School of jurisprudence
Origins and scholars
The Hanafi school developed from the teaching of Abu Hanifah in Kufa. His students Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani helped organize and transmit its legal learning. It is one of the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence.
Methods and development
Its jurists use the Qur’an and prophetic tradition together with developed methods of interpretation, including analogy and juristic preference. The school’s history includes major Abbasid and Ottoman contexts. A school is a continuing scholarly tradition, not simply a list of one founder’s opinions.
Studying practice
Prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and financial duties are addressed in specialist Hanafi manuals. An individual ruling should be read with its conditions and the jurist’s reasoning. Avoid reducing the school to labels such as always strict or always lenient.
Sources and further reading
Oxford Bibliographies — The Hanafi School
Irshad Centre for Hanafi Studies — research and teaching
This source-attributed introduction is educational. A historical survey, a community’s statement of belief and a jurist’s ruling are different kinds of source. Their inclusion does not turn every interpretation into a consensus.