Ibn Rajab's essay Refutation of Those Who Do Not Follow the Four Schools advocates for the necessity of following Islamic scholarship in general, and legal scholarship in particular. A large portion of the essay covers the history of the development of Islamic scholarship and how the Muslim Community came to recognize scholars as the source for authoritative knowledge. Readers of the essay will notice that Ibn Rajab is engaging individuals who saw themselves as equal or superior to prior generations of scholars, free to cast aside scholarship and to reinterpret without any need for requisite skills and knowledge. Although written seven centuries ago, it might as well have written with today's reformers in mind.

In Beyond Schools: Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Wazīrʼs (d. 840/1436) Epistemology of Ambiguity, Damaris Wilmers provides the first extensive analysis of Ibn al-Wazīrʼs thought and its role in the “Sunnisation of the Zaydiyya”, emphasizing its significance for conflicts between schools of thought and law beyond the Yemeni context. Contrasting Ibn al-Wazīrʼs works with those of his Zaydi contemporary Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. al-Murtaḍā, Damaris Wilmers offers a study of a number of heretofore unedited texts from 9th/15th century Yemen when Zaydi identity was challenged by an increasing theological and legal diversity. She shows how Ibn al-Wazīr, who has been classed with different schools, actually de-emphasized school affiliation and developed an integrative approach based on a unique theory of knowledge.

Misconceptions and misunderstandings about Islam and fear of causing offence can be barriers to being an effective teacher in a diverse school. This book aims to give non-Muslim teachers the confidence to engage meaningfully with important facets of Muslim pupils’ lives leading to a richer and more rewarding experience in the classroom. Aspects of Islam explored include: the foundations and obligations of faith, ethical dimensions placed upon Muslims, the importance of education in Muslim communities and contemporary issues faced by communities in the UK. To deepen your understanding, each chapter is enriched by case studies linked to the classroom, expert voices that offer authenticity and reflective tasks that encourage you to consider key concepts in greater depth. This is essential reading for new and experienced teachers in primary and secondary schools wishing to deepen their knowledge of Islam.

Bid'ah (Innovation)1)The Islamic definition of Bid'ah.2)General rules to recognise Bid'ah.3)The dangers of Bid'ahand their evil effects.4)Claimed 'evidences' of the innovators and their refutations.5)Reasons for innovating.6)Ways to eradicate Bid'ah.7)Related Qur'anic verses.8)Related Ahaadeeth.9)Related words of the Salaf.10)Related stories.

This book studies the legal reasoning of Mālik ibn Anas (d. 179 H./795 C.E.) in the Muwaṭṭa’ and Mudawwana. Although focusing on Mālik, the book presents a broad comparative study of legal reasoning in the first three centuries of Islam. It reexamines the role of considered opinion (ra’y), dissent, and legal ḥadīths and challenges the paradigm that Muslim jurists ultimately concurred on a “four-source” (Qurʾān, sunna, consensus, and analogy) theory of law. Instead, Mālik and Medina emphasizes that the four Sunnī schools of law (madhāhib) emerged during the formative period as distinctive, consistent, yet largely unspoken legal methodologies and persistently maintained their independence and continuity over the next millennium.

A rapidly expanding Islamic revival movement shows that Islamic rationalism and not jihadism is to define twenty-first century Islam.

The Hanbali School of Law and Ibn Taymiyyah provides a valuable account of the development of Hanbalite jurisprudence, placing the theoretical and conceptual parameters of this tradition within the grasp of the interested reader. Studying the vibrant yet controversial interaction between Ibn Taymiyyah and the Hanbali School of law, this book assesses to what extent this relationship was a conflict or reconciliation. The author takes a detailed exploration of the following issues: the strength of contributions made to this School by earlier paragons associated with Ahmad Ibn Hanbal the contextual constructs which shaped the tradition’s development the methodology and literature synonyms within the classical School the manner by which Ibn Taymiyyah engaged with the Hanbali tradition the impact of his thought upon the later expression of the School’s legal doctrines and its theoretical principles the contribution made by this School in general to the synthesis of Islamic law. Giving background material to the Hanbali School of law, this book is a vital reference work for those with interests in Islamic law, the history of the Hanbalite tradition and its principle luminaries.