A drawing of the different schools of law (maḏhhab) in Islam (both current and extinct) and how they all connect to the šhariʽah and are therefore all equal. It was drawn by Shaykh Ali al-Khawwas (may Allah be pleased with him).

These schools are (clockwise):

– The school of  ʽĀʾišhah رضی اللہ عنھا

– The school of ʽAbdullah ibn ʽUmar رضي الله عنه

– The school of ʽAbdullah ibn Masʽud رضي الله عنه

– The school of ʽAtā

– The school of Mujāhid

– The school of Imam al-Layth

– The school of Dawud al-Ẓāhirī 

– The school of Abū Ḥanīfa

– The school of Mālik

– The school of al-Shāfi’ī

– The school of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal

– The school of Sufyān al-Thawrī

– The school of Sufyān ibn ʽUyayna

– The school of Muḥammad ibn Jarir al-Ṭabarī

– The school of ʽUmar ibn ʽAbd al-ʽAzīz

– The school of al-ʽAmāšh

– The school of al-šhʽabī

– The school of Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh 

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By the 12th Century AH, most scholars aligned themselves to either:

• The school of Abū Ḥanīfa
• The school of Mālik
• The school of al-Shāfi’ī
• The school of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal
• The school of Dawud al-Ẓāhirī 

You can read a poem here on the Four Imams.

Sources: Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha’rani’s: al-Mizan al-Khadiriyya and al-Mizan al-Kubra.