 1095), hadith scholar, historian and biographer in Spain and then Iraq. * Ibn al-Qaisarani (died 1113), responsible for canonizing the six hadith books of Sunni Islam. *
Ibn Tumart Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn Tūmart (, ca. 1080–1130) was a Muslim religion, religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern present-day Morocco. He founded and served as the spiritual and first military leader ...
(died 1130), founder of the Almohad Empire *
Abd al-Mu'min Abd al-Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) (; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad movement. Although the Almohad movement itself was founded by Ibn Tumart, Abd al-Mu' ...
(died 1163), first Almohad Caliph. * Abu Yaqub Yusuf (died 1184), second Almohad Caliph, memorized Sahih al-Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim () is the second hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj () in the format, the work is valued by Sunnis, alongside , as the most important source for Islamic religion after the Q ...
. * Ibn Maḍāʾ (died 1196), Andalusian judge and linguist, and an early champion of language education reform. * Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (died 1199), third Almohad Caliph, authored his own collection of hadith. * Muhammad al-Nasir (died 1213), fourth Almohad Caliph. * Idris I al-Ma'mun (died 1232), renegade who issued a challenge for the Almohad throne. * Ibn Dihya al-Kalby (died 1235), hadith scholar from Spain and then Egypt. * Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati (died 1239), Andalusian botanist, pharmacist and theologian. * Abu Bakr Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (died 1261), Andalusian-Tunisian scholar of hadith. * Fatḥ al-Din Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (died 1334), Andalusian-Egyptian biographer of Muhammad. * Abu Hayyan Al Gharnati (died 1344), Andalusian linguist and Qur'anic exegete. * Al-Maqrizi (died 1442), Egyptian historian, especially of the
Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, i ...
. * Sa'id al-Afghani (died 1997), former Arabic language professor at Damascus University, correspondent member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo and proponent of language education reform. *
Abu Turab al-Zahiri Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Jamīl bin ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq bin ʿAbd al-Waḥīd bin Muḥammad bin al-Hāshim bin Bilāl al-Hāshimī al-ʿUmarī al-ʿAdawī, better known as Abū Turāb al-Ẓāhirī (; 1 January 1923 – 4 May 2002), was an Indian Sa ...
(died 2002), Indian-born Saudi Arabian linguist, jurist, theologian and journalist. * Ihsan Abbas (died 2003), Palestinian scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies, widely considered to be at the forefront of both fields during the 20th century. * Abu Abd al-Rahman Ibn Aqil al-Zahiri (living), Saudi Arabian polymath and correspondent member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo. * Muhammad Abu Khubza (died 2020), Moroccan polymath, authored the
library catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliography, bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libra ...
for the Bibliothèque générale et Archives. * Abdul Aziz al-Harbi (living), professor of Qur'anic exegesis at Umm al-Qura University.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahiri Sunni Islam Madhhab Ibn Hazm Sunni Islamic branches