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The Hanafi school and Imam Abu Hanifa
45 segments in 22 recordings · 2015 to 2022 · 0 verified · 26 checked positions · fiqh/madhhabs-and-following/hanafi-school · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 10 Dec 2022
10 Dec 2022video
LatestWho was Imam Abu Hanifa and where did he come from?
Abu Hanifa, a kunya that became his name, was of Persian ancestry with roots in Kabul, was born in Kufa in 80 AH and grew up as a stylish, successful cloth trader before turning to knowledge.
machine6 min 36 s0:00on YouTube
Earlier answers · 44 · newest first
2022 · 11
10 Dec 2022video
How did Abu Hanifa become a scholar after starting out as a merchant?
Encouraged by al-Sha'bi to join the circles of knowledge, the merchant Abu Hanifa studied with Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, succeeded him as the central figure of Kufa and became the voice of the school of reason.
machine6 min 29 s6:36on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
Why was Abu Hanifa criticised so much in his own time?
Abu Hanifa was accused in his lifetime of following desire and opinion over the Quran, partly by rivals such as Sufyan al-Thawri, though the imams generally stayed respectful of one another.
machine3 min 56 s13:05on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
LatestWhy did Abu Hanifa allow things like praying in Persian?
Abu Hanifa's legal stratagems, such as letting someone who knew no Arabic pray in Persian, were meant to create ease for new Muslims, not to change Islam, and Mufti Abu Layth says that spirit is needed today.
machine5 min 15 s17:01on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
Was Abu Hanifa involved in politics?
Abu Hanifa supported Zayd ibn Ali's uprising and fled to Makkah under the Umayyads, and the Abbasids later made him chief supervisor of the building of Baghdad.
machine2 min 36 s22:16on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
How did the Hanafi school develop from Abu Hanifa's teaching?
Abu Hanifa's students, above all Imam Muhammad, turned his spirit into an institution through the six books of the zahir al-riwaya, and Mufti Abu Layth feels the madhhab later lost that spirit and became focused on the letter of the law.
machine3 min 56 s24:52on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
Did Abu Hanifa allow wudu with nabidh when there was no water?
In the early school of Abu Hanifa, someone without water could make wudu with nabidh, a weak fermented date drink, and he helped people out of rash conditional divorce oaths, unlike the sterner Imam Malik.
machine3 min 54 s28:48on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
LatestHow did Abu Hanifa solve the case of two brides sent to the wrong grooms?
Where Sufyan al-Thawri advised divorces, a waiting period and remarriage to the original spouses, Abu Hanifa had each man marry on the spot the woman he had spent the night with, sparing a waiting period and jealousy.
machine9 min 12 s32:42on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
How did Abu Hanifa die, and what was he known for among people?
Abu Hanifa was imprisoned by the Abbasids for supporting an uprising from the Prophet's family and died, perhaps poisoned, in prison; he was loved above all for his compassion and generosity.
machine3 min 55 s41:54on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
What did Abu Hanifa do about his neighbour who drank and sang at night?
Rather than punishing his drunken, noisy neighbour, Abu Hanifa had him released from custody and asked whether he had let him go to waste, a kindness that transformed the man's life.
machine10 min 35 s45:49on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
LatestWhat is the story of the woman who tricked Abu Hanifa into a marriage proposal?
Abu Hanifa died in 150 AH and is buried in Baghdad. In a story of uncertain accuracy, a woman tricked him into a marriage with a different bride to get him back for the clever reference he once gave a poor suitor.
machine11 min 51 s56:24on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
What did Abu Hanifa say about Imam Malik?
Abu Hanifa called the younger Imam Malik a blonde, blue-eyed lad. Mufti Abu Layth closes that the Hanafi madhhab became restrictive in recent centuries while schools such as the Maliki kept their freedoms.
machine2 min 27 s1:08:15on YouTube
2021 · 19
27 Apr 2021video
Does today's Hanafi madhhab reflect Imam Abu Hanifa?
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.
machine4 min 23 s0:00on YouTube
27 Apr 2021video
Can I pray while carrying my child?
Yes: the Hanafi rule that three consecutive movements break the prayer is made up, and the Prophet prayed carrying Umama; Mufti Abu Layth puts the attacks on Shaykh Aslam down to jealousy.
machine7 min 58 s4:23on YouTube
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of al-Shaybani's critique of the Madinan school?
