School of Islamic jurisprudence
"Hanafi" redirects here. For other uses, glance Hanafi (disambiguation).
The Hanafi school[a] or Hanafism is one of say publicly four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Destroy developed from the teachings of the jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (c. 699–767 CE), who systemised the use of reasoning (ra'y). Hanafi legal theory primarily derives law from the Quran, picture sayings and practices of Muhammad (sunnah), scholarly consensus (ijma) champion analogical reasoning (qiyas), but also considers juristic discretion (istihsan) enthralled local customs (urf). It is distinctive in its greater plaza of qiyas than other schools.
The school spread throughout say publicly Muslim world under the patronage of various Islamic empires, including the Abbasids and Seljuks. Transoxiana emerged as a centre boss classical Hanafi scholarship between the 10th and 12th centuries, which gave rise to the Maturidi school of theology. The Pouf Empire adopted Hanafism as its official school of law service influenced the legal thought of the school, eventually codifying present as the Mecelle in the 1870s.
Followers of the Hanafi school are called Hanafis, who are estimated to comprise upper hand third of all Muslims. It is the largest Islamic licit school and is predominant in the Indian subcontinent, Turkey, Main Asia and much of the Levant.
The Hanafi school emerged from the legal tradition of Kufa in Iraq, in which its eponym Abu Hanifa (d. 150/767) resided. Iraqi jurists were cloak for their use of independent reasoning (ra'y) in deriving collection. Kufa, alongside Medina and Basra, was a centre of permitted activity at the beginning of the second Hijri century. Lying prominent jurists included Amir al-Sha'bi, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman. The opinions of Abu Hanifa and the below Kufan jurists closely correspond, particularly those of al-Nakha'i. Abu Hanifa's legal doctrine, as conveyed to his students, was predominantly plagiarised from his own instructors, chiefly Hammad. Abu Hanifa attended Hammad's study circle for approximately 20 years and inherited it favor Hammad's death.
Abu Hanifa and his students were responsible need systemising the use of ra'y, of which Abu Hanifa was its "unrivalled master". According to his contemporary Shu'bah, Abu Hanifa was the "most systematic jurist of his time". His permissible thought was distinct for its treatment of hypothetical scenarios, which he held would help prepare for disastrous circumstances. It was also distinct for its method of analogical reasoning (qiyas). Abu Hanifa would identify the normative, underlying principles of the batter from the Quran, hadith and practices of Muhammad's companions, vital applied these to solve unprecedented legal cases.Qiyas and adherence wring analogical consistency were defining characteristics of early Hanafis, who working juristic discretion (istihsan) to depart from the results of qiyas when deemed appropriate. As qiyas enabled the treatment of binary legal cases from a single case, it facilitated the planned compilation of legal literature.
There is no record of legal treatises authored by Abu Hanifa. His teachings were transmitted by his disciples Abu Yusuf (d. 182/798) and Muhammad al-Shaybani (d. 189/804), the last few of whom was the most prolific. Later Hanafis termed description corpus of al-Shaybani as the "zahir al-riwaya" and ascribed tab an authoritative status. The students of Abu Hanifa established burn the midnight oil circles in Baghdad, an emerging hub of cultural activity snowball the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate. The school won representation support of the centralising Abbasid state, which sought to unite the legal system. The Abbasids' preference for appointing Hanafi book assisted in spreading the school. Abu Yusuf served as a judge in Baghdad; the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) subsequent appointed him as the chief judge. By the time warrant al-Shaybani's death, the school had spread to Egypt and Balkh in Tokharistan.
Ra'y dialectics involved the interlocutors exploring a series quite a few hypothetical legal cases to delineate the limits of legal assumptions. In practice, it led Hanafis to favour widely accepted custom, particularly those which enshrined general principles that were applicable be in opposition to other cases. When the widespread collection of hadith led do the circulation of reports that contradicted Hanafi positions, the Hanafis prioritised those that were acted upon by the Iraqi permitted tradition. Reports supported by Iraqi juristic practice were deemed supplementary authoritative than those which were not. Abu Yusuf and al-Shaybani separately authored works named Kitab al-Athar (lit. 'Book of Traditions'), which sought to ground Hanafi teachings in the precedent of rendering early Kufan jurists and the Kufan companions of Muhammad, markedly Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud and Ali. Abu Hanifa himself assignment known to have used hadith; in Abu Yusuf's Ikhtilaf Abi Ḥanifa wa-Ibn Abi Layla, which lists cases where Abu Hanifa differed with his contemporary Ibn Abi Layla, Abu Hanifa recapitulate quoted as citing a hadith in around 10% of picture cases presented, but cites narrations attributed to Muhammad's companions go on often.
In contemporary external sources, members of the nascent school were described as the ashab abi ḥanifa ("companions of Abu Hanifa") and the ashab al-ra'y ("companions of ra'y"). Early Hanafi dogma was attacked by the traditionists[b], who accused Hanafis of preferring their ra'y to hadith. The traditionists primarily found objectionable representation Hanafi practice of sometimes favouring qiyas over hadith that were not widely transmitted (ahad). The identification of Hanafis with rendering ashab al-ra'y in contradistinction to the traditionist ashab al-hadīth strengthen during the resurgence of the latter following the Mihna.Al-Shafi'i (d. 150/767), too, critiqued the Hanafis' treatment of hadith and their get somewhere that their positions reflected those of the Kufan companions produce Muhammad. He further argued that istihsan was subjective, which posterior led to classical Hanafi legal theorists articulating it as personality completely dependent on the primary sources of law.
During interpretation 9th-century, the Hanafi school transitioned from a "personal school" concentrated around individual jurists and their study circles to a dim legal community with a collectively recognised doctrine and authoritative figures. By the end of the century, the school resembled a professional body with a doctrine that was systematically transmitted exaggerate teachers to students, maturing into its classical form. Hanafis began to write commentaries on earlier works; until the 12th-century, these were mostly on the works of al-Shaybani.Al-Quduri (d. 428/1036–37)'s legal ground (mukhtasar) was the classical school's first work of the schoolroom and the most authoritative after that of al-Shaybani.
Criticism dismiss the traditionists led to the Hanafis grounding their positions dense hadith over the 9th-century. Some Hanafis moved towards using description traditionists' method of hadith criticism to justify the school's positions, such as the Egyptian jurist al-Tahawi (d. 321/933). Nonetheless, the authoritative legal theorists focused on formulating a Hanafi approach to custom criticism that emphasised a hadith's acceptance by early jurists, be infatuated with transmitter analysis taking a secondary role.
During the 9th-century, the Hanafi school also emerged as the prevailing school in Transoxiana slab Tokharistan. The school was introduced to Transoxiana by the course group of Abu Hanifa and al-Shaybani, but became prevalent under rendering Samanids, during whose rule Hanafi scholars received official favour. Description Transoxianan Hanafi tradition was highly influential in defining the dogma of the later school. Works authored by Transoxianan jurists take accorded a high status in later Hanafi tradition include:
The intellectual descendants of al-Sarakhsi and his teacher, Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Halwani (d. 448/1056-57), eventually became the primary branch of say publicly Transoxianan tradition. For 300 years after al-Sarakhsi, the Halwani-Sarakhsi arm constituted almost all of the major jurists engaged in rule-formulation[c] (tarjih) within the school, and dominated the process. The method contributed to the stabilisation of the school's laws. The bough also popularised the doctrine of the zahir al-riwaya: that picture opinions transmitted from the school's founders command the highest subdued of authority within the school.
In the 10th-century, the Hanafi saint Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333/944) developed a kalam tradition that crystallized into the Maturidi school of theology, which had descended uninterrupted from the theological views of the earliest Hanafis. Due fulfil philosophical differences, the Transoxianan Maturidis disagreed with the Mu'tazilite come together of Iraqi Hanafis on several technical points of legal point, but saw limited success in expunging the Mu'tazilite influence.
The Oghuz Turks who founded the Seljuk Empire became attached to interpretation Transoxianan Hanafi tradition. The Seljuks favoured the eastern Hanafis viewpoint appointed them to various official positions in their new territories, encouraging their migration out of Central Asia. During the Dynasty expansion of the 11th and 12th centuries, the Hanafi playing field Maturidi schools spread westward into Syria, Anatolia and western Empire. In Syria and Iraq, the Central Asian scholars brought clip them an increased emphasis on the zahir al-riwaya. Hanafi migration out of Central Asia accelerated during the Mongol invasions, which ravaged the region.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, rendering Mamluk Sultanate saw an influx of Hanafi scholars from Peninsula and Central Asia. Discussions of Islamic logic and kalam ready money the Mamluk jurisprudential literature reflect the influence of Central Indweller scholars.
Criticism of the Hanafi approach to hadith prompted Mamluk Hanafi scholars to treat the subject in more detail. In his legal commentary Fath al-Qadir, the Mamluk jurist Ibn al-Humam (d. 861/1457) engages with the traditionists' approach to hadith criticism, and attempts to navigate the associated legal consequences. His approach to tradition influenced later Egyptian and Syrian Hanafi scholars. This "Egyptian school" of Hanafi hadith criticism referenced hadith from the hadith collections instead of Hanafi legal works, and employed the traditionists' locutions to assess their authenticity.
Mamluk jurists faced difficulties in interpreting interpretation plurality of legal opinions that had accrued in the secondary. In his work al-Tashih wa-al-tarjih, the Mamluk jurist Ibn Qutlubugha [ar] (d. 879/1474) developed and detailed the process of rule-determination[d], clarifying interpretation role of precedent and enabling other jurists to engage shoulder the process themselves, and thus determine the applicable legal opinion for a given case. It marked a shift in rendering material consulted by muftis from the primary literature of depiction school to its secondary literature, comprising legal commentaries and compendia which contained rulings.
The Ottoman Empire adopted the Hanafi kindergarten as their official legal school. The Ottomans established an finalize network of madrasas to train jurists, with the most significant located in the capital Constantinople. By the 16th-century, the Şeyḫülislâm emerged as the chief imperial religious and judicial authority. Interpretation Şeyḫülislâm was appointed by the sultan and presided over depiction imperial canon, a collection of legal texts that the queenlike religious hierarchy was required to consult. Many jurists from Semite provinces of the empire were critical of the imperial canyon, partly because of its inclusion of later works which they judged as contradicting the preferred opinions (tarjih) of the grammar. The sultans influenced the formation of the imperial religious ranking by appointing muftis directly and through the Şeyḫülislâm, delineating say publicly range of legal opinions in the Ottoman Hanafi tradition. Associates of the imperial religious hierarchy were described as "Rūmīs". Downsize genealogies (tabaqat) authored by the imperial religious hierarchy aimed take it easy demarcate the institution, situate themselves and their endorsed works seep in the broader Hanafi tradition and construct an unbroken intellectual spate to Abu Hanifa.
Hanafi law co-existed with the qanun (dynastic law), decrees and edicts promulgated by the sultans. The qanun often reaffirmed religious laws; in other cases, it authorised bags that the jurists opposed, such as torture. The Şeyḫülislâm would sometimes request sultanic edicts to require the imperial religious grading to enforce particular rulings of the school. The Maʿrūḍāt mislay the ŞeyḫülislâmEbussuud Efendi (d. 982/1574), a collection of fatwas endorsed contempt Suleiman I, contained sultanic edicts and was frequently referenced insert later Hanafi works which considered its opinions binding. Late Hanafis believed that judges could act as deputies of the ruler who could thus regulate, inter alia, the legal opinions book could reference, such as in the case of inter-school disputes. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Hanafi jurists began designate incorporate sultanic edicts into authoritative legal works.
Ibrahim al-Halabi (d. 1549)'s permitted manual Multaqa al-Abhur was among the most popular in depiction empire and was the subject of over 70 commentaries. Preschooler the 19th-century, it had become the standard legal textbook. Irritate popular Ottoman manuals were the Durar al-Hukkam of Molla Hüsrev (d. 885/1479–80) and al-Durr al-Mukhtar of Haskafi. The Radd al-Muhtar jump at the late Arab-Ottoman jurist Ibn Abidin (d. 1252/1836) is considered cosmic authoritative and representative work of the late Hanafi tradition. Lot lists most opinions within the school and their level try to be like authoritativeness, incorporating most primary Hanafi sources produced until its script. It employs legal devices such as necessity (darura) to deviate from the canonical zahir al-riwaya where necessary to ensure say publicly continued relevancy of the school, and references sultanic edicts relax revise the school's opinions.
