The Evolution of Fiqh(5.2 THE AWZAA’EE MADHAB)

The founder: Imaam al-Awzaa’ee (708-774 CE)

This Madh-hab is named after the Syrian scholar ‘Abdur-

Rahman ibn al-Awzaa’ee who was born in Ba’labek in the year 708

CE. He became known as one of the major scholars of Hadeeth of

the eighth century CE and was opposed to the excessive use of

Qiyaas and other forms of reasoning in cases where clear texts from

the Qur’aan and or Sunnah were available. Imaam Awzaa’ee spent

most of his life in Beirut, eventually dying there in the year 774 CE,

but his Madh-hab became widespread in Syria, Jordan, Palestine and

Lebanon as well as in Spain.
 

Reasons For The Madh-hab’s Disappearance

His Madh-hab remained the main school of thought in Syria

until the tenth century CE, when Abu Zar’ah Muhammad ibn

‘Uthmaan of the Shaafi’ee Madh-hab was appointed judhe of

Damascus. Abu Zar’ah began the practice of giving a prize of one

hundred dinars to any student who memorized the book, Mukhtasr

al-Muzanee, ( a basic book of Shaafi’ee Fiqh). Naturally, this

practice caused the Shaafi’ee Madh-hab to spread rapidly in Syria

and the number of Awzaa’ee’s followers continued to dwindle until

the eleventh century when none were to be found.
Fiqh al-Imaam al-Awzaa’ee However, his

contributions to the science of Fiqh were recorded and remain to

 this day in most of the books of comparative Fiqh.