Mufti Abu Layth calls al-Shaybani's book an arrogant reply to Malik that failed from its title, since Islam was lived in Madinah and preserved in Malik's school.
machine3 min 56 s3:02:08on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Can I carry a child while I pray?
Mufti Abu Layth says one may carry a child while praying and that Hanafi rulings such as the three-movement rule, or that laughing or reading something breaks the prayer, are made up. He sees the campaign against the preacher who showed this as sectarian jealousy.
machine12 min 45 s23:17on YouTube
5 Mar 2021video
What counts as khamr, and is a drink with very little alcohol haram?
In the Quran khamr is wine; other drinks are haram if they intoxicate similarly, but a drink so weak that normal consumption does not intoxicate is not haram. This was Abu Hanifa's ruling, for which the Hanafi school was attacked for centuries until later Hanafis grew embarrassed by it.
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16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Mufti think of Shaykh Dedew, and did Imam Ahmad dislike Abu Hanifa?
Imam Ahmad did say harsh things about Abu Hanifa, he says; of Shaykh Dedew, take his critical views and stay open-minded on his dogmatic ones.
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16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Abu Hanifa allow nabidh only as medicine?
Mufti Abu Layth says the reports Abu Hanifa's school transmitted, of Umar and Ibn Mas'ud drinking and diluting nabidh, are about drinking with food, not medicine.
machine12 min 25 s2:47:32on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What counts as khamr, and is a drink with a little alcohol haram?
Mufti Abu Layth says khamr in the Quran meant wine; other drinks were haram only when they intoxicated like it, which was Abu Hanifa's position.
machine6 min 09 s24:29on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of Abdur Rahman Mangera?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Abdur Rahman Mangera very talented and respectful, but says his thinking is ultimately closed Deobandi thinking.
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29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How do people react when a scholar from Uzbekistan challenges subcontinent scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth says UK Islam comes almost wholly from Indo-Pakistani and Saudi culture; the guest says challenging subcontinent scholars from Uzbekistan draws harsh reactions, but open-minded people keep him going.
machine4 min 31 s15:01on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestIs growing a beard obligatory in the Hanafi school?
The guest says Hanafi principles act as a constitution before which everyone is equal, and that by them keeping the beard is mubah, not wajib as subcontinent scholars concluded.
machine5 min 45 s18:37on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does Shaykh Atabek want to restore the early Hanafi school?
The guest wants to restore the early Hanafi school of a fully independent Abu Hanifa; Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Hanifa championed reason but his school later became almost his opposite.
machine3 min 51 s46:49on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Was there a power struggle in the early Hanafi school?
Mufti Abu Layth feels the early Hanafi school saw power struggles and that Abu Yusuf lacked Abu Hanifa's reason; the guest calls Ahmad ibn Hanbal the greatest muhaddith but not a jurist of the first rank.
machine3 min 59 s51:13on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why do Hanafis defend Sahih al-Bukhari when their school differs from it?
Mufti Abu Layth says Bukhari has question marks and is not the gold standard; the guest says its canonisation was an Abbasid-era Athari project, and that for Hanafis the Athar of their own imams should rank highest.
machine7 min 38 s59:28on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the early Hanafis hold that apostates should be killed?
The guest says the early Hanafi view, from Abu Hanifa and Zufar, is that apostasy itself carries no punishment and only an actual threat is punished; Mufti Abu Layth calls today's Hanafi blasphemy laws upside down.
machine1 min 55 s1:11:43on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Abu Hanifa allow drinks with a little alcohol?
The guest says Abu Hanifa's ruling that mildly fermented non-wine drinks are not haram shows he followed the Quran over reports; Mufti Abu Layth says the lesson is his way of thinking.
machine3 min 24 s1:13:24on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Who was Abu Hanifa's most trusted student?
The guest relies chiefly on Zufar, whom he says Abu Hanifa himself authorised to teach, over Imam Muhammad, who was a teenager when Abu Hanifa died; Zufar's sidelining is left for another session.
machine4 min 03 s1:16:23on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
When should I pray Isha in the UK summer when it never gets fully dark?
The guest says that where twilight never fades, the Hanafi school allows Isha to be prayed keeping the order of prayers, rather than dividing the night into seven.
machine4 min 08 s1:28:21on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Are king prawns halal?
