Editing Sunnah (section)

===Four Madhhabs===

The golden age, starting with the creation of the [[Hanafi]], [[Maliki]], [[Shafi'i]], [[Hanbali]], and other schools of [[fiqh]] in the second century of Islam, limited sunnah to "traditions traced back to the Prophet Muhammad himself" (''sunna al-nabawiyyah''). The ancient regional schools of law, located in several major cities of the new Arab empire of Islam, including [[Mecca]], [[Kufa]], [[Basra]], and Syria,<ref>[[#JBSILITA1990|Burton, ''Islamic Theories of Abrogation'', 1990]]: p.13</ref> had a more flexible definition of sunnah than is now commonly used. This being the "acceptable norms" or "custom",<ref name="DWBRTMIT1996:11">[[#DWBRTMIT1996|Brown, ''Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought'', 1996]]: 11</ref> which included examples of [[Sahabah|Muhammad's companions]], the rulings of the [[Caliph]]s, and practices that "had gained general acceptance among the jurists of that school".<ref name="DWBRTMIT1996:7" />

Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (150–204 AH), known as [[al-Shafi'i]], argued against flexible sunnah and the use of precedents from multiple sources,<ref>Joseph Schacht, ''The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence'' (Oxford, 1950, repre. 1964) esp. 6-20 and 133-137): Ignaz Goldziher, ''The Zahiris: Their Doctrine and their History'', trans and ed. Wolfgang Behn (Leiden, 1971), 20 ff...</ref><ref name="DWBRTMIT1996:7" /> emphasizing the final authority of a [[hadith]] of [[Muhammad]], so that even the Qur'an was "to be interpreted in the light of traditions (i.e. hadith), and not vice versa".<ref>J. SCHACHT, ''An Introduction to Islamic Law'' (1964), supra note 5, at 47</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forte |first1=David F. |title=Islamic Law: The impact of Joseph Schacht |journal=Loyola Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review |date=1978 |volume=1 |page=13 |url= http://www.soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/IslamicLawTheImpactofJosephSchacht.pdf |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> While the sunnah has often been called "second to the Quran",<ref>{{cite book |last=Rhodes |first=Ron |title=The 10 Things You Need to Know About Islam |publisher=Harvest House Publishers |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Az2o12ZQs08C&q=sunnah+is+second+only+to+the+quran&pg=PA27 |via=Google Books |access-date=19 July 2018 |isbn=9780736931151}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Kutty |first=Ahmad |title=Significance of Hadith in Islam |url= http://www.islamicity.com/forum/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=3547 |access-date=19 July 2018}}</ref> hadith has also been said to "rule over and interpret the Quran".<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan A. C. |author-link=Jonathan A. C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=9781780744209 |ref=JACBMM2014 |page=168}}</ref>{{efn|Ahmad Hasan calls the dictum that states: "The Sunnah decides upon the Qur'an, while the Qur'an does not decide upon the Sunnah" {{lang|ar|ألسنة قاضي على ألقرﺁن ,وليس ﺁلقرﺁن بقاض على ألسنة}}<ref>Al-Darimi, Sunan, Cairo, 1349 1:145.</ref> – "well known".<ref>[[#AHToN1965|Hasan, A., "The Theory of Naskh", ''Islamic Studies'', 1965]]: p. 192</ref>}}
Al-Shafiʿi "forcefully argued" that the sunnah stands "on equal footing with the Quran" (according to scholar Daniel Brown), both being divine revelation. As Al-Shafi'i put it, "the command of the Prophet is the command of God"<ref>al-Shafii, ''Kitab al-Risala'', ed. Muhammad Shakir (Cairo, 1940), 84</ref><ref>name="DWBRTMIT1996:18-20">[[#DWBRTMIT1996|Brown, ''Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought'', 1996]]: p.18-20</ref> This, though, contradicts another point Shafi made, which was the sunnah was below the Quran.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9P0RAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=The Position of Women in Islam: A Progressive View |first=Syed Mohammed |last=Ali |publisher=SUNY Press |date=2004 |isbn=9780791460962 |page=7 |access-date=27 November 2021}}</ref>

Sunnah of Muhammad outranked all other, and "broad agreement" developed that "hadith must be the basis for authentication of any sunnah", (according to M. O. Farooq).<ref name="Farooq">{{Cite journal |last=Farooq |first=Mohammad Omar |date=1 January 2011 |title=Qard Hasan, Wadiah/Amanah and Bank Deposits: Applications and Misapplications of Some Concepts in Islamic Banking |journal=Arab Law Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=2 |ssrn=1418202 |location=Rochester, New York |doi=10.1163/157302511X553985}}</ref> Al-Shafiʿi's success was such that later writers "hardly ever thought of sunnah as comprising anything but that of the Prophet".<ref>Juynboll, G.H.A., "Some New Ideas on the Development of Sunna as a Technical Term in Early Islam", "Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam" 10 (1987): p.108, cited in {{cite book|last1=Brown |first1=Daniel W.|title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521570770 |url= https://www.scribd.com/document/116836545/Rethinking-Traditions-in-Modern-Islamic-Thought-Daniel-w-Brown |access-date=10 May 2018 |ref=DWBRTMIT1996 |page=10}}</ref>