Hanafi

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
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The Hanafi (Arabic الحنفي) school is one of the four Madhhab (schools of law) in jurisprudence (Fiqh) within Sunni Islam, the other three schools of thought being Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Iraqi scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit (Arabic: أبو حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت‎) (699 - 767CE /89 - 157AH), a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.

Contents

Overview

Among the four established Sunni schools of legal thought in Islam, the Hanafi school is the oldest. It has a reputation for putting greater emphasis on the role of reason and being slightly more liberal than the other three schools. The Hanafi school also has the most followers among the four major Sunni schools. (Both the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire were Hanafi so the Hanafi school is still widespread in their former lands). Today, the Hanafi school is predominant among the Sunnis of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China as well as in Iraq, Mauritius, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia in the Balkans and the Caucasus. It is also followed in large numbers in other parts of Muslim world.

Map of Muslim world, Hanafi (in green) is predominant in Turkey, North Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent

Sources and methodology

The sources from which the law is derived, in order of importance and preference, are: the Qur'an, the authentic narrations of the Prophet (Hadith), Consensus (ijma), and analogical reasoning (qiyas), qiyas only being applied if direct material cannot be found in the Qur'an or Hadith. As the fourth Caliph, 'Ali, had transferred the Islamic capital to Kufa, and many of the companions of the Prophet had settled there, the Hanafi School had based many of its rulings on Prophetic narrations (Hadith) transmitted by companions residing in Iraq, thus it came to be known as the Kufan or Iraqi school in earlier times. Hence 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud formed much of the base of the school, as well as other personalities from the household of the Prophet with whom Abu Hanifa had studied such as Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja'far al-Sadiq, and Zayd ibn 'Ali. Many jurists and Hadith transmitters had lived in Kufa including one of Abu Hanifa's main teachers, Hammad ibn Sulayman.

According to Abdalhaqq Bewley:

"Hanafi methodology involved the logical process of examining the Book and all available knowledge of the Sunna and then finding an example in them analogous to the particular case under review so that Allah's deen could be properly applied in the new situation. It thus entails the use of reason in the examination of the Book and Sunna so as to extrapolate the judgments necessary for the implementation of Islam in a new environment. It represents in essence, therefore, within the strict compass of rigorous legal and inductive precepts, the adaptation of the living and powerful deen to a new situation in order to enable it take root and flourish in fresh soil. This made it an ideal legal tool for the central governance of widely varied populations which is why we find it in Turkey as the legacy of the Uthmaniyya Khilafa and in the sub-continent where it is inherited from the Moghul empire."

Some distinctive opinions of Abu Hanifa and the Hanafi School

All four schools are respected and in fact the differences between the schools are considered a blessing. There are cross-pollination of ideas and debates between the four schools in respect to each school's understanding of Islam. All four schools are respected as valid legal schools of Sunni Islam that have arrived through their analysis of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Muslims are free to follow any of the four schools; and a member of one school can choose to follow the way of thought of another school on any particular subject, if that reasoning makes more sense to him/her.

Notable Hanafis

Hanafi groups and movements

See also

Further reading

External links