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INTRODUCTION

In this report, I would like to start off by stating how powerful Islam as a religion is. It is the only true religion from Allah as it basically means Submitting or surrendering ones will to the wills of God (Allah)*. It is the innate character of human being, Muslim particularly to submit the worship of God. This feeling is instilled in him or her from the day of birth. In reality, the whole universe is the creation of God (Allah) and working with the Will of God. Though the modern science claims all these phenomena as Law of nature but its actually is Law of God for nature. Basically we as Muslim depend on God sustenance and guidance throughout our entire life. Now who are Muslims? What are we? We Muslims are followers of the religion of Islam those who submit to the will of God as explained in our primary and secondary sources with is the Holy Quran and the traditions of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of Islam. Muslims in Population consists of more than 10 billions and it spreads to all kinds of race, nationality and cultures. Besides Arab countries, majorities of Muslim are in Asia and Africa. With the vast numbers of Muslims, are they entitled to follow one of the Madhabs which we are going to discuss here mainly the four schools of thoughts (Hanafi, Hambali, Syafie and Maliki)? And what are their contributions? METHODOLOGY Before we are heading into something else, its reasonable to understand the words Madhhabs first. The word Madhhabs is extracted from the meaning to go or to take as a way, in other words a Muslim can follow number of interpretive possibilities in understanding the primary text of Quran and Hadiths. In a larger extent, it represents the entire school of thought of
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particular imam (Mujtahid). They are in the likes of Abu Hanifa, Maliki, ShafiI and Hambali which is what we are going to discuss as we go along. They are Mujtahid imam who as the explainer and who analyze the Quran and the Sunna in the authorized Syariah rule which we can understand as Fiqh or Jurisprudence. For the existence of these four Madhhabs or we call the school of thoughts, we go back to the early beginning of evolution of Islam. We already know that Islam is a religion directly from Allah the Al-mighty and at the age of the prophets which is the time where the Islamic law introduced. During the prophets (peace upon him) reign, he gave permission to invoke his own reason only in cases where the Qur'an and the Hadith were found silent on a certain issue. If the Qur'an is clear, the question of ijtihad does not arise. If the Qur'an is silent and the Hadith is clear, the question of ijtihad does not arise again. It can be resorted to only in case both the basic sources the Qur'an and the Hadith, are seen to be silent in respect of the issue. In the end, we should like to briefly refer to ijtihad, an important principle of Islamic jurisprudence. Ijtihad here means having personal opinions. It is also meaning a religious duty and in fact a religious and collective obligation upon all qualified persons in the event where an issue arises but no urgency encounter over the ruling (Rauf, 2005). If its in pressing situations, Ijtihad becomes personal obligation upon all qualified Mujtahids. This is how it actually begins, which is by division of opinions. These four schools happen to initiate during the golden period of the Abbasids. After the death of Prophets Muhammad, these divisions of opinions created many jurists as well as schools of Laws. Many of these schools became extinct with the death of their followers. Followers here means the generation of the companions of the Prophet (Mahmassani, 2005). During the emergence of Abbasid state in the 8th century, the science of Juresprudence Flourished and attained its Golden age. This is exactly the time when the four schools of Sunni became widespread and from what I understand this is the part where there is
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no more interactions between Mujtahids or Tokoh-Tokoh Islam and originate the Great wall of China between them. All of these schools namely Hanafite, Shafite, Malikite and Hambalite have their own traditions, commentaries which are written and the science of Law which are compiled. 2. FINDINGS 2.1Brief information and history of existence of the four schools of Islam.

