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The Zahiri school or Zahirism is a school of Fiqh within Sunni Islam. It was named after Dawud al-Zahiri and flourished in Spain during the Caliphate of Córdoba under the leadership of Ibn Hazm. It was also followed by the majority of Muslims in Mesopotamia, Portugal, the Balearic Islands, and North Africa. The Zahiri school lost its presence around the 14th-century. The school is considered to be endangered, but it continues to exert influence over legal thought. Today it is followed by minority communities in Morocco and Pakistan.
The Zahiri school is characterized by strict adherence to literalism and reliance on the outward ( ẓāhir) meaning of expressions in the Quran and a limited amount of Hadith; the Ijma ( ijmāʿ) of the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions ( ṣaḥāba) excluding the scholars, for sources of Sharia ( sharīʿa); and rejection of Qiyas ( qiyās) and Urf ( urf), used by other schools of Islamic jurisprudence, although the anti-Hazm wing of Zahiris usually accept religious inference. Zahiris overwhelmingly follow the Atharism Aqidah.
After a limited success and decline in the Middle East, the Zahiri school flourished in Al-Andalus, particularly under the leadership of the Andalusian Muslim jurist Ibn Hazm. The Zahiri school is said to have lingered on in various locations under various manifestations before being superseded by the Hanbali school.
The Ẓāhirī school was initially called the Dāwūdi school after Dawud al-Ẓāhirī himself, and attracted many adherents, although they felt free to criticize his views, in line with the Ẓāhirī school's rejection of Taqlid ( taqlīd). Alongside the Hanbali school, Ẓāhiris constituted one of the major schools that originated from the Ahl al-Hadith school, which advocated the superiority of the Quran, Hadith, and sunnah (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad during his lifetime) in legal jurisdiction, and denied the validity of logic ( ‘āql) as an independent source of Islamic law. By the end of the 10th century, members of the madhhab were appointed as Qadi ( qāḍī) in Baghdad, Shiraz, Isfahan, Firuzabad, Ramla, Damascus, Fustat, and Bukhara.Christopher Melchert, The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th-10th Centuries C.E., p. 190. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997.
Umm al-Qura University professor Abdul Aziz al-Harbi has argued that the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions ( ṣaḥāba) followed the methods and rulings of the Ẓāhirī school, and therefore it can be regarded as "the school of the first generation."Falih al-Dhibyani, Al-zahiriyya hiya al-madhhab al-awwal, wa al-mutakallimun 'anha yahrifun bima la ya'rifun . Interview with Okaz. 15 July 2006, Iss. #1824. Photography by Salih Ba Habri.
It was not until the rise of the that the Ẓāhirī school enjoyed official state sponsorship. While not all of the Almohad political leaders were Ẓāhirīs, a large plurality of them were not only adherents but were well-versed theologians in their own right.Adang, "The Spread of Zahirism in al-Andalus in the Post-Caliphal Period: The evidence from the biographical dictionaries," pp. 297–346. Taken from Ideas, Images and Methods of Portrayal: Insights into Classical Arabic Literature and Islam. Ed. Sebastian Gunther, Leiden: 2005. Additionally, all Almohad leaders – both the religiously learned and the laymen – were extremely hostile toward the Malikis, giving the Ẓāhirīs and in a few cases the Shafi‘is free rein to author works and run the judiciary. In the late 12th century, any religious material written by non-Ẓāhirīs was at first banned and later burned in the empire under the Almohad reforms.Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, p. 142. Part of Landmarks in Linguistic Thought series, vol. 3. New York City: Routledge, 1997. Shawqi Daif, Introduction to Ibn Mada's Refutation of the Grammarians, p. 6. Cairo, 1947.
Wael Hallaq has argued that the rejection of qiyas (analogical reasoning) in Ẓāhirī methodology led to exclusion of the school from the Sunni juridical consensus and ultimately its extinction in the pre-modern era. Christopher Melchert suggests that the association of the Ẓāhirī school with Mu'tazilite theology, its difficulty in attracting the right patronage, and its reliance on outmoded methods of teaching have all contributed to its decline.
