Hanafi Islam:

Within the Sunni Muslim tradition, Hanafi is one of four "schools of law" and
considered the oldest and most liberal school of law. Hanafi is one of the four
schools of thought (madhabs / Maddhab) of religious jurisprudence (fiqh) within
Sunni Islam. Named for its founder, the Hanafi school of Imam Abu Hanifa, it is
the major school of Iraqi Sunni Arabs. It makes considerable use of reason or
opinion in legal decisions. Sunni Hanafi creed is essentially non-hierarchial and
decentralized, which has made it difficult for 20th century rulers to incorporate its
religious leaders into strong centralized state systems.

The Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence was founded by Abu Hanifa, born in
Kufa, Iraq about A.D.700. He was one of the earliest Muslim scholar-interpreters
to seek new ways of applying Islamic tenets to everyday life. In his lifetime Abu
Hanifa was disgraced, called ignorant, inventor of new beliefs, hypocrite and kafir.
He was imprisoned and poisoned. He died in 150 A.H. [circa 767-768 C.E.]. Abu
Hanifa's interpretation of Muslim law was extremely tolerant of differences within
Muslim communities. He also separated belief from practice, elevating belief over
practice. Hanafi took Shafi as his rival and vice versa.

Most of the Hanafi school follows al-Maturidi in doctrine. Muhammad ibn

Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Samarqandi al-Maturidi al-Hanafi (d.
333) of Maturid in Samarqand, Shaykh al-Islam, was one of the two foremost
Imams of the mutakallimûn of Ahl al-Sunna. He was known in his time as the
Imam of Guidance (Imâm al-Hudâ). The majority of the Taliban are Maturidis.

Broad-minded without being lax, this school appeals to reason (personal

judgment) and a quest for the better. It is generally tolerant and the largest
movement within Islam. The Hanafi school is known for its liberal religious
orientation that elevates belief over practice and is tolerant of differences within
Muslim communities.
Overview
Among the four established Sunni schools of legal thought in Islam, the Hanafi
school is the oldest and by far, the largest. It has a reputation for putting greater
emphasis on the role of reason and being more liberal than the other three
schools. The Hanafi school also has the most followers among the four major
Sunni schools. (The Abbasid Caliphate, Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire
were Hanafi, so the influence of the Hanafi school is still widespread in their
former lands). Today, the Hanafi school is predominant among the Levant, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China as well as in Mauritius, Turkey,
Albania, Macedonia in the Balkans . It is also followed in large numbers in other
parts of Muslim world.

A sectarian dispute in the United States was transformed into a mass hostage
taking by Hanafi Muslims in Washington, DC in 1977. The Hanafi Movement in the
United States was founded by Hamas Abdul Khaalis in 1968. Khaalis, formerly
Ernest 2X McGee, had been the Nation of Islam's first National Secretary and a
friend of Malcolm X. He had converted to orthodox Islam and founded the Hanafi
Movement with money donated by Kareem Abdul-Jabar. On 09 March 1977,
Khaalis and about a dozen of his followers armed with shotguns and machetes
seized control of seized the District Building [city hall], the B'nai B'rith building,
and the Islamic Center, in the District of Columbia. Khaalis said they were seeking
revenge for the murders of Khaalis' family members by Black Muslims in 1973.
They held 134 hostages for more than 39 hours, they shot Washington DC city
councilman Marion Barry in the chest, and they shot a radio reporter dead. The
standoff ended and the hostages were freed after ambassadors from three
Islamic nations joined the negotiations. The Hanafis were convicted and
sentenced to long terms in prison.
Hanafi scholars refuse to control a human religious or spiritual destiny, and refuse
to give that right to any human institution. Among the Hudud crimes, those
crimes against God, blasphemy is not listed by the Hanafis. Hanafis concluded that
blasphemy could not be punished by the state. The state should not be involved
in deciding God-human relationships. Rather, the state should be concerned only
with the violation of human rights within the jurisdiction of the human affairs and
human relationships.
Notwithstanding their common heritage from Imam Abu Hanifah, the scholars
belonging to the Hanafi madhhab are divided in the Barelvi and the Deobandi
school, and these two schools have different attitude toward Wahhabism.

