Hanafi
The Hanafi school () is one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ("maddhab") of Islamic jurisprudence ("fiqh"). Its eponym is the 8th-century Kufan scholar, Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit, a "tabi‘i" of Persian origin whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani. Under the patronage of the Abbasids, the Hanafi school flourished in Iraq and spread eastwards, firmly establishing itself in Khorasan and Transoxiana by the 9th-century, where it enjoyed the support of the local Samanid rulers. Turkic expansion introduced the school to the Indian subcontinent  and Anatolia, and it was adopted as the chief legal school of the Ottoman Empire. The Hanafi school is the maddhab with the largest number of adherents, followed by approximately one third of Muslims worldwide. It is prevalent in Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the Balkans, the Levant, Central Asia, and Bangladesh, in addition to parts of Russia, China, India, and Iran. The other primary Sunni legal schools are the Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali schools. Methodology. Hanafi "usul" recognises the Quran, hadith, consensus ("ijma"), legal analogy ("qiyas"), juristic preference ("istihsan") and normative customs ("urf") as sources of the Sharia. Abu Hanifa  is regarded by modern scholars as the first to formally adopt and institute "qiyas" as a method to derive Islamic law when the Quran and hadiths are silent or ambiguous in their guidance; and is noted for his general reliance on personal opinion ("ra'y"). Nevertheless the usage of "Ra'y" as one of the sources of their jurisprudence, the Hanafite scholars still prioritize the textual approach of the Sahabah for their jurisprudence, as careful examination by modern Islamic jurisprudence researcher Ismail Poonawala, has found that the influence of the hadiths narrated by Zubayr regarding Rajm (stoning) execution as a form of  punishment towards adulterers to be within Abu Hanifa's rulings in the Hanafite school of thought for such kinds of punishments' validity and furthermore, how to implement the punishment in accordance with the prophet's teachings due to self-confession of the accused. This Hanafite stoning law which is based on hadiths narrated by Zubayr arguably has historical and profound influence as various governments have implemented Hanafite code of law in their state laws from the late medieval to modern period: The foundational texts of Hanafi madhab, credited to Abū Ḥanīfa and his students Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani , include "Al-Fiqh al-Akbar" (theological book on jurisprudence), "Al-Fiqh al-Absat" (general book on jurisprudence), "Kitab al-Athar" (thousands of hadiths with commentary), "Kitab al-Kharaj" and "Kitab al-Siyar" (doctrine of war against unbelievers, distribution of spoils of war among Muslims, apostasy and taxation of dhimmi). Istihsan. The Hanafi school favours the use of "istihsan", or juristic preference, a form of "ra'y" which enables jurists to opt for weaker positions if the results of "qiyas" lead to an undesirable outcome for the public interest ("maslaha"). Although "istihsan" did not initially require a scriptural basis, criticism from other  schools prompted Hanafi jurists to restrict its usage to cases where it was textually supported from the 9th-century onwards. History. As the fourth Caliph, Ali had transferred the Islamic capital to Kufa, and many of the first generation of Muslims settled there. The Hanafi school of law based many of its rulings on the earliest Islamic traditions as transmitted by Sahaba residing in Iraq. Thus, the Hanafi school came to be known as the Kufan or Iraqi school in earlier times. Ali and Abdullah, son of Masud, formed much of the base of the school, as well as other  personalities such as Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja'far al-Sadiq, and Zayd ibn Ali. Many jurists and historians had lived in Kufa including one of Abu Hanifa's main teachers, Hammad ibn Sulayman. The 5th Sunni sheikh and 6th Shi'ite Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a descendant of the Islamic "Nabi" (Prophet) Muhammad) was reportedly a teacher of Sunni Imams Abu Hanifah and Malik ibn Anas, who in turn was a teacher of Imam Ash-Shafi‘i, who in turn was a teacher of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Thus all of the four great Imams of Sunni "Fiqhs" are connected to Ja'far, whether  directly or indirectly. In the early history of Islam, Hanafi doctrine was not fully compiled. The fiqh was fully compiled and documented in the 11th century. The Turkish rulers were some of the earliest adopters of the relatively more flexible Hanafi fiqh and preferred it over the traditionalist Medina-based fiqhs, which favored correlating all laws to Quran and Hadiths and disfavored Islamic law based on discretion of jurists. The Abbasids patronized the Hanafi school from the 10th century onwards. The Seljuk Turkish dynasties of 11th and 12th centuries, followed by Ottomans, adopted Hanafi fiqh. The Turkic expansion spread Hanafi  fiqh through Central Asia and into Indian subcontinent, with the establishment of Seljuk Empire, Timurid dynasty, Khanates, Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Empire. Throughout the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb, the Hanafi-based Fatawa-e-Alamgiri served as the legal, juridical, political, and financial code of most of South Asia. Sunni schools. Hanbali School: Named after Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (Died 855) Hanafi School: Named after Abu Hanifa (Died 767) Shafi 'i: Named after Al-Shafi'l (Died 819) Maliki: Named After Malik Bin Anas (Died 795) Shi'a schools. Zaydi School: Named after Zayd Ibn Ali (Died 740) Ja'Fari School: Named after  Ja'far al-Sadiq (Died 765) During the early periods of time that Islam was just being found up (mainly the first 250 years), there were around 100+ school of thoughts.