Which Islamic school of law does the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat follow?

In general, the school of Imam Abu Hanifa. But the highest authority remains the Holy Qur’an, followed by the Sunnah and the hadith that agree with it. Where another school is closer to these, it is followed instead.

In Sunni Islam there are four major schools of law, going back to Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’i and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. All of them are founded on the Holy Qur’an and on what the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said and did in explaining it. None of these imams has authority in his own right. They all draw from the same sources.

That they nevertheless reached different conclusions has a simple reason. In their time the hadith had not yet been collected and examined as they were later. Each imam judged on the basis of the reports that had reached him. Others knew other reports and honestly came to other conclusions. Today the material is far more complete, and one can compare which view comes closest to the Holy Qur’an and the hadith.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), the Promised Messiah, gave a clear order for this, which the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat follows. First comes the Holy Qur’an. It has been preserved unchanged and contains the foundation of all law. Hadith that agree with it are accepted. If a report seems to contradict the Holy Qur’an, one first looks for an explanation that reconciles the two. If that is not possible, the Holy Qur’an prevails.

For all other matters, the school of Imam Abu Hanifa is generally followed, whose rulings have been very widely accepted in the Muslim world. But where a verse or a hadith clearly stands against a Hanafi view, the verse or the hadith is followed. Where in some question another school is closer to the Holy Qur’an and the hadith, that school is followed. New questions are deliberated jointly by scholars.

In this way none of the great schools is rejected. All are respected as sincere efforts. The measure for all of them remains the Holy Qur’an, and the aim is to overcome the divisions among Muslims rather than to continue them.