Bismillah The title of the thread expresses my exact sentiment. I would adopt a school based on accessibility of material and teacher. Shaikh Nuh Ha Meem (A shafi Scholar) states that both Hanafi and Malaki schools are very developed and has a lot of scholastic resources as they both were adopted by notable muslim ruler with a large teritory and came in contact and had to deal with various ideology. Aseatic A lot of the travler went to SE via ship where as the route to indo pak touched on silk route and Bagdad (the centre of learning) was not not that far away for indo pak. We indo pak are not sea fering people and had enough on our plate : ). Allahualm