The Hanafi School of Law

1The imam: Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man ibn Thabit

Imam Abu Hanifa, whose full name was an-Nu'man ibn Thabit, may Allah have mercy on him, was born, according to the best-known report, in the year 80 after the Hijrah in Kufa, in today's Iraq. His family came from Persia. Kufa was then one of the great cities of the Islamic world. Many Companions of the Prophet ﷺ had settled there, among them the great scholar Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, whom Umar ibn al-Khattab had sent to the city as a teacher. Ali ibn Abi Talib later made Kufa his capital. So the city was filled with knowledge, debate and circles of learning.

Abu Hanifa was a merchant of fine cloth, and he remained one all his life. Many stories are told about his honesty in trade: that he pointed out defects in his goods to buyers, that he would rather forgo profit than take advantage of anyone, and that he generously provided for his students so they could devote themselves fully to learning. This closeness to the marketplace shaped his fiqh: he knew how people really live, trade and make contracts.

According to many reports, in his youth he saw the Companion Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him. For this reason many scholars count him among the Tabi'un, the generation after the Companions.

His teachers

His most important teacher was Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, with whom he studied for many years until Hammad's death. Abu Hanifa then took over his teacher's circle in the mosque of Kufa. Through Hammad, the chain of his knowledge reaches back to Ibrahim an-Nakha'i, to Alqamah ibn Qays and finally to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Hanafi school is therefore deeply rooted in the learning of the Companions who lived in Kufa.

Abu Hanifa also travelled to Makkah and Madinah for the pilgrimage and met the scholars of his time there. It is reported that he also sought knowledge from Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq and held him in great reverence.

His character

The sources describe Abu Hanifa as a man of great piety who prayed much at night and recited the Quran often. He was sharp-witted and quick in debate, yet patient and gentle with those who criticised him. He was known for not answering questions hastily, but for thinking them through carefully with his students.

His trial

Abu Hanifa lived in a time of great upheaval: he witnessed the end of the Umayyads and the beginning of the Abbasids. According to widespread reports, he was offered the post of chief judge more than once and declined it – out of concern that he might be forced to rule against his conscience. He was punished and imprisoned for this. He passed away in the year 150 AH (767 CE) in Baghdad. His tomb lies in the district named after him, al-A'zamiyyah – after his title of honour al-Imam al-A'zam, "the greatest imam". In the same year, as the scholars like to note, Imam ash-Shafi'i was born.

2The great students

A teacher lives on in his students. Abu Hanifa had many, but two stand out. Together with their teacher, the Hanafis sometimes call them the "three imams" of the school.

Abu Yusuf

Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim, known as Abu Yusuf (d. 182 AH / 798 CE), may Allah have mercy on him, came from modest circumstances. It is told that Abu Hanifa supported his family so that he could continue learning. Abu Yusuf was also a notable scholar of hadith. Under the Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid he became chief judge (Qadi al-Qudat) – according to many historians the first to hold this title. Through him, the Hanafi school shaped the judiciary of the Abbasid realm for generations.

His best-known work is the Kitab al-Kharaj, a treatise on taxation, public finance and just administration that he wrote for Harun ar-Rashid. In it he repeatedly urges the ruler to be just towards the people, including the non-Muslims under his protection.

Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani

Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani (d. 189 AH / 805 CE), may Allah have mercy on him, was still young when Abu Hanifa died. He continued his studies with Abu Yusuf and travelled to Madinah, where he studied for several years with Imam Malik. He transmitted his own recension of Malik's al-Muwatta. Later he himself became a teacher of the young Imam ash-Shafi'i. So three of the great schools meet in his person.

Ash-Shaybani was the great writer of the school. His works became the foundation of everything that followed. The Hanafis call six of them Zahir ar-Riwayah, the books of "manifest", that is, securely established transmission:

• al-Asl (also called al-Mabsut)
• al-Jami' as-Saghir
• al-Jami' al-Kabir
• az-Ziyadat
• as-Siyar as-Saghir
• as-Siyar al-Kabir

In his Siyar works he wrote about relations between states, treaties, envoys, the conduct of war and the protection of non-combatants. That is why today he is often honoured as one of the early founders of international law.

Other students

Other well-known students include Zufar ibn al-Hudhayl, renowned for his mastery of analogical reasoning, and al-Hasan ibn Ziyad. The opinions of these students differ from those of their teacher in quite a few questions – and that is typical of the school: it preserved these opinions, examined them, and in later times sometimes gave preference to a student's view.

3The Hanafi method

The Hanafis are often called Ahl ar-Ra'y, "the people of reasoned opinion". This does not mean that they held less closely to the texts, but that they reflected with special care on the reasons and purposes behind rulings. It is reported that Abu Hanifa said, in substance: "I take from the Book of Allah. If I find nothing there, I take from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If I find nothing there either, I take the sayings of his Companions, choosing among them, and I do not go beyond them. But when it comes to the scholars of the following generation, they strove, and I strive too."

From this follows the order of sources:

1. 1The Quran, whose general statements the Hanafis weigh especially heavily.
2. 2The Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. With solitary reports (khabar al-wahid), the Hanafis carefully examined whether they agreed with established principles, especially in matters that affect everyone every day.
3. 3The sayings of the Companions – choosing among them, but not going beyond them.
4. 4Ijma', the consensus of the scholars.
5. 5Qiyas, analogical reasoning, in which Abu Hanifa and his students were regarded as masters.
6. 6Istihsan, "juristic preference": a reasoned departure from the obvious analogy when a stronger proof, a consensus or a necessity requires it. A well-known example: by strict analogy, a contract to manufacture something that does not yet exist would be invalid. But since people have always had shoes, furniture or houses made to order, the school recognised this contract (istisna').
7. 7'Urf, the custom of people, as long as it does not contradict the texts.

