Zahiri school

The Ẓāhirī school (Arabic: ظاهرية, romanized: Ẓāhiryya) or Zahirism is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded in the 9th century by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī,^[1] a Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian of the Islamic Golden Age.^[7] It is characterized by strict adherence to literalism and reliance on the outward (ẓāhir) meaning of expressions in the Quran and ḥadīth literature;^[8] the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (ṣaḥāba), for sources of Islamic law (sharīʿa); and rejection of analogical deduction (qiyās) and societal custom or knowledge (urf),^[1] used by other schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

After a limited success and decline in the Middle East, the Ẓāhirī school flourished in the Caliphate of Córdoba and more broadly in Islamic Iberia, particularly under the leadership of the Andalusian Muslim jurist Ibn Hazm.^[1] The Ẓāhirī school is said to have "survived for about 500 years in various forms" before being "merged with the Ḥanbalī school",^[9] but has also been revived in the mid-20th century in some regions of the Muslim world.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Zahirism is characterized as a fifth school of thought (madhhab) within the Sunnī branch of Islam,^[13]^[14]^[15] and still retains a measure of influence and is recognized by contemporary Muslim scholars. In particular, members of the Ahl-i Hadith movement have identified themselves with the Ẓāhirī school of thought.^[16]^[17]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sheikh, Naveed S. (2021). "Making Sense of Salafism: Theological foundations, ideological iterations, and political manifestations – Genealogy A: Ibn Hanbal and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth". In Haynes, Jeffrey (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Politics, and Ideology (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge. p. 165. doi:10.4324/9780367816230-16. ISBN 9780367816230. S2CID 237931579. Ibn Hanbal's reliance on the explicit import of the text (naṣṣ) was exceeded only by the literalism of the Ẓāhirī school, founded by his student, the Persian Dawud al-Zahiri (c. 815–883), and later popularized by Andalusian jurist Ali Ibn Hazm (994–1064). The Zahiris would outright reject analogical reasoning (qiyās) as a method for deducing jurisprudential rulings while considering consensus (ijmāʿ) to be binding only when comprising a first-generation consensus of the Companions of the Prophet.
^ Osman, Amr (2014). "Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī and the Beginnings of the Ẓāhirī Madhhab". The Ẓāhirī Madhhab (3rd/9th-10th/16th Century): A Textualist Theory of Islamic Law. Studies in Islamic Law and Society. Vol. 38. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 9–47. doi:10.1163/9789004279650_003. ISBN 978-90-04-27965-0. ISSN 1384-1130.
^ Hallaq, Wael (2005). The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-521-00580-7.
^ Mallat, Chibli (2007). Introduction to Middle Eastern Law. Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-923049-5.
^ Gleave, Robert (2012). Islam and Literalism: Literal Meaning and Interpretation in Islamic Legal Theory. Edinburgh University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-7486-3113-1.
^ Melchert, Christopher (1997). The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Brill. pp. 178–197. ISBN 9004109528. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
^ ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]
^ Melchert, Christopher (2015) [1999]. "How Ḥanafism Came to Originate in Kufa and Traditionalism in Medina". Hadith, Piety, and Law: Selected Studies. Islamic Law and Society. Vol. 6. Atlanta and Leiden: Brill Publishers/Lockwood Press. pp. 318–347. ISBN 978-1-937040-49-9. JSTOR 3399501. LCCN 2015954883.
^ "Ẓāhirīyah ISLAMIC LAW". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
^ Daniel W. Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought: Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, pp. 28 and 32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 9780521653947
^ M. Mahmood, The Code of Muslim Family Laws, p. 37. Pakistan Law Times Publications, 2006. 6th ed.
^ 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, 2008. ISBN 9781405178488
^ Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (2015). The Middle Path of Moderation in Islam: The Qur'anic Principle of Wasatiyyah. Oxford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-025145-1.
^ Picard, Michel; Madinier, Rémy (2011). The Politics of Religion in Indonesia: Syncretism, Orthodoxy, and Religious Contention in Java and Bali. Taylor & Francis. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-136-72639-2.
^ Hourani, Albert; Ruthven, Malise (2002). A History of the Arab Peoples. Harvard University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-674-01017-8.
^ Brown, Daniel W. (1999). Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-521-65394-7. Ahl-i-Hadith [...] consciously identified themselves with Zahiri doctrine.
^ Wiederhold, Lutz. "Legal–Religious Elite, Temporal Authority, and the Caliphate in Mamluk Society: Conclusions Drawn from the Examination of a “Zahiri Revolt” in Damascus in 1386." International Journal of Middle East Studies 31.2 (1999): 203-235.