2.1.1 The Hanafi school is the first of the four Sunni schools of Law. It is distinguished from the other schools through its placing less reliance on mass oral traditions as source of legal knowledge. It developed the exegesis of the Quran through a method or analogical reasoning known as Qiyas. It also established the principle that the universal concurrence of the Ummah (community) of Islam on a point of law. The process are called Ijma, which is the consensus of the scholars. Thus the school definitely established Quran, the traditions of the prophet, Ijma and Qiyas as Basis of Islamic law. Imam Hanafi accepted local customs as a secondary source. The Hanafi School of law was founded by Abu Hanifah (d.767) in Kufa in Iraq. It derived from the bulk of the ancient school of Kufa and absorbed the ancient school of Basra. Abu Hanifah belonged to the period of the successors (tabiin)of the Sahabah (the companions of the Prophet). He was a Tabi'i since he had the good fortune to have lived during the period when some of the Sahabah were still alive. Having originated in Iraq, the Hanafi school was favoured by the first 'Abbasid caliphs in spite of the school's opposition to the power of the caliphs. The privileged position which the school enjoyed under the 'Abbasid caliphate was lost with the decline of the 'Abbasid caliphate. However, the rise of the Ottoman Empire led to the revival of Hanafi fortunes. Under the
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Ottomans the judgement-seats were occupied by Hanafites sent from Istanbul, even in countries where the population followed another madhhab. Consequently, the Hanafi madhhab became the only authoritative code of law in the public life and official administration of justice in all the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Even today the Hanafi code prevails in the former Ottoman countries. It is also dominant in Central Asia and India. 2.1.2. Maliki school of law is the second of the Islamic schools of jurisprudence. The sources of Maliki doctrine are the Qur'an, the Prophet's traditions (hadith), consensus (ijma'), and analogy (qiyas). The Malikis' concept of ijma' differed from that of the Hanafis in that they understood it to mean the consensus of the community represented by the people of Medina. (Overtime, however, the school came to understand consensus to be that of the doctors of law, known as 'ulama.) Imam Malik's major contribution to Islamic law is his book al-Muwatta (The Beaten Path). The Muwatta is a code of law based on the legal practices that were operating in Medina. It covers various areas ranging from prescribed rituals of prayer and fasting to the correct conduct of business relations. The legal code is supported by some 2,000 traditions attributed to the Prophet. Maliki school of Law was founded by Malik ibn Anas (c.713-c.795), a legal expert in the city of Medina. Such was his stature that it is said three 'Abbasid caliphs visited him while they were on Pilgrimage to Medina. The school spread westwards through Malik's disciples, becoming dominant in North Africa and Spain. Syafie school of law was the third school of Islamic jurisprudence. According to the Shafi'i school the paramount sources of legal authority are the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Of less authority are the Ijma' of the community and thought of scholars (Ijitihad) exercised through qiyas. The
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scholar must interpret the ambiguous passages of the Qur'an according to the consensus of the Muslims, and if there is no consensus, according to qiyas. 2.1.3. The Shafi'iyyah school of Islamic law was named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767-819). He belonged originally to the school of Medina and was also a pupil of Malik ibn Anas (d.795), the founder of Malikiyyah. However, he came to believe in the overriding authority of the traditions from the Prophet and identified them with the Sunnah. Baghdad and Cairo were the chief centres of the Shafie. From these two cities Shafi'i teaching spread into various parts of the Islamic world. In the tenth century Mecca and Medina came to be regarded as the school's chief centers outside of Egypt. In the centuries preceding the emergence of the Ottoman Empire the Shafi'is had acquired supremacy in the central lands of Islam. Today it remains predominant in Southern Arabia, Bahrain, the Malay Archipelago, East Africa and several parts of Central Asia. 2.1.4 The Hanbali School of law is the fourth school of law within Sunni Islam. It derives its decrees from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, which it places above all forms of consensus, opinion or inference. The school accepts as authoritative an opinion given by a Companion of the Prophet, providing there is no disagreement with anther Companion. In the case of such disagreement, the opinion of the Companion nearest to that of the Qur'an or the Sunnah will prevail. The Hanbali school of law was established by Ahmad b. Hanbal (d.855). He studied law under different masters, including Imam Shafi'i (the founder of his own school). He is regarded as more learned in the traditions than in jurisprudence. His status also derives from his collection and exposition of the hadiths. His major contribution to Islamic scholarship is a collection of forthy-thousand traditions known as 'Musnadul-Imam Hanbal'. In spite of the importance of Hanbal's work his school did not enjoy the
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popularity of the three preceding Sunni schools of law. Hanbal's followers were regarded as reactionary and troublesome on account of their reluctance to give personal opinion on matters of law, their rejection of analogy, their fanatic intolerance of views other than their own, and their exclusion of opponents from power and judicial office. Their unpopularity led to periodic bouts of persecution against them.

