Abu Hanifah: The Rational Jurist

Friday, 22 October 2010 10:00

Abu Hanifah: The Rational Jurist

Written by Karim Crow

Abū Ḥanīfah aroused controversy among Muslim jurists in his own day, especially from certain proponents of Hadith-based jurisprudence (ahl al-hadith) for his advocacy of rationalist procedures in deducing case law. Traditionalist jurists viewed the methods by which Abū Ḥanīfah employed ijtihād al-ra’y ‘independent reasoning exertion’—especially with regard to analogical reasoning (qiyās) and juristic preference (istiḥsān)—as undermining the legal validity of Prophetic traditions in Islamic law. Abū Ḥanīfah was an outspoken critic of errors he perceived among his contemporary judges and legal scholars; while his theological views were also a matter of controversy ........ [click here to download the full article in pdf ]

Published in Architects of Civilisation

Karim Crow

Karim Douglas Crow is a Principal Research Fellow at IAIS Malaysia.

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