The Transoxiana School in the Hanafi Madhhab and the Role of Scholars

Abstract

The Hanafi madhhab is the first of the four major Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Its founder, Nu‘man ibn Thabit, widely known as Abu Hanifa, was a prominent mujtahid scholar who earned the honorable title of "Imam al-A‘zam" (the Greatest Imam) throughout the Islamic world. The Hanafi school holds a unique place in Islam for prioritizing reason and intellect in the process of issuing legal rulings. It spread across all the regions ruled by the Abbasids, Seljuks, and Ottomans. Today, more than half of the world’s Muslims, particularly many Sunnis, follow the Hanafi madhhab. A distinctive feature of the Hanafi methodology is the principle of Ra’y (rational opinion). This approach was first introduced by the scholar ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud and later continued by Alqama (d. 62/682), Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i (d. 96/714), and Hammad ibn Sulayman (d. 120/737). Abu Hanifa (d. 150/767) further developed the Ahl al-Ra’y perspective. His rationalist approach was merged with the doctrine of Irja’ and gained wide respect across the Islamic world. This article presents a brief overview of Abu Hanifa’s life and the scholars who transmitted his Ra’y/Irja’ ideas to the regions of Khurasan and Transoxiana.