# Does today's Hanafi madhhab reflect Imam Abu Hanifa?

*Sectarian attacks on Shaykh Aslam and the fossilised Hanafi madhhab*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wcgxqdwchks/s/1/
- Date: 2021-04-27 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Aslam & Sectarian Jealousy of the Molvis | Mufti Abu Layth (0:00–4:23)
- Status: a more recent answer exists: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/s-vm6mgbll8/s/1/; general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgxQDwCHKs&t=0s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wcgxqdwchks/

**Topics:** The Hanafi school and Imam Abu Hanifa; Sects, sectarianism and takfir; Views on contemporary scholars

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Not in spirit: Mufti Abu Layth calls later Hanafi rulings fossilised and pedantic, behind the sectarian attacks on Shaykh Aslam, and praises Shaykh Atabek as a fresh voice.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Hanafi madhhab as it is today is like a Frankenstein compared to what Imam Abu Hanifa was.

**Evidence, his words at 1:57:** “the math hub itself is it's like a completely it's a it's a different it's like a frankenstein uh to what imam of hanifa was” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgxQDwCHKs&t=117s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says there has been drama around Shaykh Aslam, whom he describes as a pleasant, uncontroversial person, including death threats, and calls it sectarian venom: some Barelvis, though from a similar Sufi background, turned on him over a video in which he prays carrying a child. He explains the Hanafi ruling that moving around in prayer breaks it, and says Hanafi fiqh is very pedantic and does not reflect the spirit of Imam Abu Hanifa in the slightest, being fossilised fatwas, a Frankenstein compared to what the imam was. He says open-minded people find it hard to remain Hanafi, praises Shaykh Atabek as a breath of fresh air for the Hanafis, and suggests that one thing that has helped Shaykh Atabek is that he is not from a part of the world that dominates Islamic discourse, recalling a book on why geography matters whose title he cannot remember.

## Sources and names cited

- Barelvi
- Sufi
- Abu Hanifa
- Shaykh Atabek

## Transcript (machine tier, 0:00–4:23)

[0:00] um you know actually that room you know there's been this whole drama i don't know if you guys have uh caught up with it there's been this whole drama i was asking last week a bit about i wonder what's going on it's with sheikh aslam and he'd been receiving also some kind of death threats and and i was trying to i was trying to ask that you know what's happening with sheikh haslam because for the most part he's a you know pleasant sweet guy he's not somebody controversial and he's not somebody who rocks the boat or but yeah so it turns out people

[0:38] [Laughter] this is what it is it's just like sectarian venom so some of the brilliance have turned on sheikh islam i mean he's i mean they're really sufi he's also from that kind of background but they've turned on him and and the pretext was um he had done a video where he's carrying a child in prayer and i think he's trying to show that um there's a hanafi ruling called uh you know

[1:20] uh or you never saw that it breaks salah yeah so so if you move around in prayer your prayer breaks now this is really more so a hanafi thing hanafi's are really unfortunately they're very pedantic in their field the effect does not reflect the spirit of imam abu hanifa in the slightest i mean maybe this remnant these fossils this fossilized fatwas in the medhab that show this method it may have had you know it has some traces going back to imam or imam abu hanifa was once here

[1:57] not this fossil footprints but they're just fossils you know fossil traces the um the math hub itself is it's like a completely it's a it's a different it's like a frankenstein uh to what imam of hanifa was and i'm not saying this to these people who are hanafi they you know i said before that look this is unfortunately it just is the way it is so you know people who are open-minded and want to develop it's difficult for them to remain hanafi and be like that i mean they can do it but it's hard and

[2:36] they'll face a lot of slack from people because it's going against the entire stream that is so locked in and but coming back to this point but some scholars do do that like shaykh and people like shaykh atabek are a you know a breath of fresh air for the hanafiya but one of the only reasons

[3:05] one of the only reasons but a reason that has helped his cause is that he's not from a part of the world that dominates an islamic discourse so like i've mentioned previously certain countries dominate islamic discourses throughout the world it's very you know it's interesting you can't escape geography it's you can't escape geography what's that book what's the book about i've got it here somewhere about uh it's about why what it's about like why geography matters but but it's trying to show how

[3:44] if you just understand the history of geography all the current world political um whether it's rivalry or issues or you know catastrophes all make sense if you just understand the geography of things i've got it here somewhere um but i've forgotten the title right you guys probably somebody will probably put it up there but so this makes a a lot of sense so sheikh atabek because he's not from one of those countries he i feel that's helped him in his kind in his cause but coming back to this so the hanafiya have a lot of

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment WCgxQDwCHKs/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wcgxqdwchks/s/1/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.