[edit] 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.

The Sunni Hanafi school is dominant in the Arab Middle East, India, Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The followers of Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 767) are found in Pakistan,
India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, China, North Africa, Egypt, and in the Malay
Archipelago. The school is followed by the majority of the Muslim population of
Turkey, Albania, the Balkans, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India and
Iraq. Most of the Kyrgyz are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. Ethnic Kazakhs,
who constitute approximately one half of the national population, historically are
Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi School. Ethnic Uzbeks, Uyghurs, and Tatars,
comprising less than 10 percent of the population, also largely are Sunni Hanafi.
Other Islamic groups, which account for less than 1 percent of the population of
Kazakhstan, include Shafit Sunni (traditionally practiced by Chechens), Shiite, Sufi,
and Akhmadi.
Sunni are found throughout Afghanistan. An estimated 84% of Afghanistan's
population is Sunni, following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence; the remainder is
predominantly Shi'a, mainly Hazara. In March 2003 Ayatollah Mohammad Asef
Mohseni, leader of the predominantly Shia Harakat-e Islami-yi Afghanistan,
proposed that, along with the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the Shia
Ja'fari school of jurisprudence be included in the new constitution as an official
sect.

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."
Imam Abu Hanifa and Hanfi School of
Islamic Law Thought:

Hanifa al-Numan b. Thabit b. Zurti (imam abu hanifa real name) was the
eponymous founder of the Hanafi school (madhhab) of Islamic law. His birth
dates are given variously but the year 699 is considered the most sound based on
many biographical dictionaries. Abu Hanifa died and was buried in Baghdad,
though sources differ concerning the month of his death. A shrine was built in
1066 over the site of his tomb, and the quarter of the city is called the al-
A_zamiyyah after Abu Hanifa’s epithet al-Imam al- A_zam, the “Great Imam.” In
his Jawahir al-mudiyya, Ibn Abi al-Wafa_ provides a genealogy, on the authority of
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Sarifini (d. 1243), which links Abu Hanifa’s
family with the Sassanian kings, the Kayyanid kings, and Judah, the eldest son of
the prophet Jacob. Many sources mention that Abu Hanifa was of Persian
descent, that his family were sellers of silk. Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. 1374)
reports that Abu Hanifa’s grandfather Zurti (also given as Zuta) is said to have
been a slave brought from Kabul to Kufa where the family was attached to the
Arab tribe of Taym-Allah b. Tha_laba. Other sources claim that Abu Hanifa’s family
was from Babylon, or the city of Anbar (on the Euphrates about forty miles from
Baghdad).

Most Muslim biographical dictionaries focus on the relative authority of Abu

Hanifa as a transmitter of hadith reports. It is said that a number of the younger
ahaba (Companions) were still alive during the lifetime of Abu Hanifa but he only
transmitted hadith from one of these, the well-known Anas b. Malik (d. 709 or
711). Among the tabi_un (Followers) from whom he transmitted hadith reports
are _Ata_ b. Abi Rabah (d. 732 or 733), al-Sha_bi (d. 724) and Nafi_, the client of
Ibn _Umar. Many authorities regard Abu Hanifa as a trustwothy transmitter but
others question theuthority of his sources. In his Mizan al-i_ tidal, al-Dhahabi cites
opinions that Abu Hanifa should be considered weak as a transmitter of hadith,
and that his legal opinions rely upon personal opinion (ra_y). Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi
(d. 1083) criticizes Abu Hanifa for having received most of his knowledge of hadith
reports from Ibrahim al-Nakha_i rather than from the sahabah who were still
reliable transmitters during his lifetime.
In terms of his reputation as a jurist, Abu Hanifa is credited with founding the
Hanafi school of law, and is given the epithet “imam” because of this role. In his
Tadhkirat alhuffaz, al-Dhahabi repeats a conversation in which Yazid b. Harun says
that Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 778) was more knowledgeable in hadith but Abu Hanifa
was more knowledgeable in jurisprudence and law. Even Muhammad b. Idris al-
Shafi_i (d. 820), whose legal opinions often rival those of the Hanafis, is reported
to have attributed great learning in jurisprudence to Abu Hanifa. Many sources
refer to Hammad b. Abi Sulayman (d. 738) as Abu Hanifa’s primary teacher in
jurisprudence, and Joseph Schacht considers Abu Hanifa to have adapted the bulk
of his legal opinions from him. Yazid b. Harun also states that he did not know
anyone more pious and rational than Abu Hanifa. Bishr b. al-Walid reports that
Abu Hanifa used to pray all night, and that he never learned or transmitted a
hadith that he did not himself practice.
After Abu Hanifa’s death his legal opinions and the hadith reports that he
transmitted were compiled into texts. There are no extant collections of works
composed by Abu Hanifa himself. His legal opinions can be found in the Ikhtilaf
Abi Hanifa wa Ibn Abi Layla and the al-Radd _ala siyar al-Awza_i, both attributed
to Abu Yusuf (d. 798), one of Abu Hanifa’s closest disciples.

