Madhhab (pl. madhahib)

A ‘fiqh’ school or orientation characterized by differences in the methods by which certain source-texts are understood and therefore differences in the Sharia rulings which are deduced from them. There are four well-known madhahib among Sunni Muslims whose names are associated with the classical jurists who are said to have founded them (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali).