A brief introduction to the meaning of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), its principles, and The Leading Fiqh Scholars such as Abu Hanifah, Malik, Al-Shafi'i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. It includes all the practical rules that every Muslim, man or woman, should know, citing their bases in the Qur’an and the Sunnah in an easy and simple way.

The main reference works of the four schools

One: the Hanafi school

Among the best known works that explain the Hanafi school of Fiqh is Ibn 'Abidin’s Radd al-Muhtar 'ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Mas'ud al-Kasani’s Bada’i' al-Sana’i' fi Tartib al-Shara’i'; and Ibn al-Hammam’s Fath al-Qadir.

Two: the Maliki school

One of the most important reference works of the Maliki school is Sahnun’s Al-Mudawwanah, in which the author reports Imam Malik’s rulings and statements as transmitted by 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim. The most important work that expresses the views of this school is Mukhtasar Khalil, which has been annotated and explained by various scholars. These include al-Dardir’s Al-Sharh al-Kabir, with further annotations by Ibn 'Arafah al-Dusuqi; Muhammad Al-'Abdari al-Mawwaq’s Al-Taj wal-Iklil; and al-Hattab’s Hashiyat Mawahib al-Jalil fi Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil.

Three: Al-Shafi'i school  

Imam al-Shafi'i wrote a voluminous work called Al-Umm, and the works of reference that expound the Shafi'i school include the annotations later scholars add to Imam al-Nawawi’s Minhaj al-Talibin. The most important of these are: 1) Muhammad al-Ramli’s Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj; 2) Ahmad al-Haytami’s Tuhfat al-Muhtaj fi Sharh al-Minhaj; and 3) al-Khatib al-Shirbini’s Mughni al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj.

Four: the Hanbali school

Among the most important works of this school is al-Mardawi’s Al-Insaf, in which the author takes particular care of including the various reports by Imam Ahmad and gives comparative assessment of these reports. Other famous works include Ibn Muflih’s Al-Furu', and those by later scholars include Mansur al-Bahuti’s Kashf al-Qina' 'an Matn al-Iqna'.