
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 ........
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