The Ẓāhirī school of thought generally recognizes three sources of Sharia within the Usul al-fiqh of fiqh. The first is the Qur'an, considered by Muslims to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله Allah); the second consists of the Sunnah as given in historically verifiable Hadith, which consist of the sayings and actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; the third is Ijma of the Muslim community.
Certain followers of the Ẓāhirī school include religious inference as a fourth source of Islamic law.
The school differs from the more prolific schools of Islamic thought in that it restricts valid consensus in jurisprudence to the consensus of the first generation of Muslims who lived alongside Muhammad only.Chiragh Ali, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 281. Edited by Charles Kurzman. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2002. While Abu Hanifa and Ahmad ibn Hanbal agreed with them in this,Muhammad Muslehuddin, "Philosophy of Islamic Law and Orientalists," Kazi Publications, 1985, p. 81Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq, "The Doctrine of Ijma: Is there a consensus?," June 2006 most followers of the Hanafi and Hanbali schools generally do not, nor do the other two Sunni schools.
Additionally, the Ẓāhirī school does not generally accept Qiyas as a source of Islamic law,Adang, Zahiri Conception, p. 15. nor do they accept the practice of Istihsan, pointing to a verse in the Qur'an which declares that nothing has been neglected in the Muslim scriptures. While al-Shafi‘i and followers of his school agree with the Ẓāhirīs in rejecting the juristic discretion,al-Shafi‘i, Kitab al-Umm, vol. 7, pp. 309–320. Cairo Dar al-fikr, 1990. all other Sunni schools accept the analogical reasoning, though at varying levels.Hisham M. Ramadan (2006), Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary, Rowman Altamira, , pp. 26–28
Not surprisingly given the conflict over al-Andalus, Maliki scholars have often expressed negative feelings regarding the Ẓāhirī school. Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, whose father was a Ẓāhirī, nevertheless considered Ẓāhirī law to be absurd. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, himself a former Ẓāhirī, excluded Dawud al-Ẓāhirī along with Ahmad ibn Hanbal from his book on Sunni Islam's greatest jurists,Adang, Zahiri Conceptions, p. 20. though Ignác Goldziher has suggested that Ibn Abdul-Barr remained Ẓāhirī privately and outwardly manifested Maliki ideas due to prevailing pressures at the time. At least with al-Ballūṭī, one example of a Ẓāhirī jurist applying Maliki law due to official enforcement is known. Ẓāhirīs such as Ibn Hazm were challenged and attacked by Maliki jurists after their deaths.
Followers of the Shafi‘i school within Sunni Islam have historically been involved in intellectual conflict with Ẓāhirīs.Louis Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Trans. Herbert W. Mason. p. 16. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. This may be due to Al-Shafi'i being a major proponent of the principle of Qiyas; rejected by the Zahiris.Snouck Hurgronje, C. Verspreide Geschriften. v.ii. 1923-7, p. 286–315 Étude sur la théorie du droit musulman (Paris : Marchal et Billard, 1892–1898.)Margoliouth, D.S., The Early Development of Mohammedanism, 1914, p. 65ffAl-Dhahabi, , v.13, Entry 55, pp. 97–108
Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim, while himself a critic of the Ẓāhirī outlook, defended the school's legitimacy in Islam, stating rhetorically that their only sin was "following the book of their Lord and example of their Prophet."Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, Ighadah al-Lahfan fi Masayid al-Shaytan, v.1, p. 570
Additionally, historians would often refer to any individual who praised the Ẓāhirīs as being from them. Sufi Mysticism Ibn Arabi has most often been referred to as a Ẓāhirī because of a commentary on one of Ibn Hazm's works, despite having stated twice that he isn't a follower of the Ẓāhirī school of thought.Mohammed Rustom, Review of Michel Chodkiewicz's An Ocean without Shore Similarly, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari would include Ẓāhirī opinions when comparing differing views of Sunni Muslims, yet he founded a distinct school of his own.Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings. Vol. 1, p. 66. Trans. Franz Rosenthal. New York City: SUNY Press, 1989. The case of Muslim figures who have mixed between different schools have proven to be more problematic. Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, for example, referred to himself as a Ẓāhirī when pressed on the matter.Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, "Shareet al-Khobar," tape #4, 1989: Khobar, Saudi Arabia. When Ibn Hazm listed the most important leaders of the school, he listed known Ẓāhiralh bin Qasim, al-Balluti, Ibn al-Mughallis, al-Dibaji and Ruwaym, but then also mentioned Abu Bakr al-Khallal,Samir Kaddouri, "Refutations of Ibn Hazm by Maliki Authors from al-Andalus and North Africa." Taken from Ibn Hazm of Cordoba: The Life and Works of a Controversial Thinker, p. 541. Eds. Camilla Adang, Maribel Fierro and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2013. who despite his Ẓāhirī leanings is almost universally recognized as a Hanbalite.Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, vol. 1: From the Creation to the Flood, p. 72. Trns. Franz Rosenthal. New York City: SUNY Press, 1989.
