The Jariri school is the name given to a short-lived Sunni school of fiqh that was derived from the work of al-Tabari, the 9th and 10th-century Muslim scholar in Baghdad. Although it eventually became extinct, al-Tabari's madhhab flourished among Sunni Islam ulama for two centuries after his death.
Principles
University of Oxford lecturer Christopher Melchert describes the Jariri school as semi-rationalist, similar to the Shafi‘i school.
[Christopher Melchert, The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th-10th Centuries C.E., pg. 69-70, 74-76, 80 and 83-86. Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 4. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997.] It also shared features with the Ẓāhirī school in addition to the Shafi‘is.
[Stewart, Tabari, pg. 339.] Al-Tabari was characterized by strong scriptural tendencies but from within a limited time frame. He appears, like
Dawud al-Zahiri, to restrict
Ijma historically, defining it as the transmission by many authorities of reports on which the
Sahaba agreed unanimously. Like Dawud al-Zahiri, he also held that consensus must be tied to a text and cannot be based on
Qiyas.
[Devin J. Stewart, "Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari's al-Bayan 'an Usul al-Ahkam and the Genre of Usul al-Fiqh in Ninth Century Baghdad," pg. 339. Taken from Abbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Cambridge, 6–10 January 2002. Edited by James Montgomery. Leuven: Peeters Publishers and the Department of Oriental Studies, 2004.] After quoting his sources—in his major works, he depended essentially on existing written works and reports—he gives what he considers to be the most acceptable view. However, his most notable difference with his contemporaries was his emphasis on Ijtihad and independent exercise of judgement.
These views were shared by many influential scholars in history that reached the rank of
Ijtihad (scholars who allowed to open their own Madhhab due to their knowledge vastness) such as
Ibn Kathir,
Ibn Taymiyyah,
, Bukhari,
and
Zahiri Maddhab scholars.
The Jariri school was frequently in conflict with the Hanafi school of Abu Hanifa. Conflict was found with the Hanafi school on the matter of Istihsan, which the Jariri school censured severely.
