The Hanafi school

المذهب الحنفي

Abu Hanifah al-Numan · d. 150 AH

The school of Kufa, then Bukhara and the Ottomans. Abu Hanifah’s fiqh was written down chiefly by his two companions, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani. The zahir al-riwayah of Muhammad is the bedrock. Later lands take fatwa from Ibn Abidin.

A path through the books

Nur al-Idah (ibadat) → Mukhtasar al-Quduri → al-Ikhtiyar or al-Hidayah → Radd al-Muhtar when you are ready to see how a mufti weighs.

ظاهر الرواية
Zahir al-riwayah
Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani
al-Asl (al-Mabsut), al-Jami al-Saghir, al-Jami al-Kabir, al-Ziyadat, al-Siyar. The founding corpus.
مختصر القدوري
Mukhtasar al-Quduri
al-Quduri (d. 428 AH)
The matn every Hanafi student used to memorise.
المبسوط
al-Mabsut
al-Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH)
The great early sharh of the zahir al-riwayah, dictated from prison.
بدائع الصنائع
Badai al-Sanai
al-Kasani (d. 587 AH)
Ordered furu with usul. Still opened for dalil.
الهداية
al-Hidayah
al-Marghinani (d. 593 AH)
The medieval spine. Taught from India to Anatolia.
نور الإيضاح
Nur al-Idah
al-Shurunbulali (d. 1069 AH)
Clean matn of taharah and salah for a beginner.
مراقي الفلاح
Maraqi al-Falah
al-Shurunbulali
His own sharh of Nur al-Idah.
رد المحتار
Radd al-Muhtar (Hashiyat Ibn Abidin)
Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH)
The later mutamad for fatwa in most Hanafi lands.

Abu Hanifah did not leave a Mukhtasar in his own hand the way Malik left the Muwatta. The school is the companions’ books, then the mutun.