These schools were circles of religious scholars (Ulama) and students adhering to the codes of law developed by the founders of the schools in the eighth and ninth centuries: Abu Hanifa al Numan (d.767), Malik b. Anas (d.795), Muammad b. Idris al-Shafii (d.820), and Amad b. Hanbal (d.855). The Ulama provided higher education, and offered training for teachers and judicial administrators to generate consultants, notaries, and judges. The schools were, in turn, supported financially by the communities in which they were located

The Maliki school emerged in Medina and thus reflects the views and practices of Medina jurists. Today, Malikis are mainly present in North Africa.

The Hanbali school today is strong in Egypt, the Levant, Turkey and India.

The Shafii school evolved in Egypt and by the tenth century, it was established in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia. Today it is also strong in Egypt, India and Indonesia.

The Hanafi school emerged in Iraq and as such it reflects the views of the Iraqi jurists. Soon enough, the Hanafis expanded to the northern borders and the school was fast established in Iran and Central Asia.

The majority of Muslims regard these four schools as equally legitimate as their interpretations of the law differ only in matters where the primary sources have been silent.

The Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet are the two primary sources of Islamic law, faith, and thought in general. They govern absolutely all aspects of a Muslim’s life both privately and publically including, but not limited to, physical acts of worship, state administration, social life issues such as marriage and divorce, matters of creed (aqida), and spirituality. In matters related to law, these primary sources, when not made explicit, are then complemented with secondary sources based on human interpretation made by the jurists( faqih). Such human efforts to interpret the law are based on ijtihad (independent reasoning). The Sharia law as “raw” material is divine in nature, fiqh (jurisprudence) on the other hand is the human endeavor, the science, that interprets and explains this divine law.

All 4 schools acknowledge the authority of Quraan and Hadith as the ultimate source of islamic law

After he lost alliance with the ruler of Uyayna, Uthman b. mid b. Muammar , he left his hometown and set for Al Dir’iyya. He then gained the support of it’s local leader, Muhammad b. Saud. And so, in 1744 an alliance between ammad b. Abd al-Wa and b. d was formed and sealed by a mutual oath (a) of loyalty. This was the alliance that led to the foundation of the first Saudi state, as mentioned above. ammad b. al-b’s popularity and influence grew after his death and the , now over two centuries old, stands strong as Saudi Arabia’s official manifestation of the Islamic faith.

Muhammad Abd Al-Wahhab became famous for his strict adherence to tawhid. He stresses the unity of God in deserving worship and absolute devotion of the servants. He regards the associations of persons or things with the Lord as a violation of the doctrine of God’s Oneness.
He seeks to purify the Muslim community from any such kind of external elements by returning to the ways of the Prophet (pbuh) and the first generations of pious Muslims.

The second was the deliberate destruction of the monument over the tomb of the Prophet ammad’s companion Zayd b. al-b.

The third act, which proved to be yet another shock to the community and a signal of the extremism and intolerance that the later Wahhabi movement came to inherit, was the stoning of an adulteress after her continuous and deliberate inappropriate sexual behavior and her own admittance to her sins without any repentance or willingness to change her lifestyle.

The first was the cutting of a sacred tree that was visited by the local community for blessings and intercession.

The only movement that can be correctly referred to as a religio-political movement. Founded in Egypt in 1928 by al-Banna (1906-49), the Muslim Brotherhood is also active in other Arab and Muslim countries and has influenced other Islamic movements around the world with its model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a political party, even if politics based on Islamic dogma is the essence of its thought and belief, nor is it a charity organization, even if charity work is one of its noblest goals.
For al-Banna, the defining aspect of his youth was religion in general and Sufism in particular.

Following the official ban of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the mid-1950s, the group continued to grow underground. In the 1980s the Muslim Brotherhood rejoined the political mainstream. It formed alliances with the Wafd party in 1984, and with the Labor and Liberal parties in 1987. It became the main opposition force in Egypt.

By the end of 1948 the Muslim Brotherhood was dissolved by the Egyptian government for attacking British and Jewish interests.

In April 2012 The Muslim Brotherhood announced they would field a candidate in Egypt’s presidential elections. The election of their candidate, Muhammad Mursi, as Egypt’s new president marked a historic victory for The Muslim Brotherhood, from a banned party to, for a brief period, the ruling one.

In 1949, Hasan al-Banna was shot dead by an unknown gunman.

After a failed attempt on the life of the Egyptian President Nasser in 1954, the MB was banned, some of its leaders executed, and thousands of its members imprisoned and tortured.