[Sheikh_2021-1] Sheikh, Naveed S. (2021). "Making Sense of Salafism: Theological foundations, ideological iterations, and political manifestations – Genealogy A: Ibn Hanbal and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth". In Haynes, Jeffrey (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Politics, and Ideology (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge. p. 165. doi:10.4324/9780367816230-16. ISBN 9780367816230. S2CID 237931579. Ibn Hanbal's reliance on the explicit import of the text (naṣṣ) was exceeded only by the literalism of the Ẓāhirī school, founded by his student, the Persian Dawud al-Zahiri (c. 815–883), and later popularized by Andalusian jurist Ali Ibn Hazm (994–1064). The Zahiris would outright reject analogical reasoning (qiyās) as a method for deducing jurisprudential rulings while considering consensus (ijmāʿ) to be binding only when comprising a first-generation consensus of the Companions of the Prophet.

[Osman_2014-2] Osman, Amr (2014). "Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī and the Beginnings of the Ẓāhirī Madhhab". The Ẓāhirī Madhhab (3rd/9th-10th/16th Century): A Textualist Theory of Islamic Law. Studies in Islamic Law and Society. Vol. 38. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 9–47. doi:10.1163/9789004279650_003. ISBN 978-90-04-27965-0. ISSN 1384-1130.

[3] Hallaq, Wael (2005). The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-521-00580-7.

[4] Mallat, Chibli (2007). Introduction to Middle Eastern Law. Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-923049-5.

[5] Gleave, Robert (2012). Islam and Literalism: Literal Meaning and Interpretation in Islamic Legal Theory. Edinburgh University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-7486-3113-1.

[6] Melchert, Christopher (1997). The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Brill. pp. 178–197. ISBN 9004109528. Retrieved 2016-01-03.

[7] [1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

[Melchert_1999-8] Melchert, Christopher (2015) [1999]. "How Ḥanafism Came to Originate in Kufa and Traditionalism in Medina". Hadith, Piety, and Law: Selected Studies. Islamic Law and Society. Vol. 6. Atlanta and Leiden: Brill Publishers/Lockwood Press. pp. 318–347. ISBN 978-1-937040-49-9. JSTOR 3399501. LCCN 2015954883.

[EB-zahir-9] "Ẓāhirīyah ISLAMIC LAW". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 April 2020.

[Daniel_W._Brown_pp._28-10] Daniel W. Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought: Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, pp. 28 and 32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 9780521653947

[M._Mahmood,_p._37-11] M. Mahmood, The Code of Muslim Family Laws, p. 37. Pakistan Law Times Publications, 2006. 6th ed.

[Hassan_Ahmed_Ibrahim_p._172-12] 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, 2008. ISBN 9781405178488

[13] Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (2015). The Middle Path of Moderation in Islam: The Qur'anic Principle of Wasatiyyah. Oxford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-025145-1.

[14] Picard, Michel; Madinier, Rémy (2011). The Politics of Religion in Indonesia: Syncretism, Orthodoxy, and Religious Contention in Java and Bali. Taylor & Francis. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-136-72639-2.

[15] Hourani, Albert; Ruthven, Malise (2002). A History of the Arab Peoples. Harvard University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-674-01017-8.

[16] Brown, Daniel W. (1999). Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-521-65394-7. Ahl-i-Hadith [...] consciously identified themselves with Zahiri doctrine.

[17] Wiederhold, Lutz. "Legal–Religious Elite, Temporal Authority, and the Caliphate in Mamluk Society: Conclusions Drawn from the Examination of a “Zahiri Revolt” in Damascus in 1386." International Journal of Middle East Studies 31.2 (1999): 203-235.

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