Hanafi school facts for kids

The Hanafi school is the oldest and one of the four main schools of Islamic law within Sunni Islam. It's also known as Hanafism or Hanafi fiqh. This school is named after a famous scholar from the 8th century named Abu Hanifa, who lived in Kufa. His ideas and legal views were mostly kept alive by his two important students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.

The Hanafi school is very popular among Sunni Muslims and is sometimes called the Madhhab of Jurists. A "madhhab" is like a specific way of understanding and applying Islamic law. Many Hanafi Muslims also follow the Maturidi school for their beliefs about God.

The importance of this school comes from the fact that it's not just Abu Hanifa's ideas. It also includes the decisions and ideas from a group of judges he set up. Abu Hanifa was the first to formally solve legal cases and organize them into different topics. He was followed by another important scholar, Malik ibn Anas, who also organized his legal teachings.

In the early days of Islam, the companions of the Prophet and their followers didn't write down Islamic laws in organized books. They relied on their memory to share knowledge. Abu Hanifa worried that future generations might not understand Islamic laws (called Sharia) well. So, he organized his book into chapters covering topics like purification (Taharah), prayer (Salat), other acts of worship (Ibadah), public dealings (Muwamalah), and inheritance (Mawarith).

With the support of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Hanafi school grew strong in Iraq and spread across the Islamic world. By the 9th century, it was well-known in places like Muslim Spain, Greater Khorasan, and Transoxiana. Rulers like those from the Delhi Sultanate, Khwarazmian Empire, and Samanid Empire supported it. As Turkic people expanded, they brought the Hanafi school to the Indian subcontinent and Anatolia. It became the main legal school for the powerful Ottoman Empire and Mughal Empire. Today, in Turkey, Hanafi law is part of the country's religious affairs through its constitution.

The Hanafi school has the most followers among all the Sunni legal schools. About one-third of Sunni Muslims around the world follow it. You can find many Hanafi followers in Turkey, Egypt, Bosnia and other Balkan countries, the Levant, Central Asia, Morocco, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. There are also followers in parts of Russia, China, and India. The other main Sunni legal schools are the Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools.

History of the Hanafi School

Map of the Muslim world. Hanafi (light green) is the Sunni school predominant in Turkey, Central Asia, Bosnia, the Western Middle East, Western and Nile river region of Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Southeast Europe, India, China and Russia. An estimated third of all Muslims living in Muslim-majority countries worldwide follow Hanafi law.

Islamic law, or Sharia, is very broad. In the time of the Prophet's companions, there wasn't a formal "madhhab" like we have today. For them, the main sources of Sharia were the Quran (God's word) and the Sunnah (the Prophet's teachings and actions). If a solution wasn't found in these, they would agree on a consensus.

Over time, the companions had different ways of practicing and understanding religious matters, except for things they all agreed on. They spread out across the Muslim lands, and because of their different understandings, Sharia took on various forms in those areas.

Later, the followers of the companions (called Tabi'is) found different ways to understand and share Islamic Sharia. It's said that the basic ideas for Islamic Sharia were prepared by the companions and the Tabi'is. As the Islamic world grew and faced more challenges, there was a need to organize Sharia into a scientific form, known as Fiqh.

Abu Hanifa, one of the last Tabi'is, spent 40 years developing a unique method for this. He also helped establish Islamic beliefs (called Aqeeda) as a separate religious science.

Interestingly, Ja'far al-Sadiq, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, was one of Abu Hanifa's teachers. Ja'far also taught Malik ibn Anas, who in turn taught Al-Shafi‘i. Al-Shafi'i then taught Ahmad ibn Hanbal. This means all four great leaders of the main Sunni legal schools are connected to Ja'far, either directly or indirectly.

In the early days of Islam, the Hanafi teachings weren't fully written down. They were put together in the 9th century CE and have been developing ever since.

The Abbasid Caliphate and most Muslim dynasties preferred the Hanafi school because it was more flexible. It allowed for more interpretation by legal scholars, unlike some older schools that strictly tied all laws to the Quran and Hadiths. The Abbasids supported the Hanafi school from the 8th century onwards. Later, Turkish dynasties like the Seljuks, Ottomans, and Mughals also adopted it.

