# Why does Mufti Abu Layth follow the Maliki school rather than the Hanafi? *The four surviving schools, the school of Madinah, and why he left the Hanafi school* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uixtl3pqp-q/s/2/ - Date: 2019-03-22 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Why did I Choose Maliki Fiqh? -Mufti Abu Layth (2:35–7:21) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiXtl3PQP-Q&t=155s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uixtl3pqp-q/ **Topics:** The Maliki school; The Hanafi school and Imam Abu Hanifa; Al-Andalus and the Maghrib **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth follows the Maliki school of Madinah because it is built on welfare and rooted in evidence and made the most sense to him. He says the Hanafi school, despite Abu Hanifa's greatness, has been hijacked into a controlling school. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he follows the Maliki school of Madinah because it is built upon welfare and rooted in evidence and made the most sense, and that the Hanafi school, though Abu Hanifa was a legend, has long been hijacked and become a controlling school that is the antithesis of its founder. **Evidence, his words at 3:39:** “the Maliki method is known as the school of Medina it is the most awesome school of law there ever is because it is built upon welfare and firmly rooted in evidence” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiXtl3PQP-Q&t=219s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says that many schools of law once existed, in the tens or even hundreds, but four remained: the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali, and he jokes with his fingers that he counts the Hanbali school as the fourth out of kindness, calling its contribution to fiqh small. He describes the Maliki school as the school of Madinah, built upon welfare and firmly rooted in evidence, and says he did not choose it so much as it chose him, because it made so much sense to follow. He says one may follow any school, and that most people from the Indian subcontinent, himself included while growing up, are Hanafi; Abu Hanifa was a legend, but in his assessment the school has long been hijacked, has become the antithesis of its founder and is now a controlling school. He says the Maliki school ruled Muslim Spain, where Muslims were probably Maliki for at least seven hundred years, was spread across every continent and more diverse than any other school, and had key figures who contributed to it without shunning one another, which made it a rich and resourceful school. ## Sources and names cited - Maliki school - Hanafi school - Shafi'i school - Hanbali school - madhhab - Abu Hanifa - Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) ## Transcript (machine tier, 2:35–7:21) [2:22] sauce that's the relationship that's going on between sherry alpha so thick and then within fact you have different ways of looking at things that interpreting extracting Islamic law how do we understand rulings and everybody you know they've got their own take on it and then people kind of disappeared and these four major schools of law remained I say four because I'm being kind to the humble ease did let's make that the humble ease the the little finger there you go the humbly right there that's that's [3:02] about right now before because that's like the humbly contribution to Islamic fit so now I'm being fair right so that's like obviously the the tour list is like the Maliki method but I don't want to put if up if I bring these fingers down this one get offensive you know this one up nice so that's me representing the schools of islamic law there's our little [ __ ] midget' mess [3:39] up humbly madam is like a [ __ ] mother so you've got these so you got the hanafis you got the Maliki school you got the chef for a school and you got the humbly school down there so these are the ones that have carried on I mean there were so many schools of law you know in the tens if not one could argue in the hundreds but so this is what's continued the school the Maliki method is known as the school of Medina it is the most awesome school of law [4:17] there ever is because it is built upon welfare and firmly rooted in evidence it is known as the school of Medina people the school of em there you go em school of Madinah right now somebody said why are my my lucky I never chose the my lucky mother the my lucky meth have chose me a la the school of Modena chose me people now it's just because it made it made so much sense to to follow the school of [4:55] Modena what are the schooled in Modena hi hi hi hi look at the child people the chai so those of you that and you can follow any school of law most Asians indo-pak people happen to be Hanafy as was i as in growing up and but then you know you come to your senses now to be fair imam abu hanifa was an absolute legend but the problem is his school if [5:33] i'm to be fair in my assessment his school has been long hijacked and his school is the antithesis of him it's such a control freak school today everybody like you know if you've got like control freak kind of like a like a syndrome you suffer from that then the hand of you mother makes sense for you so it's all about just controlling control I have the control the control so that's what the that's what these methods are and the Maliki method is obviously the super cool method people [6:10] it's the one that ruled Muslim Spain as well I mean it was one of the most widespread methods throughout the world much more diverse than any other school of law including the Hanafi school so as in its diasporic okay the way it was kind of spread out the school was in all of the different continents and it was also something that was the major content and it was also it wasn't just these in people were Maliki so Muslims in in [6:49] Spain for seven hundred years at least were probably Maliki now it wasn't just that they were Maliki but they were key figures they will keep players not not allow Slayers here probably those players as well but they were but they were key players in the matter so they contributed they were never shunned by each other so the school became a really rich resourceful school right so let's move on to another question ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment UiXtl3PQP-Q/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uixtl3pqp-q/s/2/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.