Lucas also points out that the legal methodology of Bukhari is very similar to that of Ibn Hazm.
Westward expansion
Parallel to the school's development in the east, Ẓāhirī ideas were introduced to North Africa by theologians of the Maliki school who were engaged in lively debates with the Hanafi school, and to the Iberian Peninsula by one of Dawud al-Ẓāhirī's direct students. Unlike Abbasid lands, where the Ẓāhirī school developed in parallel and in opposition to other madhhabs (chiefly Hanafi, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali), in the West it only had to contend with its Maliki counterpart, which enjoyed official support of the Umayyad rulers. Starting in the late 9th century CE, an increasing number of "hir" scholars emerged in various regions of the Iberian peninsula, but none of their works have survived.
Decline
The Ẓāhirī school enjoyed its widest expansion and prestige in the fourth Islamic century, especially through the works of Ibn al-Mughallis, but in the fifth century it lost ground to the Hanbalite school.Mohammad Sharif Khan and Mohammad Anwar Saleem, Muslim Philosophy And Philosophers, pg. 34. New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, 1994. Even after the Zahiri school became extinct in Baghdad, it continued to have some followers in Shiraz.Hossein Nasr and Morteza Motahhari, "The Religious Sciences." Taken from The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. p. 476. Ed. Richard N. Frye. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Ẓāhirism maintained its prestige in Syria until 788 A.H. and had an even longer and deeper impact in Egypt. In the 14th century C.E., the Zahiri Revolt marked both a brief rekindling of interest in the school's ideas as well as affirmation of its status as a non-mainstream ideology. Al-Muhalla, a medieval manual on Ẓāhirī jurisprudence, served in part as inspiration for the revolt and as a primary source of the school's positions.Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur. Zweite den Supplementbänden angepasste Auflage. Vol. 1, p. 400. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1937–1949. However, soon afterwards the school ceased to function and in the 14th century Ibn Khaldun considered it to be extinct.John L. EspositoJohn L. Esposito (2003). 9780195125580, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780195125580 With the Reconquista and the loss of Iberia to Christian rule, most works of Ẓāhirī law and legal theory were lost as well, with the school only being carried on by individual scholars, once again on the periphery.
Modern history
The Zahiri school became extinct around the 14th-century. It was sometimes characterized as a fifth school of thought ( madhhab) within Sunni Islam, In particular, members of the Ahl-i Hadith movement have identified themselves with the Ẓāhirī school of thought.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. In the modern era, the Ẓāhirī school has been described as "somewhat influential", though "not formally operating today". In particular, adherents of the modern-day Ahl-i Hadith movement in India and Pakistan have self-consciously emulated the ideas of the Ẓāhirī school and identified themselves with it.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. M. Mahmood, The Code of Muslim Family Laws, p. 37. Pakistan Law Times Publications, 2006. 6th ed. The family of Hasan al-Hudaybi reportedly was Zahiri. Modernist revival of the general critique by Ibn Hazm – the school's most prominent representative – of Islamic legal theory among Muslim academics has seen several key moments in recent Arab intellectual history, including Ahmad Shakir's republishing of Al-Muhalla, Muhammad Abu Zahra's biography of Ibn Hazm, and the republishing of archived epistles on Ẓāhirī legal theory by Sa'id al-Afghani in 1960 and Ihsan Abbas between 1980 and 1983.Adam Sabra, "Ibn Hazm's Literalism: A Critique of Islamic Legal Theory." Taken from: Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba: The Life and Works of a Controversial Thinker, pg. 98. Volume 103 of Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 1: The Near and Middle East. Eds. Camilla Adang, Maribel Fierro, and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2012. In 2004 the Amman Message recognized the Ẓāhirī school as legitimate, although it did not include it among Sunni madhhabs, and the school also received recognition from Sudan's former Islamist Prime Minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi.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. The literalist school of thought represented by the Ẓāhirī madhhab remains prominent among many scholars and laymen associated with the Salafi movement, and traces of it can be found in the modern-day Salafi movement. The school experienced a revival in the Islamic State. There have been attempts to revive the school in the mid-20th century.
