ABSTRACT
The madhhab (pl. madhāhib; lit. path one takes, thus “method, school”) is one of the more distinctive features of Islamic law. It has been asserted that the development of the madhhab, “by which groups of jurists came to have huge followings of lay, uneducated believers, is a singular Islamic phenomenon,” and “a new form of social classification” not anticipated in any direct way in the ancient Middle East (Hurvitz 2002: 11). This purported originality will be considered below, but the madhhab is certainly a crucial element of Islamic societies. For a full understanding of the institution, its social, intellectual, and doctrinal dimensions must all be considered. Although “school” fittingly connotes both a formal institution and a more abstract “school of thought,” and is the most common translation employed, we will rely on the untranslated term madhhab as we develop an understanding of its proper range of meaning.
