[source: Al-Maqasid, p. 


The Qur'an, the first source of guidance, was memorized during the lifetime of 
the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) by thousands of Companions in a 
deliberate and sustained educational effort centered around the mosque in 
Medina, whence teachers were sent to tribes in all parts of the Arabian 
Peninsula.
[source: Al-Maqasid, p. ix]


All that has reached us of it has reached us through men. And this is why 
Muslims from earliest times have relied on the most knowledgeable of these men 
to take their religion from - whether in hadith, tenets of faith ('aqida'), 
Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir), or the other Islamic sciences.
[source: Al-Maqasid, p. x]


For orthodox Muslims (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a), there are four Imams of Sacred 
Law: Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, and Ahmad. The rulings that they concur upon, 
about 75 percent of them, are a decisive proof for Sunni Muslims.
[source: Al-Maqasid, p. x]


Despite the preeminence of their rank, the Imams regarded themselves as 
explainers rather than legislators, and one of their greatest legacies was to 
the subsequent generations of scholars who followed in their footsteps, nearly a 
hundred in each school, scholars of the first rank who carefully rechecked the 
Imams' work in light of the primary texts of the Qur'an and hadith.
[source: Al-Maqasid, p. xi]


Despite the preeminence of their rank, the Imams regarded themselves as 
explainers rather than legislators, and one of their greatest legacies was to 
the subsequent generations of scholars who followed in their footsteps, nearly a 
hundred in each school, scholars of the first rank who carefully rechecked the 
Imams' work in light of the primary texts of the Qur'an and hadith.
[source: Al-Maqasid, p. xi]