Principles
Of the utmost importance to the school is an underlying principle attributed to the founder Dawud al-Zahiri; who had robustly denounced the delicacies and ambiguities in Fiqh sciences. According to Dawud, the validity of religious issues is only upheld by certainty, and that speculation cannot lead to the truth. This certainty is to be determined by the outward or literal ( Zahir) meaning of the Quran and Hadith.Devin J. Stewart, "Muhammad b. Dawud al-Zahiri's Manual of Jurisprudence." Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society Volume 15: Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Edited by Bernard G. Weiss. p. 111. Leiden: 2002. Brill Publishers. Most Ẓāhirī principles return to this overarching maxim. Japanese Islamic scholar Kojiro Nakamura defines the Ẓāhirī schools as resting on two presumptions. The first is that if it were possible to draw more general conclusions from the strict reading of the sources of Islamic law, then God certainly would have expressed these conclusions already; thus, all that is necessary lies in the text. The second is that for man to seek the motive behind the commandments of God is not only a fruitless endeavor but a presumptuous one.Kojiro Nakamura, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." Orient, v. 10, pp. 89–113. 1974 Another major characteristic was their fierce condemnation of Qiyas (analogical reasoning) as a heresy and distortion of Sharia (Islamic law) but still accept religious inference.
Distinct rulings
Reception
Like its founder Dawud, the Ẓāhirī school has been controversial since its inception.Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq, The Riba-Interest Equivalence , June 2006 Due to their some so-called rejection of intellectual principles considered staples of other strains within Sunni Islam, adherents to the school have been described as displaying non-conformist attitudes.Yasir Suleiman, The Arabic Grammatical Tradition: a Study in taʻlīl, p. 150. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.
Views on the Ẓāhirī within Sunni Islam
The Ẓāhirī school has often been criticized by other schools within Sunni Islam. While this is true of all schools, relations between the Hanafis, Shafi‘is and Malikis have warmed to each other over the centuries; this has not always been the case with the Ẓāhirīs.
Zahirism and Sufism
The relationship between Ẓāhirism and Sufism has been complicated. Throughout the school's history, its adherents have always included both Sufis as well as harsh critics of Sufism. Many practitioners of Sufism, which often emphasizes detachment from the material world, have been attracted to the Ẓāhirī combination of strict ritualism and lack of emphasis on dogmatics.Carl W. Ernst, Words of Ecstasy in Sufism, pg. 163. Albany: SUNY Press, 1983.Ignác Goldziher, The Zahiris, p. 165. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1971.
Zahiris
Discerning who exactly is an adherent to the Ẓāhirī school of thought can be difficult. Harbi has claimed that most Muslim scholars who practiced independent reasoning and based their judgment only on the Qur'an and Sunnah, or Muslim prophetic tradition, were Ẓāhirīs. Followers of other schools of thought may have adopted certain viewpoints of the Ẓāhirīs, holding Ẓāhirī leanings without actually adopting the Ẓāhirī school; often, these individuals were erroneously referred to as Ẓāhirīs despite contrary evidence.
Imam Bukhari
Scott Lucas states "The most controversial aspect of al-Bukhari's legal principles is his disapproval of qiyas" and "A modern study of personal status laws in the Arab world by Jamal J. Nasir contains one sentence that explicitly mentions that the Ẓāhirīs and al-Bukhari rejected qiyas..."
Followers of the Ẓāhirī school
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