Hanafi

The school of Abu Hanifah, the most widely followed, known for careful reasoning and analogy.

Also written · Hanafee · Hanefi · Hanfi · Hanafiyyah · Abu Hanifah · Abu Hanifa · Imam Abu Hanifa · Numan ibn Thabit · Hanafi madhhab · Hanafi school

The meaning

What Hanafi means in Islam

Named for Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man ibn Thabit of Kufa, who died in 150 AH, and set down by his students Abu Yusuf and al-Shaybani. It is the school of most Muslims in Turkey, the Balkans, Central Asia, South Asia and much of the Levant and Egypt. Its distinctive features include a strong use of istihsan and of local custom, and a separate ruling category of wajib standing just below fard.

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Read beside it

Words that sit beside it

MadhhabA school of law: a settled method of deriving rulings, carried by generations of scholars.مَذْهَب
IstihsanJuristic preference: setting aside a strict analogy for a stronger reason of fairness or need.اِسْتِحْسان
FardObligatory: required by decisive evidence, and sinful to abandon without an excuse.فَرْض
WajibObligatory. In the Hanafi school, a step below fard, resting on slightly weaker evidence.واجِب