This is a study of a fairly complicated and advanced text in the Hanafi school. It will explore the key issues of the Hanafi school, which are significantly greater than those covered in the text of Imam Quduri. Legal reasoning and the positions of the mujtahids of the Hanafi school, and the preferences of the later authorities will be discussed.
The course will provide students the tools to read and understand texts that are terse and complicated in their structure.The method of study will allow students to access the more more advanced works of the school with confidence, as there will be frequent readings of sections from other works and the selections within the supercommentary of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi.
- Teacher: Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Sharh al-Wiqaya is a commentary on the text Wiqaya al-Riwaya li Masa’il al-Hidaya by the maternal grandfather, Shaykh Mahmud b. Ahmad al-Mahbubi. The Wiqaya is one of the four main primers in the Hanafi school that function as a means to preserve the narrated positions of Imam Abu Hanifa. It was written as a summary of the rulings discussed in the Hidaya, which itself is a commentary of Bidaya al-Mubtabi, a text penned by al-Marghinani to summarise Mukhtasar al-Quduri and Imam Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Shaybani’s al-Jami’ al-Saghir.
Sharh al-Wiqaya, therefore, is a very valuable text in the sense that it follows the stream of rulings that work up from the Matan of al-Quduri to al-Hidaya and its commentaries. The text doesn’t do much to decipher the matan it is based off, but the conclusions and points is presents based on the matan are very valuable. Indeed, the Ottomans considered master of this text sufficient qualification for someone to be appointed as a judge.
It has a large number of supercommentaries, some of which are in print today. The most useful and available of which is ‘Umda al-Ri’aya by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi, which clarifies the text and expands its discussions to include key explanations, reasoning, and alternative stances in the Hanafi school.
This text was a main part of many curricula, being placed after one of the basic primers and before the study of al-Hidaya. Therefore, it is the perfect entry point to the higher texts of the Hanafi school.
This course is for students who are proficient in Arabic and have studied a complete primer, such as Mukhtasar al-Quduri or al-Mukhtar. Study of a commentary of a text on that level, such as Maydani’s Lubab will be very advantageous in mastering this text.
- Understand a key advanced commentary of the Hanafi school.
- Learn the main discussions of al-Hidaya in a condensed form.
- Learn the terminology of the Hanafi school and the key scholars and approaches in adopting positions.
- Being able to explore and understand discussions from texts on a similar or slightly higher level.
- Knowing the relied upon positions of the Hanafi school.
- Understanding when the school upheld the positions of Imam Abu Hanifa and when it preferred the positions of other Hanafi mujtahids.
The first in a series of courses that covers one of the four main primers of the Hanafi school; Imam Nasafi's Kanz al-Daqa‘iq. It gathers issues from several of the key works of the school to summarize its issues. The purpose of this class is to consolidate previous foundations on the subject and to deepen one's understanding of the rulings of transactions, covering the chapters of what constitutes a sale, the rulings related to usury, forward transactions, currency exchange and more.
Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani was once asked, "Why have you not written anything on asceticism (zuhd)?" And he replied, "I have written on the rulings of transactions." Knowing the rulings of transactions allows one to be more God-conscious through being mindful when dealing with other people.
The outcomes of this course are to clearly know the rulings related to financial transactions at an intermediate level and consolidate one’s previous study of the subject.
- Teacher: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
This course is based on Imam Abu Barakat al-Nasafi's Kanz al-Daqa’iq, referred to by many as the greatest of the summary works (Mukhtasarat) in the Hanafi school. This work is very precise, nuanced, terse, yet very comprehensive.
The Kanz is a summary of another of the author's works, the Wafi, an advanced text in the Hanafi school. The Kanz is not a beginner text, as it can be difficult to understand and grasp at times; this highlights the importance of a study of another primer prior to the study of the Kanz, the Kanz builds on previous foundations.
The Kanz has many great and important commentaries (shuruh), such as Tabyin al-Haqa’iq of Zayla‘i’, al-Bahr al-Ra’iq of Zayn ibn Nujaym (which also has the marginalia of Ibn ‘Abidin called Minha al-Khaliq), al-Nahr al-Fa’iq of ‘Umar ibn Nujaym and many more. Later works in the school, such as the Tanwir al-Absar of Imam Tumurtashi, were built upon the Kanz—a further proof of the deep influence and importance of Imam Nasafi’s Kanz al-Daqa’iq.
The commentary referenced in this class will be the commentary of Munla Miskin with the marginalia of Abu al-Su‘ud al-Husyni al-Misri.
- This is an intermediate level class in Hanafi fiqh (Level Three) of the Seekers Islamic Studies Curriculum.
- Students are expected to have completed the equivalent of the Level One and Two requirements in Hanafi fiqh–such as having completed Quduri’s Mukhtasar, or Mawsili’s Mukhtar under a teacher.
- For students without this, we recommend that they begin with Level One, then Level Two of the Islamic Studies Curriculum.
- It is particularly beneficial for advanced students of Hanafi Law
- It is a Level Three course. In order to successfully complete this course, students should either take the Mukhtasar al-Quduri course or the Mukhtar al-Mawsili course.
- This course can also be taken by anyone who is interested in supplementing their understanding of advanced Hanafi Law.
- It is particularly beneficial for advanced students of Hanafi Law
- Know the rulings related to transactions at an intermediate level
- Clearly understand the rulings related to transactions
- Complete the study of intermediate work in the Hanafi school
- Be primed to study the advanced works of the Hanafi school of law