Yes, prawns are halal: in the school of Medina everything from the sea is halal, and only the pig is haram by its nature.
machine4 min 56 s44:32on YouTube
2020 · 5
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Do the Hanafis allow beer?
Mufti Abu Layth says the classical Hanafis restricted khamr to grape and date wine, and today's Deobandis do not reflect Abu Hanifa.
machine3 min 16 s2:23:48on YouTube
16 Jul 2020video
Can a waqf never be overturned, as the argument for the Hagia Sophia claims?
Mufti Abu Layth says the waqf argument fails because Abu Hanifa himself held that an endowment can be overturned, a view Hanafis abandon when it does not serve the powerful or the clergy. He calls the reconversion part of a rising right-wing fascism that includes Muslims.
machine3 min 58 s22:22on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Can a mosque that was once a waqf never be anything else?
The waqf argument fails, he says, because Abu Hanifa held that an endowment can be overturned, a view Hanafis drop when it does not serve power.
machine3 min 13 s1:37:09on YouTube
19 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Can a past relationship or an accidental touch make my spouse haram for me?
Mufti Abu Layth says Hanafi fatwas of hurmat al-musahara that dissolve marriages over a premarital relationship with an in-law or an accidental touch destroy families, and that the Maliki school does not hold the ruling.
machine6 min 30 s1:07:01on YouTube
19 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Abu Hanifa hold that there is no hadd punishment for sodomy?
The guest says Abu Hanifa held there is no hadd for sodomy, that Salafis attack Hanafis for it, and that a Salafi mufti used the same view to shield one of their own scholars.
machine4 min 43 s2:28:54on YouTube
2019 · 2
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Is a man wearing an earring imitating women or harmful?
No: Qadi Khan of the Hanafis allowed boys' earrings since the jahiliyya practice went uncriticised by the Prophet, the harm argument cannot permit piercing for girls and forbid it for boys, and history shows men wearing earrings. Men wearing kohl shows that what is 'effeminate' is a cultural matter.
machine3 min 57 s27:25on YouTube
22 Mar 2019The School of Madinah
Why does Mufti Abu Layth follow the Maliki school rather than the Hanafi?
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.
machine4 min 46 s2:35on YouTube
2018 · 5
10 May 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Were apostates punished for disbelief or for fighting against Muslims?
The classical punishment targeted apostates who took up arms against the community, not disbelief itself: Umar preferred to restrain and persuade, al-Tahawi tied it to waging war, and the Hanafis exempted women because they were not combatants.
machine7 min 46 s15:42on YouTube
22 Apr 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
Must a kidnapped woman have a mahram to escape?
Mufti Abu Layth ridicules the classical debate over whether a captive woman may flee without a mahram, saying past scholars reasoned within their own environment.
machine3 min 42 s12:03on YouTube
22 Apr 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
Is it haram for a woman to travel more than 48 miles alone?
No: Mufti Abu Layth calls the 48-mile rule absurd, a later Hanafi hardening of Abu Hanifa's three-day limit, which was itself meant to ease things for women.
machine3 min 53 s15:45on YouTube
20 Apr 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Was Abu Hanifa considered a deviant by the scholars of his time?
Many leading scholars of Abu Hanifa's time considered him misguided. His school rose to dominance because his student Abu Yusuf became chief judge and appointed only Hanafis, which Mufti Abu Layth says shows that power, not evidence, often decides which views prevail.
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1 Apr 2018Islamic Eschatology
Does it matter that the second coming of Jesus is the majority opinion and Mufti Abu Layth's view a minority one?
If every detail of the second-coming hadith is a metaphor, Mufti Abu Layth asks why Jesus himself is not. Majority and minority opinions are decided later by power and politics, as Abu Hanifa's case shows: condemned as a deviant by his contemporaries, his school spread when Abu Yusuf appointed only Hanafi judges.
machine5 min 13 s5:13on YouTube
2015 · 2
7 Mar 2015video
How did Abu Hanifa deal with his drunkard neighbour?
Abu Hanifa never rebuked his drinking neighbour but bailed him out of jail and asked whether they had let him go to waste, and the man changed his life. Good character carries a message further than one can imagine.
machine4 min 55 s0:01on YouTube
3 Mar 2015video
Is making group dua after every salah a bid'ah?
Group dua after every prayer is not from the Sunnah; the Hanafis and Shafi'is count such acts as recommended under general commands to do good, while the other side sees a new practice.
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