Editing Sunni Islam (section)

===Schools===
[[File:Great Mosque of Kairouan Panorama - Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Panorama.jpg|thumb|The [[Great Mosque of Kairouan]] (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) in the city of [[Kairouan]], [[Tunisia]], was, particularly from the 9th to 11th century, an important center of Islamic learning with an emphasis on the [[Maliki]] Madh'hab.<ref name="futureIslam">Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Riad Nourallah, ''The future of Islam'', Routledge, 2002, page 199</ref>]]
There are many intellectual traditions within the field of ''[[Sharia|Shari'ah]]'' ([[Islamic law]]), often referred to as ''[[Madhhab|Madh'habs]]'' (legal schools). These varied traditions reflect differing viewpoints on some laws and obligations within Islamic law. While one school may see a certain act as a religious obligation, another may see the same act as optional. These schools are not regarded as sects; rather, they represent differing viewpoints on issues that are not considered the core of [[aqida|Islamic belief]]. Historians have differed regarding the exact delineation of the schools based on the underlying principles they follow.

Many traditional scholars saw Sunni Islam in two groups: ''[[Ahl al-Ra'y]]'', or "people of reason", due to their emphasis on scholarly judgment and discourse; and ''[[Ahl al-Hadith]]'', or "people of traditions", due to their emphasis on restricting juristic thought to only what is found in scripture.<ref>{{cite web |author=Murtada Mutahhari |url=http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/ijtihad-legislation.htm |title=The Role of Ijtihad in Legislation |publisher=Al-Islam.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304212400/http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/ijtihad-legislation.htm |archive-date=2012-03-04}}</ref> [[Ibn Khaldun]] defined the Sunni schools as three: the [[Hanafi]] school representing reason, the [[Ẓāhirī]]te school representing tradition, and a broader, middle school encompassing the [[Shafi'i]]te, [[Maliki]]te and [[Hanbali]]te schools.<ref>Meinhaj Hussain, A New Medina, [https://archive.today/20130103002610/http://www.grandestrategy.com/2012/01/6655434312-chapter-nine-new-medina.html The Legal System], Grande Strategy, January 5th, 2012</ref><ref>[[Ignác Goldziher]], ''The Zahiris'', p. 5. Trns. Wolfgang Behn, intro. [[Camilla Adang]]. Volume three of Brill Classics in Islam. [[Leiden]]: [[Brill Publishers]], 2008. {{ISBN|978-9004162419}}</ref>

During the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] in Egypt delineated the acceptable Sunni schools as only [[Hanafi]], [[Maliki]], [[Shafi'i]] and [[Hanbali]], excluding the Ẓāhirī school.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Islamic_law.aspx |title=Law, Islamic |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=13 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118232452/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Islamic_law.aspx |archive-date=2012-01-18 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] later reaffirmed the official status of four schools as a reaction to the [[Shia Islam|Shiite]] character of their ideological and political archrival, the [[Safavid dynasty|Persian Safavids]].<ref name="chib">Chibli Mallat, ''Introduction to Middle Eastern Law'', p. 116. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0199230495}}</ref> In the contemporary era, former [[List of heads of government of Sudan|Prime Minister of Sudan]] [[Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi]], as well as the [[Amman Message]] issued by King [[Abdullah II of Jordan]], recognize the Ẓāhirīs and keep the number of Sunni schools at five.<ref>[[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, New Jersey|Hoboken]]: [[Wiley-Blackwell]], 2008. {{ISBN|978-1405178488}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ammanmessage.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=74 |title=AmmanMessage.com – The Official Site |access-date=2013-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202045430/http://ammanmessage.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=74 |archive-date=2013-02-02 |url-status=live }}</ref>