2.2 Contribution by the four schools of Islamic Law. Hanafi School of Law contributions. If we analyse back the history of Islam few centuries ago, well understand that the jurists during the era of tabien and Tabi Tabien are divided into two parts. They are called Ahli Hadith and Ahli Akal. These two believers has been debating intensely in making sure that they are the one whos right or should be referred to. We understand that Prophet Muhammad has lived in both Makkah and Madinah in the majority of his life. These two places are the central of hadith. That the reason how Ahli Hadith existed, and this is also why most of the problems arise before are handled by the use of Hadith (tradition of Prophet). As for the other division, the Jurists in Iraq use the methods of precedent cases that are solved by the Hadith (tradition of Prophet) before or similar cases that happened before and employ it to current problems. It is not simply by using their minds to solve it. One of the reasons why this group exists is the lacking of influences on Hadith (tradition of Prophet) in that particular country. Imam Hanafi lives and breathes in the city of Kufah which is why he is more into Ahli Akal. He is more integrated with Qiyas. He often involved in debates such as against the Mutazilah, The Syiah, Qadariah and many others. This is one of his main contributions as most of his Madhabs consists of Qiyas. Qiyas here means as
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Analogy, in Islamic definition, it is how the Jurists or Doctors of laws seeking solutions by the use of Logic, reasoning and opinion based on analogy in the scientific rules and premises. This caused by the existing new cases which are not provided in the Quran, Sunnah, consensus of opinions, and the companions of the Prophet (Rauf. 2005) it is the fourth source of Islam (Haji Hassan, 2007) One important contribution which I want to highlight is Imam Hanafi being a famous teacher in the city of Kufah. His name spread throughout the Arab countries, and his has successfully create his on Madhab, which known as Madhab Hanafi. All kinds of students want to become his students even those who are already an expert jurist at that time. And because of his love for debates, he used this approach to teach his students and not to just consume everything from his teaching but to gives their own opinions. This contribution leads to encouragement for those students to improve the knowledge vastly and learn the Subject of Islam endlessly. His teachings brought about famous students who again continue contributions in teaching of Islam. If there were problems, huge problems particularly, he used to have a meeting (Muzakarah), or exchange opinions (Munazarah) and Debate (Mubahasah) to solve it. He doesnt like students who like to follow him 100% (Taqlid) but to do research and analyze before making decision. This leads to advancement in human-being specifically in the search of Knowledge. 2.2.1. Books and articles. In the history of Imam Hanifah, when he is already old and weak and no longer is active in his creating his own outputs, a class jurists emerged who are his students with the likes of Abu Yussof, Imam Muhammad Bin Hassan Asy Saibani compiled all the fatwas and Ijtihad of Imam Abu Hanifah (Imam Hanafi). One of the main books is Kitab Al-Kharaj. it is the book of reference in the Hanafi School. This book is embodying his views on taxation and fiscal problems of the state and also testifies the extensive
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knowledge, depth and thoroughness by Abu Yussof. There are many others books that contributed to the society of Islam in the world such as book by Imam Muhammad Bin Hassan Asy Saibani. Most of his books are relating to laws of inheritance (Haji Hassan,2007). The methods of his Maddhab are based on Al-Quran, then the traditions of prophet, Fatwas of companions, then Qiyas, Istihsan (best opinion made up by Imam Hanafi and finally the culture.

