It has been pointed out that on many levels Islam presents a set of four principles or elements generally relating to a fifth term constituting their center or foundation: the four rightly guided caliphs representing the Prophet, the four "pillars" of religion (prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, zakât) arising from the profession of faith...and also, the four orthodox schools of Sunni Islam which differentiate a single Law (Sharî'a). Each of the rites therefore highlights an aspect of this Law corresponding to the different temperaments and tendencies which have manifested themselves over the centuries among the peoples of Islam. Therefore, we cannot proclaim, as some would like today, the "death of schools" and their reunification under the leadership of a unitary madhab which has only ever existed in the imagination of its supporters. Unity is not uniformity and it is certainly not by bringing everyone into line with an Islamist “new order” that we will obtain unison. Differences were legitimized during the lifetime of the Messenger of God; a fortiori they are justified after the disappearance of the one who was and remains, in the minds of Muslims, the only incontestable reference. Because, as Imam Malik said in front of the Prophet's tomb: "The only one who never made a mistake now rests in this maqam."