There is also a distinctive feature: "anticipatory fiqh". Abu Hanifa and his students also discussed questions that had not yet arisen: "What if …?" In this way they prepared the Ummah for situations before they occurred. It is reported that Abu Hanifa did not decide difficult questions alone but discussed them with his students in a kind of council until an opinion took shape.

A beautiful saying attributed to Abu Hanifa – as to the other imams – is: "If a hadith is authentic, then it is my school." It shows the humility of the great imams before the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Theology is also connected with the school. Many Hanafis follow the school of Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333 AH / 944 CE) of Samarkand in matters of creed. The short creed al-'Aqidah at-Tahawiyyah by the Hanafi scholar Abu Ja'far at-Tahawi (d. 321 AH / 933 CE) is still taught in many schools of every orientation. An early book of creed, al-Fiqh al-Akbar, is attributed to Abu Hanifa himself.

4The great works of the school

Over the centuries, Hanafi scholars wrote an enormous library. Some works have special importance:

• Mukhtasar al-Quduri by Abu l-Husayn al-Quduri – a concise textbook with which generations of students began.
• al-Mabsut by Shams al-A'immah as-Sarakhsi – a monumental commentary in many volumes.
• Bada'i' as-Sana'i' by Abu Bakr al-Kasani (d. 587 AH / 1191 CE) – famous for its clear structure.
• al-Hidayah by Burhan ad-Din al-Marghinani (d. 593 AH / 1197 CE) from the Fergana Valley – perhaps the most influential textbook of the school. It has been commented on countless times, most famously in Fath al-Qadir by Ibn al-Humam. For centuries it was taught in madrasas from Istanbul to India.
• Kanz ad-Daqa'iq by Abu l-Barakat an-Nasafi and Multaqa al-Abhur by Ibrahim al-Halabi – teaching texts that were especially widespread in the Ottoman Empire.
• Radd al-Muhtar by Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH / 1836 CE) of Damascus – to this day the most important reference work for Hanafi fatwas.
• al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah, also called al-Fatawa al-'Alamgiriyyah – a large collection of fatwas compiled by a group of scholars under the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.

In legal methodology (usul al-fiqh), scholars such as al-Jassas, ad-Dabusi, al-Bazdawi and as-Sarakhsi developed a distinctive approach that starts from the particular rulings of the imams and derives the rules from them.

5The spread of the school

Through Abu Yusuf and the judges of the Abbasid era, the school spread first in Iraq and in the eastern lands. In Khurasan and Transoxiana – in cities such as Bukhara, Samarkand and Balkh – it flourished especially. From there the Seljuks carried it westward.

Under the Ottomans, the Hanafi school became the official school of the empire: judges were trained in it, and the Shaykh al-Islam in Istanbul was a Hanafi. Between 1869 and 1876 the Mecelle (Majallat al-Ahkam al-'Adliyyah), a civil code on a Hanafi basis, was produced; in some countries it remained in force long after the end of the empire. Under the Mughal rulers of India, too, the school was authoritative.

Today Muslims follow it in, among other places:

• Turkey and the Balkans – Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia,
• Central Asia – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
• South Asia – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,
• among the Muslims of Russia, the Caucasus and China,
• parts of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt,
• and many Muslim communities in Europe and North America with roots in these countries.

In the Emirates, too, you meet the Hanafi school at every turn: many Muslims from South Asia, Central Asia and Turkey live, work and pray here – side by side with their Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali and Shia brothers and sisters.

6What a lay person notices in daily life

Anyone who prays with Hanafis will notice small differences from other schools. They are no reason for division, but a sign that the scholars studied the Sunnah with great care. Some examples:

• Hands in prayer: Men raise their hands only at the opening takbir and then place them one over the other below the navel.
• Behind the imam: Someone praying behind an imam does not recite al-Fatihah himself but listens – the imam recites for the whole congregation.
• "Amin" is said quietly.
• The witr prayer has three rak'ahs with a single salam at the end; the supplication (qunut) is said in the third rak'ah before bowing. In the school it is regarded as wajib.
• Wajib: Between "obligatory" (fard) and "recommended" (sunnah), the Hanafis have a separate level, wajib – something binding whose proof does not reach the highest degree of certainty.
• Prayer times: According to Abu Hanifa's teaching, the afternoon prayer begins somewhat later than in other schools; many prayer calendars therefore show a separate "Hanafi" Asr time. The dawn prayer is preferably prayed once it has grown a little lighter.
• Ablution: Blood flowing from a wound breaks it; merely touching a woman does not.

For the exact rules of your own prayer, ask a scholar of your school.

7Contribution to Islamic civilisation

For many centuries the Hanafi school shaped the courts, markets and administrations of great empires. Its scholars thought through contract and commercial law, family and inheritance law, the law of pious endowments (waqf) and relations with other nations with remarkable precision. Its sense for the life of ordinary people and for the custom of a society made it adaptable – from the steppes of Central Asia to the cities of the Balkans.

Imam ash-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, is reported to have said: "In fiqh, people are dependent on Abu Hanifa." That an imam of another school spoke of him like this says much about the greatness of Abu Hanifa – and about the greatness of the one who said it.

8In closing

Abu Hanifa was a merchant who weighed honestly, a scholar who thought deeply, and a servant of Allah who preferred prison to pronouncing an unjust verdict. His students carried his knowledge forward, and today hundreds of millions of Muslims follow his school – mostly without knowing it, in every movement of their prayer.

May Allah have mercy on him, on Abu Yusuf, on Muhammad ash-Shaybani and on all the scholars of this school. And may He teach us to learn from all the imams with love. You can learn more about the other schools in the overview of the schools of law in Islam and in the chapter on the Maliki school.