ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Inquiries About Shi'a Islam The Five Schools of Islamic Thought Schools of Islamic thought ( madhahib ) are the paths people follow to the Noble Qur’an and . Obviously, these schools of thought were founded considerably after the death of the Prophet; in fact, they never took shape until the time of the Umayyid Caliphate. The common phrase ahl al-sunnah wal-jama΄ah , for example, became prevalent during the third century of the Hijrah.

By the year 250H, the four Sunni schools of thought were being popularized and patronized during the Abbasid Caliphate. The Shi‘a school of thought on the other hand, continued its growth and progress after Imam ‘Ali through his descendants who were connected to each other through a chain of narration and knowledge. and the designated imams in the Shi‘a school of thought were shielded by Allah from any sin, religious error, or forgetfulness.

Today, the five schools of Islamic thought accepted by all Muslims are the Ja‘fari, comprising 23% of the Muslims; the Hanafi, comprising 31% of the Muslims; the Maliki, comprising 25% of the Muslims; the Shafi΄i, comprising 16% of the Muslims; and the Hanbali, comprising 4% of the Muslims.

The remaining small percentage follow other minority schools, such as the Zaydi and the Isma΄ili.[^1] Ja‘fari The Ja‘fari school of thought was headed by Imam Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq who lived from 83H to 148H. He was born in and died in the holy city of Madina, and he is the sixth Imam of the twelve designated imams of the school of Ahlul Bayt.

Although the fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) was developed by the and his successors (i.e., the imams), the fiqh, as taught by the Shi‘a, did not have the opportunity to be presented to the masses of people because of the political predicament that the Ahlul Bayt suffered under the rulers for many centuries.

The imams refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, and their governments; and thus they and their followers were exposed to tremendous harassment and persecution at the hands of the unjust caliphs. Once the Umayyad government became weak, Imam Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq found a golden opportunity to formulate and spread the tradition of the and his family.

At one time, four thousand scholars, commentators of the Qur’an, historians, and philosophers attended his classes in the holy city of Madina.