Advanced Hanafi Fiqh: Texts, Methodology and Research

Course Overview

This two-year advanced course offers students an opportunity to study the development, literature, methodology and legal reasoning of the Hanafi school through direct engagement with some of its most important classical works. A central and substantial component of the course is the study of al-Marghinani’s al-Hidaya. Students will engage closely with selected sections of al-Hidaya and its commentarial tradition across both years of the course.

Alongside this sustained study of al-Hidaya, students will encounter works from different periods and genres of the Hanafi tradition, from the writings of Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani and al-Tahawi to al-Quduri, al-Sarakhsi, al-Nasafi, Ala al-Din al-Samarqandi, al-Kasani and Ibn Abidin.

The course is designed not simply to teach additional fiqh rulings, but to train students to navigate the literature of the madhhab and develop the skills required for advanced reading and research.

Key Texts and Authors
The course draws upon selected readings from:

• Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani: al-Asl, al-Muwatta and al-Hujja
• Imam al-Tahawi: Mukhtasar al-Tahawi and Ma’ani al-Athar
• Imam al-Quduri: al-Mukhtasar and its commentaries
• Imam al-Sarakhsi: al-Mabsut
• Imam al-Marghinani: al-Hidaya and its commentaries
• Imam al-Nasafi: Kanz al-Daqa’iq and its commentaries
• Imam Ala al-Din al-Samarqandi: Tuhfat al-Fuqaha
• Imam Ala al-Din al-Kasani: Bada’i al-Sana’i
• Imam Ibn Abidin: Radd al-Muhtar and the later Hanafi tradition

Selected passages will be studied rather than necessarily reading each work from beginning to end.

Course Objectives

By the end of the two-year course, students should have developed:

1. A broader understanding of the Hanafi tradition
   Become familiar with major works from different periods of Hanafi scholarship and understand how the school’s legal literature and thought developed over time.
2. An understanding of the development of Hanafi fiqh
   Examine how Hanafi jurists established and justified legal positions through textual evidence, legal principles, analogy and engagement with differing views.
3. The ability to navigate different genres of Hanafi literature
   Develop familiarity with different genres of Hanafi writing, from early fiqh works and mukhtasars to commentaries, expansive legal works and later authoritative references.
4. Advanced reading and research skills
   Develop greater confidence in reading classical Arabic fiqh texts and researching legal questions across multiple Hanafi sources, including identifying and comparing differing positions within the school.