How to read a school

كيف تُقرأ كتب المذهب

A madhhab is not one book. It is a chain of books. The imam’s own pages, then the zahir al-riwayah of his students, then a short matn a child can hold, then a sharh that argues, then a hashiyah the later mufti actually cites. If you open Ibn Abidin without Quduri, or Tuhfat al-Muhtaj without the Minhaj, you are reading the roof without the house.

A path through the books

Matn → sharh → hashiyah. Usul of the school in one hand, furu in the other. A living shaykh for what the page cannot decide.

المتن
The matn
—
A short, memorisable text of the school’s relied-upon positions.
الشرح
The sharh
—
Opens the matn: dalil, ikhtilaf inside the school, the hard cases.
الحاشية
The hashiyah
—
Later notes on the sharh. Fatwa in many lands is taken from here.
المعتمد
The mutamad
—
What the later school actually gives fatwa on, when the early books differ.

Nur will not tell you which school to follow. Follow the one taught where you pray, then learn it from its books — not from a clip.