A school of Islamic legal thought. Four are followed in Sunni Islam.
In Islamic law
A madhhab is a coherent body of legal method and rulings traced to a founding jurist and developed by generations of scholars after him. The four surviving Sunni schools are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They agree on the great majority of inheritance law and differ at defined points.
In Canadian law
Canadian courts do not apply any madhhab. They give effect to whatever a valid will says, so the school you follow matters for how you instruct your lawyer, not for whether the will is enforceable.
We have not yet researched whether the four Sunni schools differ on this term, so we are not going to tell you either way. Where a specific case turns on it, ask a qualified scholar rather than relying on a general summary.
Canadian legal detail
Treadstone Law, an Ontario firm with a wills and estates practice, covers the Canadian side of this in more depth:
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Oxford Islamic Studies / Oxford Reference — Oxford University Press
- Capacity to instruct a lawyer ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law