2. Characteristics of the Madhab

o The Fuqaha’ of this Madhab believed that the rulings of Shari’ah are based on perceivable and identifiable reasons therefore every single rule in Shari’ah has a reason which you can easily identify so you must use your mind.  This is absolutely the opposite of the first school of thought. o They are known for their extensive use of hypothetical questions and scenarios. They tried to answer all possible ‘what if’ questions. Thus, they are called “ArRa’aitiyoon (The What-If’ers)”. o They used to scrutinize the narrations of hadith in light of reason, thus they preferred weak hadith or Qiyas over hadith which did not make sense to them. Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 47

 This is because there were fabricated hadith in the area and they would rule out hadith which did not make sense to them.  They would be suspicious of narrations and would doubt the trustworthiness of people because of the historical factors and political instability such as sectarianism and factionalism, in the area.  Nowadays, even this school says that you do not try to reason the hadith after the compilation of the Sahih books; you cannot criticize any hadith based on this method. o They are known as the “The Rational School of Thought” in light of their rational thinking.