Download or read book Islamic Legal Orthodoxy written by Devin J. Stewart and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most far-reaching developments in the history of Islam was the rise of the four classical Sunni schools of law between the ninth and eleventh centuries CE. Consolidation of these schools went hand in hand with the establishment of jurists' dominance over religious discourse and social institutions. Orthodoxy came to be defined as the consensus (ijma') of the Sunni jurists. Devin Stewart argues that it is to the margins of the emerging system that investigators must look to understand its historical dynamics.