To another of Abu Hanifa’s disciples, Muhammad al-Shaybani (d. 805), is

attributed the al-Hujjah fi ikhtilaf ahl Kufah wa ahl al-Madinah and the Kitab al-asl
fi al-furu_, both containing the legal opinions of Abu Hanifa which later became
the basis for Hanafi legal scholarship. Some of the hadith reports transmitted by
Abu Hanifa can be found collected in the Sharh ma_ani al-athar and Bayan
mushkil alhadith of Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tahawi (d. 933), and in the later
Jami_ masanid Abi Hanifa compiled by Abu al-Mu_ayyad Muhammad b. Mahmud
al-Khwarizmi (d. 1257). Classical Hanafi jurisprudence developed primarily as
compendia and commentaries on the legal opinions of Abu Hanifa and their
interpretation by his main students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani. The
Mukhtasar fi al-fiqh Abi Hanifa al-Nu_man by Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Quduri (d.
1037) contains a collection of the opinions of these three Hanafi authorities, as
does the Kitab al-mabsut of Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Sarakhsi (d. 1090). The
works of later Hanafi scholars such as Abu Bakr b. Mas_ud al-Kasani (d. 1191), _Ali
b. Abi Bakr al-Marghinani (d. 1197), _Abdallah b. Ahmad al- Nasafi (d. 1310),
_Uthman b. _Ali al-Zayla_i (d. 1342), Ibn Nujaym (d. 1562), and _Abd al-Hakim al-
Afghani (d. 1907) are largely based upon these earlier compilations of opinions
going back to Abu Hanifa and his immediate disciples. These works, building upon
the opinions of Abu Hanifa and his main students, show the influence of Abu
Hanifa upon the development of Islamic legal theory and case law.
Abu Hanifa is also credited with a number of creedal and theological works,
though some scholars assign the reaction of these to followers of Abu Hanifa. Two
such works are the al-_Alim wa al-muta_allim and the Fiqh al-absat, which contain
a series of questions and answers between Abu Hanifa and his disciple Abu Muti_
al-Balkhi (d. 799). Extant is a letter written by Abu Hanifa to _Uthman al-Batti,
which resembles the perspective found in these other works. Also attributed to
Abu Hanifa is the Fiqh al-akbar, the so-called Fiqh al-akbar II, and the Wasiyyat Abi
Hanifa. The ten creedal articles of the Fiqh al-akbar closely parallel the views
found in the Fiqh alabsat, but scholars such as Arent Jan Wensinck have assigned
later dates to the Fiqh al-akbar II and the Wasiyyat Abi Hanifa, though they may
have been influenced by the earlier works.
The creedal works of later Hanafis such as Tahawi and Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi
(d. 993) may also show the influence of Abu Hanifa’s theology. Because of Abu
Hanifa’s close association to these creedal statements, later scholars have
emphasized the influence of Abu Hanifa on the development of widespread and
officially sanctioned definitions of Muslim belief.