2.2.2. Places which are contributed by Hanafi School In general the Hanafi school has contributed the teachings to the Muslims in Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Afrika, India, Pakistan, Turki, Afganistan, Balkan, Turkestan, Armenia and others. In India, the followers are approximately 48 millions lives (Haji Hassan, 2007). Till nowadays the followers of Hanfi School are almost quarter of Muslims Population.

2.3. Maliki School of Law contributions. Imam Maliki as the fouder of Maliki School are well known of his genius in the way he is capturing knowledge. He at 17 years old already establishes his own school of knowledge. Like Hanafi, the students are not only normal students but well known Jurists all over the country. He was given acknowledgement by the teachers to have his own school of knowledge at that age. His school of Knowledge was at Prophets Mosque at first then carried on to his own place. Here he gave or send out his fatwas to the people which basically based on fatwas by Saidina Umar dan Ibnu Masud. 2.3.1. Knowledge on Hadith (Tradition on Prophet Muhammad).
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His contribution very much goes to his expertise in Hadith (Tradition on Prophet Muhammad). His genius mind in Hadith established his as the top Jurists amongst others at that time. He became the person who most of these jurists refer to and he has the capacity and authorization to compile every Hadith on Prophet Muhammad into a book. No one at that time resisted his expertise on Hadith as claimed by Madhabs before him. The methods of giving his fatwas are different to Imam Hanafi who relies on Analogy (qiyas). Imam Maliki likes to answer problem which are currently arising or yet to arise as he only want to answer questions which are valuable (haji Hassan, 2007).

2.3.2. Books and articles. He has created one of his own Book, Kitab Muwatta and infact it is the most important Book by Imam Maliki. He has taken 40years to complete this book. This book are as a reference to the Maliki School as it consists of the Hadiths on the prophets and other Fatwas by close friends (companions) and Tabien (Haji Hassan, 2007). He has compiled 10,000 Hadith which was initially 100,000 of Hadith. It was analyzed deeply and carefully before he eliminated all other Hadiths. Then it was again reduced to 500 after checked and synchronized with the Quran before it was inserted to his main Book mentioned above (Tarikuddin, 2007). This book has contributed so much to the Muslim world as it consists of the sayings of Rasulullah saw, and the Fatwas. Nowadays the contents are as basically 600 Hadith Musnad (the Prophet), 222 hadith Mursal (Companions), 613 hadith Mauquf (Words of Companions) and 285 hadith
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on words of Tabien (Haji Hassan, 2007). This book gives vast knowledge to the followers of Maliki School. The methods of his Maddhab are based on first Quran, Hadith, Ijma (Doctors of Laws decision), Qiyas(Analogy), Maslahah al Mursalah (avoiding terrible things).

