Mastering the Hanafi School: The Company That Carries Mastery
There is a tool many students overlook on the journey to mastery: righteous company.
This is the fifth in a series on mastering the Hanafi school, drawn from a seminar by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Talal al-Azem. The full seminar is available here.
Seek the Company of Students Who Help You Learn
As well as keeping the company of one’s teachers, the student should strive to seek the best company among fellow students. This reflects being avid for what benefits one.
Look for students with beautiful manners coupled with genuine concern and commitment to their studies. Indeed, the company one keeps shapes one’s approach to knowledge.
Mufti Rafi Usmani advised always remaining under the shade of the people of Allah. These are scholars of deep knowledge who act upon what they know and possess wisdom. Therefore, always consult them and take matters to them in times of confusion. [Mufti Rafi Usmani]
One should always know who to turn to for consultation. In fact, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi relates from both Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Shafiʿi (Allah have mercy on them): “If the people of knowledge who act on their knowledge are not the elect servants (awliyaʾ) of Allah, then Allah has no elect servants.” [Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Faqih wa l-Mutafaqqih]
The Jurisprudence of the Heart
Seeking knowledge requires asking oneself about the state of one’s heart. There is jurisprudence concerned with the outward rulings of religion. But there is also jurisprudence concerned with the heart.
The scholars mention—as a legal ruling—that after gaining core religious knowledge, the most important thing one must do is study the sciences by which to rectify one’s heart. These sciences cultivate one’s state with Allah Most High and develop sincerity, renunciation, and other qualities of the heart.
Just as one seeks the company of those with outward knowledge, so too must one attend to one’s spiritual jurisprudence. Spiritual mentorship stands as one of the core roles of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Allah says:
لَقَدۡ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِینَ إِذۡ بَعَثَ فِیهِمۡ رَسُولࣰا مِّنۡ أَنفُسِهِمۡ یَتۡلُوا۟ عَلَیۡهِمۡ ءَایَـٰتِهِۦ وَیُزَكِّیهِمۡ
Allah has shown truly boundless favor to believers when He sent them a messenger of themselves who recites to them His verses, makes them grow to full purity in faith and deed [Quran 3:16, tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
The purification here is ascribed to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) himself. He does not merely teach the science of purification. Rather, he purifies them. This is the role a spiritual mentor plays in one’s life.
Knowledge Without the Heart: A Dangerous Path
The seeker needs someone to guide them in rectifying their subtle state with Allah Most High.
Al-Hasan al-Basri (Allah have mercy on him) said the punishment for the people of knowledge is the death of the heart. He explained that this means seeking this world through the actions of the hereafter. [Ibn Mukarak, al-Zuhd wa l-Raqa’iq]
Islamic jurisprudence is the most dangerous of the sciences. Indeed, most people bring their questions to scholars of this field, which can lead to delusion about oneself.
Imam Shurunbulali (Allah have mercy on him) said: “Outward purity avails nothing without inward purity: sincerity to Allah, freedom from rancor, deceit, malice, and envy—and a heart purified of all that is other than Allah.” [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
When one gives a legal ruling, one signs off on behalf of the Lord of the worlds. No one is fit for this except one who joins knowledge with scrupulousness. [Mufti Taqi Usmani, Usl al-Ifta wa Adabuh]
Knowledge Lived for the Sake of Allah
One acts on knowledge to benefit oneself and others, but only for the sake of Allah Most High. Mastery is not sought for itself, but out of genuine concern for the ummah.
Waqiʿ (Allah have mercy on him) said: “We used to seek assistance in memorizing the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) by acting upon it.” [Ibn Abd al-Barr, Jamiʿ Bayan al-ʿIlm wa Fadluh]
One knows the Sunnas of an action well because one practices them. Therefore, Shaykh Muhammad Awwamah advised that if one learns something thoroughly, one can benefit countless people. Clearly, this is the need of our time.
One sister studied only two short texts in Hanafi fiqh: The Absolute Essentials and Ascent to Felicity. Yet she studied them thoroughly. Her community asked her to teach, and for over two decades she taught at least 2200 people the essentials of the religion.
It is not about becoming a great scholar. Rather, it is about acting for the sake of Allah Most High, joined with genuine concern for the community of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). In fact, this itself is a point of prophetic concern.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” [Bukhari]
Understanding deepens our practice and our relationship with Allah through a graded path, which the next article in the series explores.
Related Articles
Mastering the Hanafi School: Knowledge That Remains—Why many seekers never reach the fruits of learning, and what mastery actually requires. First in the series.
Mastering the Hanafi School: Keys to Mastery—Real mastery rests on three habits: genuine preparation, full presence, and same-day review. Second in the series.
Mastering the Hanafi School: Lifelong Study— Real mastery never stops, sustained by a lifetime of disciplined study and a heart kept humble before Allah’s greatness. Fourth in the series.