al-Numan b. Thabit b. Zurti (imam abu hanifa real name) was the eponymous
founder of the Hanafi school (madhhab) of Islamic law. His birth dates are given
variously but the year 699 is considered the most sound based on many
biographical dictionaries. Abu Hanifa died and was buried in Baghdad, though
sources differ concerning the month of his death. A shrine was built in 1066 over
the site of his tomb, and the quarter of the city is called the al-A_zamiyyah after
Abu Hanifa’s epithet al-Imam al- A_zam, the “Great Imam.” In his Jawahir al-
mudiyya, Ibn Abi al-Wafa_ provides a genealogy, on the authority of Abu Ishaq
Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Sarifini (d. 1243), which links Abu Hanifa’s family with
the Sassanian kings, the Kayyanid kings, and Judah, the eldest son of the prophet
Jacob. Many sources mention that Abu Hanifa was of Persian descent, that his
family were sellers of silk. Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. 1374) reports that Abu
Hanifa’s grandfather Zurti (also given as Zuta) is said to have been a slave brought
from Kabul to Kufa where the family was attached to the Arab tribe of Taym-Allah
b. Tha_laba. Other sources claim that Abu Hanifa’s family was from Babylon, or
the city of Anbar (on the Euphrates about forty miles from Baghdad).

Most Muslim biographical dictionaries focus on the relative authority of Abu

Hanifa as a transmitter of hadith reports. It is said that a number of the younger
ahaba (Companions) were still alive during the lifetime of Abu Hanifa but he only
transmitted hadith from one of these, the well-known Anas b. Malik (d. 709 or
711). Among the tabi_un (Followers) from whom he transmitted hadith reports
are _Ata_ b. Abi Rabah (d. 732 or 733), al-Sha_bi (d. 724) and Nafi_, the client of
Ibn _Umar. Many authorities regard Abu Hanifa as a trustwothy transmitter but
others question theuthority of his sources. In his Mizan al-i_ tidal, al-Dhahabi cites
opinions that Abu Hanifa should be considered weak as a transmitter of hadith,
and that his legal opinions rely upon personal opinion (ra_y). Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi
(d. 1083) criticizes Abu Hanifa for having received most of his knowledge of hadith
reports from Ibrahim al-Nakha_i rather than from the sahabah who were still
reliable transmitters during his lifetime.
In terms of his reputation as a jurist, Abu Hanifa is credited with founding the
Hanafi school of law, and is given the epithet “imam” because of this role. In his
Tadhkirat alhuffaz, al-Dhahabi repeats a conversation in which Yazid b. Harun says
that Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 778) was more knowledgeable in hadith but Abu Hanifa
was more knowledgeable in jurisprudence and law. Even Muhammad b. Idris al-
Shafi_i (d. 820), whose legal opinions often rival those of the Hanafis, is reported
to have attributed great learning in jurisprudence to Abu Hanifa. Many sources
refer to Hammad b. Abi Sulayman (d. 738) as Abu Hanifa’s primary teacher in
jurisprudence, and Joseph Schacht considers Abu Hanifa to have adapted the bulk
of his legal opinions from him. Yazid b. Harun also states that he did not know
anyone more pious and rational than Abu Hanifa. Bishr b. al-Walid reports that
Abu Hanifa used to pray all night, and that he never learned or transmitted a
hadith that he did not himself practice.
After Abu Hanifa’s death his legal opinions and the hadith reports that he
transmitted were compiled into texts. There are no extant collections of works
composed by Abu Hanifa himself. His legal opinions can be found in the Ikhtilaf
Abi Hanifa wa Ibn Abi Layla and the al-Radd _ala siyar al-Awza_i, both attributed
to Abu Yusuf (d. 798), one of Abu Hanifa’s closest disciples.