2.3.3. Places which were contributed by Maliki school. As I have understood, Imam Malik lives and teaches in the city of Madinah but his Maddhabs or school has spread very quickly to Egypt. It spread as the students who learnt from him returned to their native country and continues his teachings to the people. In Egypt however he was challenged pretty heavily by Imam As-Syafie and his power has been diminishing. He then revitalized his Authority in the 556 hijrah with the rising of Ayubiyyah. The ruler of the dynasty helped his built a school to teach which is called as Al Qumhiyyah. As in Spain, he was helped by several well known individuals his spreading his teachings and authority. Those are in the likes of Khalifah Hisyam and the ruler. They also appoint other jurists in support of Imam Maliki teachings. Nowadays Maliki school influences are not much as before but still contributed to some of the countries in Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Palestine, Hedjaz and others. 2.4. Syafie School of Law contributions. If Imam Syafie to be compared with the previous Imams, he was more moderate in terms of spreading his Maddhab. This make easier for followers to understand his Fatwas especially in our part of the world such as Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Kemboja, Filipina and others who love moderation. He applied his moderate approach in Quran
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understanding and Hadith analysis. In terms of learning knowledge, he is very much differ to both Imam Hanafi and Maliki as he preferred to travel all over the Arab countries and Persian in efforts to get more knowledges. This is how he gathered his vast knowledge on Islam and better understanding of Al-Quran and Hadith. He is very interested in poems. This caused most jurists and Doctors of Laws went against him because for them its useless to study poem. He stood strong on his views about poems and he memorized a lot of poems during his time which is based on Islam rules and principals. Here he contributed on summarizing numbers of Poems which are allowed and which are prohibited as for example poem on sexual elements, poems which are meant to accuse Islam and few others (Haji Hassan, 2007). 2.4.1. Books and Articles. As top Jurists he made significant contributions in terms of creating important articles of his own which are used for reference for the followers of Syafie School in making decision of Feqah or Islamic rulings. In his books, Imam Syafie also contributed by giving his interpretations on rules based on Islamic sources. He wrote his books on his own hands which he compiled every hadiths and sayings of the prophet and not on his Ijtihads. He also contributed in making Poems and articles on Fiqah. Two books he created in Iraq are called Qaul Qadim and In Mesir Qaul Jadid. Qaul Jadid are the one are being used and acknowledged by himself to used by people all around the world. Books that are still existed until know which has massive contributions to the Muslim world are: 1. Kitab Ar- Risalah Articles of how to set rules from the Quran, Sunnah, Ijma and Qiyas.

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2. Kitab Az-Zafaran Decisions made by Imam Syafie 3. Kitab Al-Umm The biggest Fiqah Book made for Syafie School and considered as the mother of all books referred by the followers. It also shows the proficiency in Fiqah Knowledge which consists of Chapter Jamiul Ilmi (Prophets Sunnah), Chapter Ibtalul Istihsan (Rules he set in Iraq), etc. There are few others books and articles made by Madhab Syafie like Book of Ikhtilaful hadith, Al-Musnad, Fiqah book, Faraidh (inheritance) and many others which are useful for the followers (Haji Hassan, 2007). The Basics of his Maddhab is from Quran, next Hadith, then Ijma, Qiyas and Istidlal. 2.4.2. Countries which vastly contributed by Syafie School. Iraq

Even though he is raised in Mekah and succeeded in giving his own fatwa at the age of 15 he still based his teaching from other Top Jurists such as Imam Sufyan and Imam Muslim. In Iraq he began to spread hes own Madhabs and only succeeded for his third attempts, he open his own school to teach people in Iraq which then hes school were called Qaul Qadim. It also means decisions on rules are based on the minds of Imam Syafie. It started to grow rapidly in Iraq. Egypt

He then went to Egypt but had to change his Madhab which are suitable with the people there. The Ijtihads he had in Iraq are not applicable in that country. His Madhab were then called as Qaul Jadid or a new ways of thinking by Imam Syafie.
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Due to his expertise and his determination in spreading his Madhab, most followers from Hanafi School and Maliki School transferred to follow his instead. Other countries.

Beside Egypt and Iraq, Syafie school has followers in Kota Merw, Tauran, Sri Langka, Farsi, Hijaz, Kurdi, then spreading more to our area of the world such as Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Philipines, Indonesia, Burma, Laos and other countries 2.5. Hambali School of Law contributions. Hambali is from City of Baghdad, he is similar to Madhab Syafie as he went out of the city to further his knowledge. He works really hard to find Hadiths outside of Baghdad. He memorized a lot of Hadith which were approximately 1 million of them. He only becomes a teacher at the age of 40, because he wants to make sure that he was ready to give out Fatwa and Ijtihad like other Mujtahids. He wants to be a teacher who can form his own Maddhab and interprets the rules and principals by the primary sources. 2.5.1. His bravery on holding firm on his faith on the theory of Quran creation. Imam Hambali has rejected the theory of he creation of Quran and was asked to accept it by Caliph Al Wathiiq. Due to his resistance he was presecuted, beaten and imprisoned (Mahmassani, 2000). He was tortured purely on political reasons. And due to his stubbornness, others were sacrificed and murdered. This showed how the integrity and how fearless was Imam Hambali. This is one highlight of his contributions towards Islam. 2.5.2. Books and articles.

