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Where the Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools differ in everyday practice, the Qur'an and hadith each side relies on, and how strong that evidence is by the hadith scholars' own gradings. Then the four imams: their dates, teachers, books and method, and who learned from whom. Every position here is held by serious scholars; the point is to understand, not to pick fights.
All four lived within about 160 years of each other, studied with overlapping teachers, and praised one another. The schools are named after them, but each was built by generations of students.
How to read “strength” on this page
Under every question there is a box on the strength of the textual evidence. It reports how hadith scholars grade the main hadith each side relies on: al-Bukhārī and Muslim first, then other ṣaḥīḥ reports, then ḥasan, with ḍaʿīf (weak) reports flagged. Where one side has a direct, sound text and the other relies on a weaker or less direct one, the box says so.
Grading is one measure, not the whole of the law. Each school also weighs the plain meaning of the Qur'an, which of two reports came later, what the Companions did, the practice of Madinah (Mālik's especial concern), established general principles (Abū Ḥanīfah's caution with a single report that clashes with them), and analogy. A school can follow a weaker-looking hadith for a principled reason.
What the fifteen questions show
No school has the most direct sound text on every question. The Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī positions have the stronger hadith on raising the hands and saying Āmīn aloud. The Ḥanbalī view on camel meat has the most specific text. The Ḥanafī view has the explicit hadith on jewellery zakat, and with the Mālikīs and Ḥanbalīs the stronger case that touching alone does not break wuḍū'. The majority, against the Ḥanafīs, have the clearer texts on joining prayers and on bleeding. On hand position and on how long a traveller may stay, no side has a decisive text.
Historically, the Kufan scholars around Abū Ḥanīfah were called ahl al-raʾy, people of reasoned opinion, and the Hijazi scholars ahl al-ḥadīth. The labels describe emphasis, not rejection: all four schools build on the Qur'an and the Sunna first.
Scholars Each imam is reported to have said that if a sound hadith contradicts his view, the hadith is his school. Al-Shāfiʿī's version, “If the hadith is sound, it is my school”, is the best known (al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ, introduction).
These are each school's main relied-upon positions (al-muʿtamad) in short. Every school has internal views and conditions beyond a one-line summary. For a decision that matters to you, ask a scholar of your school.
Why sound scholars reach different answers
The schools share the same sources. They differ because a hadith reached one scholar and not another, because two sound reports seem to conflict and are reconciled differently, because a word in Arabic carries two meanings (the “touching” of 4:43 is the classic case), and because they weigh the practice of Madinah, analogy and Companion opinion differently.
Scholars The early imams were clear that a sound hadith outweighs their own view. That is why, within each school, later scholars sometimes moved away from an earlier position.
Sources
Hadith and gradings from sunnah.com, checked 11 Nov 2026. School positions are summarised from the standard manuals below; the summaries are simplified, so check the detail with a scholar of your school. Founders' dates are the standard ones from the biographical works.
- Bukhārī 350, 735, 740, 780, 990, 1003, 1081, 1107, 1682, 1933.
- Muslim 360, 399, 486, 688, 705.
- Abū Dāwūd 192 (ṣaḥīḥ), 198 (ḥasan), 748 (ṣaḥīḥ per al-Albānī; Abū Dāwūd himself doubted this wording), 756 (ḍaʿīf), 932 (ṣaḥīḥ), 1422 (ṣaḥīḥ), 1563 (ḥasan), all graded by al-Albānī.
- al-Tirmidhī 248 (ṣaḥīḥ, Darussalam); al-Nasāʾī 905 (ṣaḥīḥ, Darussalam); Ibn Mājah 1221 (ḍaʿīf, Darussalam).
- Qur'an 4:43, 4:101.
- School manuals summarised: Ḥanafī: al-Qudūrī, al-Mukhtaṣar; al-Marghīnānī, al-Hidāyah. Mālikī: al-Mudawwanah; Khalīl, al-Mukhtaṣar. Shāfiʿī: al-Nawawī, Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn and al-Majmūʿ. Ḥanbalī: Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī; al-Buhūtī, al-Rawḍ al-Murbiʿ.