To another of Abu Hanifa’s disciples, Muhammad al-Shaybani (d. 805), is

attributed the al-Hujjah fi ikhtilaf ahl Kufah wa ahl al-Madinah and the Kitab al-asl
fi al-furu_, both containing the legal opinions of Abu Hanifa which later became
the basis for Hanafi legal scholarship. Some of the hadith reports transmitted by
Abu Hanifa can be found collected in the Sharh ma_ani al-athar and Bayan
mushkil alhadith of Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tahawi (d. 933), and in the later
Jami_ masanid Abi Hanifa compiled by Abu al-Mu_ayyad Muhammad b. Mahmud
al-Khwarizmi (d. 1257). Classical Hanafi jurisprudence developed primarily as
compendia and commentaries on the legal opinions of Abu Hanifa and their
interpretation by his main students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani. The
Mukhtasar fi al-fiqh Abi Hanifa al-Nu_man by Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Quduri (d.
1037) contains a collection of the opinions of these three Hanafi authorities, as
does the Kitab al-mabsut of Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Sarakhsi (d. 1090). The
works of later Hanafi scholars such as Abu Bakr b. Mas_ud al-Kasani (d. 1191), _Ali
b. Abi Bakr al-Marghinani (d. 1197), _Abdallah b. Ahmad al- Nasafi (d. 1310),
_Uthman b. _Ali al-Zayla_i (d. 1342), Ibn Nujaym (d. 1562), and _Abd al-Hakim al-
Afghani (d. 1907) are largely based upon these earlier compilations of opinions
going back to Abu Hanifa and his immediate disciples. These works, building upon
the opinions of Abu Hanifa and his main students, show the influence of Abu
Hanifa upon the development of Islamic legal theory and case law.
Abu Hanifa is also credited with a number of creedal and theological works,
though some scholars assign the reaction of these to followers of Abu Hanifa. Two
such works are the al-_Alim wa al-muta_allim and the Fiqh al-absat, which contain
a series of questions and answers between Abu Hanifa and his disciple Abu Muti_
al-Balkhi (d. 799). Extant is a letter written by Abu Hanifa to _Uthman al-Batti,
which resembles the perspective found in these other works. Also attributed to
Abu Hanifa is the Fiqh al-akbar, the so-called Fiqh al-akbar II, and the Wasiyyat Abi
Hanifa. The ten creedal articles of the Fiqh al-akbar closely parallel the views
found in the Fiqh alabsat, but scholars such as Arent Jan Wensinck have assigned
later dates to the Fiqh al-akbar II and the Wasiyyat Abi Hanifa, though they may
have been influenced by the earlier works.
The creedal works of later Hanafis such as Tahawi and Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi
(d. 993) may also show the influence of Abu Hanifa’s theology. Because of Abu
Hanifa’s close association to these creedal statements, later scholars have
emphasized the influence of Abu Hanifa on the development of widespread and
officially sanctioned definitions of Muslim belief.
Some distinctive opinions of the
school:

 It is prohibited or disliked to eat some forms of non-fish seafood based on the

hadith of Muhammad : "Two types of dead meat and two types of blood have
been made lawful for your consumption [without being slaughtered]: fish and
locust, liver and spleen". (Reported by Ahmed and Ibn Majah).
 Except for at Hajj, every salah (5-times daily prayer) needs to be made in its
regular time. (Some non-Hanafi scholars allow a person who is travelling to
adjust certain prayer times for convenience).
 The beginning of the time for asr prayer (and the end of the time for zuhr
prayer) is later than in the other schools (roughly when shadows are twice the
length of their objects).
 The hands are not raised while going to ruku and after it, whereas this is
practised in the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools
 A 6th daily prayer called witr is wajib/required (but not at the same level of
obligation as the 5-daily prayers).
 Abu Hanifa, taking a literal view (harfiyyah), held that "wine" (‫خمر‬/Khamr in
Quranic/classical Arabic), i.e. the fermented juice of dates or grapes, was
absolutely prohibited but it was permissible to drink small non-intoxicating
amounts of other alcoholic beverages (e.g. made from honey or grains). Later
Hanafi scholars tend to rule that all alcoholic beverages are prohibited
regardless of source.
 Bleeding can break one's wudu
 Merely touching a member of the opposite sex does not break one's wudu.
 A Muslim is allowed to work in Church construction and building thereof,
whose wages considered lawful by Hanafis
 Islamic Law: an introduction

"Difference of opinion among my community is a sign of the

bounty of God."

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Islamic law and what it means to be a practising Muslim has changed and
developed over centuries of thinking. Following the death of the prophet
Muhammad pbuh, there have always been differences of opinion in how best to
understand the message of God.

Different interpretations on what Islamic law should be, is reflected in the diverse
range of schools of thought or ways of studying and practising Islam.