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He was also very careful in giving out Fatwas which are reflected in his contributions of his own books. It is known there was only one Hadith book which was finished by Imam Hambali. This particular book is called AlMusnad. There were more articles such as Tafsir Al-Quran, Jawabatul Quran, Al-Tarikh, At-Taatur Rasul, Al-Zhud, Al-Masail, Fadhil, and many others which were written by Imam Hambali. All these books are as reference to his followers. He has vast knowledge on Quran and Hadith or tradition on the prophets (Haji Hassan, 2007). In the Book of Musnad, he has inserted 40,000 hadith from the millions of Hadith he memorized before. All the contents of this book are source of his ruling in developing his own Madhab. The contents are properly justified in sequences particularly the names of companions of Prophet Muhammad. His Maddhab are based on Quran, Hadith, Fatwas on companions who are in peace or not, Hadith Mursal & Hadith Dhaif and finally Qiyas. 2.5.3. Contributions to parts of the world. Hanafi school however are the least spreading sunni school. It begun very slowly starting from Baghdad and continue outside Iraq during the forth century and in Egypt during the sixth century (Mahmassani, 2000). More followers are found in Qatar and Bahrain, Aqur, Dailam and Rahab. Arab Saudi also follows Hambali School and called them as Madhab Wahabi (Haji Hassan, 2007).

3. Conclusion. From the information laid above, I can understand how different in the way they contributed to the populations of Muslim, most of them contributed their Maddhab by teaching and spread out by their students, each of them have

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their very own book for reference to the followers and their influences are divided to different part of the world. After studying the four schools of laws, I understood that we as Muslim are obliged to follow one of the Maddhab considering where we live and stay. Referring to Maddhab is considered as the third knowledge after Quran and Hadith. Its their interpretation which was important to us the followers as they are well thought-out as the Mujtahid of Islam. As in Quranic Verse," Ask those who recall, if you know not " (Qur'an 16:43), and in Surat al-Nisa, " If they had referred it to the Messenger and to those of authority among them, then those of them whose task it is to find it out would have known the matter " (Qur'an 4:83). It basically means that we can refer to those who have the capacity to draw inferences directly from Primary Sources of Islam. It is not difficult to see why Allah has obliged us to ask experts. Now, if you asked me should it be applicable nowadays for these four Madhabs? Ill answer yes definitely but it depends on where you are. If we are in Brunei Darussalam for example, we know the Shafie school is dominant in this part of the world so we have to follow Shafie rules. It is the same goes to people in Turkey who follows Hanifah School, Moroccans following Maddhab Maliki, and others following Hambali. All of these School of Laws have different opinions on current issues that we have encountered, currently facing or yet to be encountered. It can be on social issues, trading activities and moral issues. As we are facing different kind of issues which are not clear on how to find the solution nowadays, we refer to these Mujtahids Book or School. For example in moral issue, (gambling ) The first form of gambling is when no party is obliged to pay any amount for certain; rather, the payment of each party is dependent upon a uncertain event in the future. In this case, the gambler does not stake his money initially, rather the money is put at stake by promising to pay later. For example, A and B compete in a race, with the promise of the loser paying the winner $100. In this example, there is no certainty of payment from any one party; rather the payment is contingent from both sides on winning and
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losing. Also included in this category is the betting that takes place in horseracing and various other sports. For example, A says to B that if team X wins the match, I will pay you $100, but if team X loses, you will have to pay me $100. This will be gambling, hence unlawful. It is for this reason, Sayyiduna Ali (Allah is pleased with him) said: Chess is the gambling of non-Arabs. (AlBayhaqi in his Shayb al-Iman) However, it should be noted here that in order for this type of betting to be considered gambling, there should be a two-way bet. If a one-way bet is made, it will not be considered gambling, hence lawful. Also, if a third person not taking part in the sport vows to give the winner a prize, then this is also permitted and not considered to be gambling, provided the participants do not have to pay anything to enroll into the competition. This is based on Hanafi viewpoint; it will be slightly different for other Maddhabs. As for trading activities issues, one example can be use here are how our Maddhab gave his standpoint. For example by earnings from a job that involved some unlawful activities. Let just say Iam working in restaurant which sale both Halal and non-halal foods. The money that I earn from this kind of job is lawful, albeit of doubtful lawfulness. What this means is that I will be prohibited to give the money away in charity. The only thing that is obligatory on me is to regret from the specific unlawful things that I did while on the job. One of the conditions of such regret is that for me to stop working in such a restaurant. Again other Maddhabs will have different views on this. As for Law, back to Hanafi school decisions on some issues especially on theft. Based on Quranic Verse: As to the thief, male of female, cut off his or her hands. A punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime (Surah al-Maidah, 38). The penalty for the one who steals (when the above conditions are met) is that his/her right arm is amputated. If a person steals a second time, his left foot is
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amputated; if a third time, then he will be imprisoned until he repents, but no further amputation will take place. Finally on social issues, one interesting example here can be discussed here is on the social interaction between opposite sex or confusion on limits to talking to the opposite sex. There are several verses of Quran that we can touch on based on Syafie school. One of it is as following. "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers..." [Al-Nour, 24: 30-31] And another Hadith that can be related is: "When a man and woman are alone together, Satan is the third." [Tirmidhi] Under Maddhab Syafie it is crucial to know each other but that must be done within certain limits. For example, it is fine for us to get to know each other in the presence of family members. However, be cautious about online chatting, as mentioned before. Also, be cautious about unsupervised telephone conversations. In principle, there is nothing wrong with talking on occasion, particularly if we have something important to discuss. However, the limits of propriety must be observed. If we are to talk on the phone, it should be with the permission of your wali or parents. Furthermore, we should avoid talking to him or her when we are alone.

