Hanafi school

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The Hanafi school or Hanafism (Arabic: ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنَفِيّ, romanized: al-madhhab al-ḥanafī) is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam.^[1] It was established by the 8th-century scholar, jurist, and theologian Abu Hanifa, a follower whose legal views were primarily preserved by his two disciples Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.^[2] As the oldest and most-followed of the four major Sunni schools, it is also called the "school of the people of opinion" (madhhab ahl al-ra'y).^[3][4] Many Hanafis also follow the Maturidi school of theology.

The importance of this madhhab lies in the fact that it encompasses not only the rulings and sayings of Abu Hanifa, but also the rulings and sayings of the judicial council he established.^{[citation needed]} Abu Hanifa was the first to formally solve cases and organize them into chapters.^{[citation needed]} He was followed by Malik ibn Anas in arranging Al-Muwatta. Since the Sahaba and the successors of the Sahaba did not put attention in establishing the science of Sharia or codifying it in chapters or organized books, but rather relied on the strength of their memorization for transmitting knowledge, Abu Hanifa feared that the next generation of the Muslim community would not understand Sharia laws well.^[ambiguous] His books consisted of Taharah (purification), Salat (prayer), other acts of Ibadah (worship), Muwamalah (public treatment), then Mawarith (inheritance).^[3]

Under the patronage of the Abbasids, the Hanafi school flourished in Iraq and spread throughout the Islamic world, firmly establishing itself in Muslim Spain and Greater Iran, including Greater Khorasan, by the 9th century, where it acquired the support of rulers including Delhi Sultanate, Khwarazmian Empire, Kazakh Sultanate and the local Samanid rulers.^[5] Turkic expansion introduced the school to the Indian subcontinent and Anatolia, and it was adopted as the chief legal school of the Ottoman and Mughal Empire.^[6] In the modern Republic of Turkey, the Hanafi jurisprudence is enshrined in Diyanet, the directorate for religious affairs, through the constitution (art. 136).^[7]

The Hanafi school is the largest of the four traditional Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence, followed by approximately 30% of Sunni Muslims worldwide.^[8][9] It is the main school of jurisprudence in the Balkans, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Levant, Central Asia and South Asia, in addition to parts of Russia and China.^[10][11] The other primary Sunni schools are the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools.^[12][13]

One who ascribes to the Hanafi school is called a Hanafi, Hanafite or Hanafist (Arabic: ٱلْحَنَفِيّ, romanized: al-ḥanafī, pl. ٱلْحَنَفِيَّة, al-ḥanafiyya or ٱلْأَحْنَاف, al-aḥnāf).