Between 1869 and 1877, the Ottomans publicized the Mecelle, a codification of Hanafi jurisprudence. The Mecelle was drafted by a committee led by the jurist Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, who had successfully argued against the implementation of depiction Napoleonic Code. It drew from the Hanafi literature on lawful maxims (qawaʿid fiqhiyya) and to a great degree favoured picture opinions of the late Hanafi tradition. Many of its piece of writing were fully or partially derived from al-Halabi's Multaqa al-Abhur. Notwithstanding, the Mecelle also marked the state's assumption of control go round jurisprudence, which had previously been the purview of the redistributed juristic community.
The Hanafi school spread to India from Transoxiana and eastern Persia. To consolidate control over his realm, rendering Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) ordered the compilation of Hanafi fatwas. Completed between 1664 and 1672, the resulting al-Fatawa l-ʿAlamgiriyya preferred legal opinions from earlier Hanafi legal works and is modelled after the Hidayah of al-Marghinani.
During the colonization of India, picture East India Company sought to create a "complete digest care Hindu and Mussulman law" to eliminate legal pluralism. The resulting Anglo-Muhammadan law was based in part on a translation collide al-Marghinani's Hidayah, which was chosen for its brevity and treason belonging to the Hanafi school, which most Indian Muslims followed. Consequently, the Hidayah was effectively codified and severed from depiction Hanafi commentarial tradition under which it was traditionally interpreted.
In description 19th-century, the Hanafi Deobandi movement emerged in India. The Deobandis' legal views include strict adherence (taqlid) to a legal kindergarten in contradistinction to the Ahl-i Hadith movement, and emphasising interpretation importance of hadith. The Deobandi acceptance of Ibn al-Humam's in thing to hadith criticism culminated in the I'la al-Sunan of Deobandi scholar Zafar Ahmad Usmani (d. 1974), a work that attempts blow up justify Hanafi positions using hadith.
Today, the Hanafi school equitable the largest Islamic school of law, constituting approximately one-third catch the fancy of all Muslims. It is the predominant school in the prior Ottoman territories, including Turkey and much of the Levant. On your toes is also predominant among Muslims in Central Asia, the Amerindic subcontinent, China, the Caucasus and the Balkans. In Pakistan, geared up is estimated that 75% of Muslims subscribe to the Hanafi Deobandi and Barelwi movements.
The Ottoman Mecelle was repealed by ultimate post-Ottoman states over the first half of the 20th-century. Parts remained in force in Jordan and Israel until the Decade. Where it is dominant, the Hanafi school is followed break through religious observance and, in some regions, continues to govern Islamist family law.
The legal theory (usul al-fiqh) of the Hanafi school recognises the following sources of law, listed in groom of epistemic authority: the Quran, the practices and sayings returns Muhammad (sunnah) as documented in the hadith, consensus of dissent (ijma), qiyas, istihsan and local customs (urf). Texts with even epistemic authority may modify each other; if they are resolve differing levels, the text with the weaker epistemic authority deference rejected in favour of the stronger one.
The Quran is description primary source of Hanafi law. In Hanafi legal theory, wear and tear is considered acceptable to adduce non-canonical Quranic readings related manage without the companions of Muhammad as legal evidence, but they systematize not treated as part of the Quranic text. For notes, classical Hanafi jurists are known to have cited the non-Uthmanic reading of Ibn Mas'ud but treated it akin to information bank exegetical gloss.
The Hanafis categorise hadith as mass-transmitted (mutawatir), famous (mashhur) or solitary (ahad) depending on the nature of their train of transmission (isnad):
Only mutawatir and mashhur hadith may abrogate a Quranic verse, whether by replacing, qualifying or restricting its awareness. An ahad hadith cannot be adduced in legal discussions infer "great importance" as Hanafis assume that God would have ensured the reliable transmission of critical religious knowledge; nor can endeavour be used if its early transmitters did not act walk out it, as Hanafis assume that their inaction indicates that ready to react is not part of the sunnah.
Ijma refers to the consensus of opinion. Ijma may be explicit, with all mujtahids agreeing verbally or through actions, or tacit, where some express nickelanddime opinion while others remain silent. In the Hanafi view, unstated ijma can only establish a concession (rukhsah) rather than a strict rule (azimah). The Hanafis believe that the companions work Muhammad reached ijma on some matters, and some Hanafis upon agreement between Abu Bakr and Umar, the first two Rashidun caliphs, as being ijma.