The expansion of Turkic empires helped spread Hanafi law through Central Asia and into the Indian subcontinent. This happened with the establishment of empires like the Seljuk Empire, Timurid dynasty, Delhi Sultanate, and Mughal Empire. During the reigns of leaders like Suleiman the Magnificent (Ottoman) and Aurangzeb Alamgir (Mughal), Hanafi-based laws like Al-Qanun and Fatawa-e-Alamgiri became the main legal systems for much of South Asia.

In the early history of Islam, there were more than 100 different schools of thought, but only a few became widely followed.

How the Hanafi School Developed

Early Years

The beginning of the Hanafi school is generally considered to be from the time Abu Hanifa started his legal research (around 767 CE) until the death of his senior student Hasan bin Ziyad (around 819 CE).

This period was about setting up the school, creating its basic rules, and forming the principles for making legal decisions. Abu Zuhra, a famous Islamic lawyer from the 20th century, suggested that Abu Hanifa himself did much of the work. His senior students helped under his guidance. Abu Hanifa had a special way of discussing and debating issues until they were settled. Once an issue was resolved, Abu Yusuf would be asked to write it down.

How They Worked

Al-Muwaffaq Al-Makki explained how Abu Hanifa taught his companions: "Abu Hanifa built his teachings by discussing them with his students. He never made rulings on his own. He was very dedicated to practicing religion and giving advice about God, His Messenger, and believers. He would take questions one by one and present them to his students. He would listen to their ideas and then share his own. Debates would go on for a month or more until one opinion was agreed upon. Then Judge Abu Yusuf would write down the principle from that discussion, and he wrote down all the principles."

This shows that Abu Hanifa's students were active participants in creating this legal system, not just listeners. And Abu Yusuf wasn't the only one who recorded the agreed-upon opinions. In Abu Hanifa's group, there were ten students who wrote things down, led by four important ones: Abu Yusuf, Muhammad bin Al-Hassan Al-Shaibani, Zufar bin Al-Hudhayl, and Hassan bin Ziyad al-Luluii.

Hanafi Methods of Law

The Hanafi school uses several sources to understand Islamic law (Sharia). These include the Quran, the sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad (called hadith), general agreement among scholars (ijma), using logic to compare new situations to old ones (qiyas), choosing a preferred legal opinion (istihsan), and common customs (urf).

Modern scholars believe Abu Hanifa was the first to formally use qiyas (legal analogy) to figure out Islamic law when the Quran and hadiths didn't give clear answers. He was also known for relying on his own reasoned opinion (ra'y).

Even though they used ra'y, Hanafi scholars still gave importance to the written teachings of the Prophet's companions. Many governments have used Hanafi law in their state laws from the late medieval period to modern times:

• Fatawa 'Alamgiri: This is a book of Islamic rulings first used as state law in India during the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Later, the British Raj also used this law to better govern their Muslim subjects in India.

• Qanun: The Ottoman Empire created its own laws called Qanun, which were similar to Fatawa 'Alamgiri. These laws were made official by Suleiman the Magnificent. This law also influenced their ally, the Sultanate of Aceh, which had its own version of law. This legal code even became the local law for the modern-day Aceh province in Indonesia. Aceh recognizes Sharia law based on Qanun, which they call Qanun Jinayat. This Hanafi law has continued into the 21st century and was officially recognized by the Indonesian government in 2014. The state of Selangor in Malaysia also recognized it as a local law in 1995.

The main books of the Hanafi school, written by Abū Ḥanīfa and his students Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, include:

• Al-Fiqh al-Akbar (a book about religious law and beliefs)
• Al-fiqh al-absat (a general book on law)
• Kitab al-Athar (a collection of thousands of hadiths with explanations)
• Kitab al-Kharaj and Kitab al-Siyar (books about rules for war, sharing war spoils, and taxes).

Istihsan (Juristic Preference)

The Hanafi school often uses istihsan, which means "juristic preference." This is a type of ra'y (reasoned opinion) that allows scholars to choose a less obvious legal position if the strict application of qiyas (analogy) would lead to a bad outcome for the public good (maslaha).

Initially, istihsan didn't need to be based on religious texts. However, because other schools criticized this, Hanafi scholars later limited its use to cases where it was supported by texts, starting from the 9th century.

Famous Hanafi Scholars

See also

In Spanish: Hanafí para niños

• Karwan-I-Islami
• Islamic schools and branches
• Maturidi
• List of major Hanafi books
• List of Hanafis