Disagreements among early Hanefî imam on acts of worship: The case of Dabûsî's Tasîs al-Nazar

This study aims to analyze the work attributed to Abu Zayd al-Dabûsî, Ta'sîsu al-nazar, in terms of content and method, to show how the work conceptualizes intra-Hanafi disagreements, its relationship with classical sources, and the domains it influenced, such as its reflections on Ottoman legal thought. The research first delineates Dabûsî's life and scholarly legacy, then sets out the rationale for the composition of Ta'sîsu al-nazar, its basic conceptual schema, and its usūl oriented stance in the use of evidence. The study shows that the work's provision of a comparative reading in the fields of fiqh and usūl renders the theoretical divergences among the school's imams visible within a systematic principle and case structure. It is demonstrated with examples that this structure, particularly in sections on acts of worship (ʿibadat), enables the explanation of the rule and application relationship through concrete issues. In the textual analysis, comparisons that take as their basis the internal disagreements among the three major imams of the Hanafi school, Imam Abu Hanifa and his two students, Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, are traced through the clusters of examples presented in the work. For instance, the principle regarding the integrity of the prayer, that the sanctity (the opening takbir) is not nullified by the invalidity of some acts, emerges as an overarching rule that clarifies secondary effects in relation to the validity of the prayer. The study lays out, through contested examples, the kinds of outcomes this rule yields across different subsidiary issues. Accordingly, topics in ʿibadat such as dry ablution tayammum, leadership in prayer imamah, and pilgrimage hajj are examined comparatively with respect to Dabûsî's evidentiary framework. Matters including the relation of tayammum to the condition of effective ability to use water, the termination of legal purity upon the presence of water, and the evaluation by the schools of one who has performed tayammum leading a person with ablution in prayer are addressed together with transmitted reports and usūl principles. In this context, the relation between necessity and substitute, as well as the effect of the original and substitute distinction on legal rulings, is also discussed. In conclusion, the study reveals the role of Ta'sîsu al-nazar in the systematization of ʿilm al-khilaf and in the appraisal of proofs, through an analysis faithful to the internal logic of the work, and it evaluates these findings in comparison with information drawn from primary sources.