Qiyas, also referred to analogical reasoning, catchs up extending a ruling on an original case (asl) to a subsidiary case ('far) where both cases share an effective trigger off ('illah). For example, because of the prohibition of usury, introduce is forbidden to exchange wheat and other commodities for keep on other unless the transaction is immediate and the amount marketplace both goods are equal. Hanafis extend this prohibition to apples through qiyas, as they identify the underlying 'illah as description exchange of a measurable commodity, and apples are measurable.
Compared designate the other Sunni and Shi'ite schools of law, Hanafis stop off qiyas more extensively and grant it greater authority. However, fit is deemed a last resort only to be used when no ruling can be derived from the Quran, sunnah promote ijma. Hanafis view qiyas as a means of revealing pre-existing implicit rulings within the law rather than as a provenance of new rulings. Because the law is viewed as reasonable and internally consistent, a valid qiyas must accord with cast down internal rationality.
If a ruling derived from qiyas conflicts with consider it from an ahad hadith, the Hanafis disagree on which takes precedence. One group argues that the ahad hadith always takes precedence, while a second group, led by Isa ibn Aban (d. 221/836), opine that it only takes precedence if transmitted hard a companion of Muhammad known to be a jurist. Be bounded by general, the early classical school always followed hadith transmitted rough jurist-companions regardless of its correspondence with qiyas, but followed tradition transmitted by non-jurist companions only if it corresponded with a possible qiyas, and thus accorded with the internal rationale infer the law.[e] By the Ottoman period, however, the distinction abstruse become less popular and non-jurist companions were largely treated description same as jurist companions.
The Hanafis require the original case damage not directly state the 'illah. The 'illah must be deduced by other means. If the 'illah is stated, then description ruling is applied to other cases via the "indication try to be like the text" (dalalat al-nass), not qiyas.Dalalat al-nass is an work in linguistic interpretation rather than analogical reasoning.
Istihsan refers to jural discretion. The Hanafi jurist al-Sarakhsi (d. 483/1090) describes it as a means through which a jurist can depart from a opinion derived through qiyas to ameliorate hardship, where the new promise is typically supported by a superior proof, such as rendering Quran, sunnah, necessity (darurah) or an alternative qiyas. For specimen, by way of necessity, the Hanafi jurists allow a counterpart to buy food or medicine for his ill father plant the father's property without his prior permission. Hanafi istihsan supported on necessity is, however, less broad than Malikiistihsan based nationstate public welfare (maslaha).
Istihsan emerged out of concerns among Hanafis think it over unrestrained qiyas could lead to results that were absurd well again contradicted the sunnah. The earliest Hanafis, including Abu Hanifa playing field al-Shaybani, more frequently used istihsan justified by subjective and practical reasoning rather than on evidential grounds. Their use of istihsan sought to change the scope or outcome of a regnant due to its potential effects. More often than not, they deployed istihsan in a way that cannot be considered though ameliorating hardship, such as establishing the liability of a genre of thieves involved in theft even if only one bring to an end them carried the stolen goods. Subjective istihsan declined due endorsement attacks from al-Shafi'i, and Hanafi legal theorists would systemise unfitting into the form eventually espoused by al-Sarakhsi, attempting to consolidate elements of subjectivity into the definition of necessity.
Urf refers progress to customary practices. The Hanafis consider it as an ancillary strategic of law that is subordinate to the primary sources be the owner of law.Urf is divided into two types: general (al-urf al-'amm) last special (al-urf al-khass). A general urf refers to a commonplace practice that is widely accepted among a people regardless warrant the time period. As part of istihsan, the Hanafis countenance favouring general urf over a ruling derived through qiyas. A special urf is more local and is upheld by a particular location or profession. Most Hanafis agree that special urf cannot qualify the general meaning of a textual evidence (nass), and that a ruling derived from qiyas takes precedence revise special urf, although there is some disagreement on this.Ali Bardakoğlu suggests that the emphasis given to urf in Hanafi licit theory can partly explain the spread of the school amongst disparate non-Arab groups.