The common factor among the different groups is the Quran and the recorded
sayings and actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) - Sunnah - as
sources of information and guidance. Within Sunni and Shi'a Islam there are six
main schools of Islamic law - fiqh:

Sunni schools:
 The Hanbali School is named after Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 855)
 The Hanafi School is named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767)
 The Shafi'i is named after al-Shafi'I (d. 819)
 The Maliki is named after Anas bin Malik (d. 795)
Shi'a schools:
 The Zaydi School is named after Zayd Ibn Ali (d. 740)
 The Ja'fari School is named after Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765)
There was a sweeping range of opinion in the first three centuries of Islamic
history, and at one point, there were over 100 different schools of thought. Quote

The Hanafi School:

The Hanafi School is the oldest surviving school of Islamic law, and the one with
the largest following.

It originated in Kufa, present day Iraq, but its influence spread to both the Mughal
and Ottoman empires and can now be found from Turkey to Central Asia, the
Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and as far as Western
Europe and North America.

The school's founder, Abu Hanifa, was a trader as a young man. However, it
seems he was not well suited to this career - he once demanded to pay five times
the asking price from a woman selling silk at the market.

In 763 CE he was imprisoned for refusing to collaborate with a judiciary he

considered corrupt. He died in prison four years later.

As well as using the Quran and the Prophet’s (pbuh) life as sources of guidance,
this group also relied heavily on using logical arguments to find answers to social
problems that also fitted in with their understanding of Islam.

The Shafi'i School:

The Shafi'i School also has a wide influence in Egypt, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

This school of thought is named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i, a precocious
student, who is described by historians as the master architect of Islamic law.

Perhaps his greatest achievement, with the aid of his peers, was to lay down the
roots of a common framework for all schools of Islamic thought to follow when
producing legal judgements on issues of faith and how it should be practised.
The Maliki School:
This school is named after Imam Anas bin Malik, 715 CE, who, to support his
studies, sold the ceiling beams of his home to buy the necessary books.

He was an unwavering defender of personal freedom, famously issuing a fatwa

that stated that no person should be forced to pledge allegiance to the ruling
government in Medina, and was heavily flogged for doing so (although the
authorities later apologised for their actions).

The Maliki School has its main following in Egypt, as well as having smaller groups
of followers in Algeria, Tunis, Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai
and Abu Dhabi, although it originated in Saudi Arabia in the city of Medina. When
the Maliki School was formed the word Sunnah did not yet mean the ‘traditions'
or ‘practice' of the Prophet (pbuh) specifically but also referred to the actions of
the people of Medina at the time.

The Hanbali School:

The Hanbali School was developed in Baghdad, although today the followers of
the school are concentrated mainly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The founder of the school, Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, was taught by Muhammad
ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, the founder of the Shafi'i School. There is therefore a direct link
between the Shafi'i and the Hanbali school.

The Hanbali school derives its rulings almost solely from the Quran and Sunnah,
which proves to be popular with groups of people wishing to return to a ‘purer'
Islam (the Wahabi movement, for instance, emerged out of the Hanbali school).
Other influential figures in the school were al-Kiraqi (d. 946), Ibn Qudama (d.
1223).[3], Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) and al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350).
Perceptions of Islamic law today:
For many Muslims the Quran is a book of divine poetry and guidance but it does
not contain many Islamic rules.

Talal Asad is an anthropologist at the City University of New York who writes
extensively on the subject of religion and says:

"Most Islamic rules are contained not in the Quran ('the recitation'), which
Muslims believe to have been revealed by God through Gabriel, but in collections
called hadith, which contain the exemplary sayings and doings of Muhammad and
his companions."

In the words of the famous Muslim jurist al-Ghazali (d. 1111), Islamic laws should
"seek the beneficial and avoid what is bad."

The fourteenth century Hanbali jurist Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya also agreed with
this sentiment: "Every situation in which justice succumbs to tyranny, mercy to
cruelty, goodness to corruption, and wisdom to foolishness, has nothing in
common with the Shari'ah."
ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my

teacher___________ who gave me the opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic__________, which also helped
me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know about so
many new things. I am really thankful to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my friends who helped me

a lot in finishing this project within the limited time.

I am making this project not only for marks but to also increase
my knowledge .
THANKS AGAIN TO ALL WHO HELPED ME.
 Hanafi
School
Of
Islamic Law
Submitted by:
Prateek S. Chaudhary
B.A.LLB(H)
3rd Semester