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4. Recommedation. I am sometimes rather doubtful about the strength of Muslims nowadays compared to past during the learning of Islam were very robust and vigorous. There is lacking of analysis of the primary sources now compared to before or even to study Islam as a religion. People nowadays just accept that they are belong to one of the school and never bother to analyze why they are following the school (Taqlid). The first condition for, I would say really the, in order to build Muslim unity today, to take us back to the theme of the conference, or discussion, in other word breaking the Great wall of China between the schools. the first condition has to be to reestablish a coherent system of interpretation in the Divine, of the Divine Lawgiver's messages to us along these lines. Unless we do so, we will have not four madhhabs in their usual, traditional condition of harmony. We will be going to have as many madhhabs as we have Muslim egos. That precious thing called Muslim unity is going to be lost forever, and the religion will slip ever more disastrously into the extreme and violent direction. Islam is a gift and a very special religion. This is how we have to see it. It is our most precious possession. It is through Islam that we strive for peace and justice and harmony in the world and it is through Islam that we strive also for eternal joy and serenity in the presence of our Creator. Now its time to act to save this gift before its too late. There is a real danger that this gift will be taken away from us. We must try to recreate that extraordinary methodology incarnated in the four Madhhabs of Sunni Islam, championed by the great Imams of our history, and which underpinned our unity for so long.

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Reference References: Rauf, F. A, 2002: Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia,2002.

Mahmassani, S, 2000. Open press (M) Sdn Bhd), p.13-33

Haji Hassan, Perniagaan Jahabersa, 2007

www.sunnipath.com

http://muslim-canada.org/contribution_shafi.html

http://suzyashraf.tripod.com/htm/_ed._Syed_Mumtaz_Ali.htm

http://muslim-canada.org/contribution_shafi.html

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