Ibn Taymiyyah's perception of Hanafism

It can be said that the first differentiation towards the formation of schools of thought in the historical development of Islamic legal thought initially relied on a geographical naming as the People of Hijaz (Ahl al-Hijaz) and the People of Iraq (Ahl al-Iraq), but soon after, this differentiation shed its geographical characteristics and acquired a methodological identity. The two schools that represent this methodological distinction are the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ray. Although this distinction lost some of its significance with the formation of legal schools (madhhabs), the traces of this differentiation can still be observed in the methodological approaches of the legal schools. Ibn Taymiyyah, who lived in the 7th and 8th centuries of the Hijri calendar, was a scholar affiliated with the Hanbali school and carried the characteristic features of the Ahl al-Hadith school in terms of his intellectual foundations. With his works on nearly all branches of Islamic sciences, Ibn Taymiyyah has had a significant influence throughout history. It is observed that in the fields of jurisprudence (fiqh) and legal theory (usul), Ibn Taymiyyah made various evaluations towards Ahl al-Ray and the Hanafis, whom he considered as representatives of this school. Later regarded as the "founding figure of Salafi thought," Ibn Taymiyyah's evaluations of those perceived as "the other" in the historical journey of his own thought system are significant. His evaluations of the Hanafis, beginning from their founding imams, regarding their methodology and their fatwas and ijtihads on specific legal issues, have profoundly influenced Salafi thought's perspective on reason-based (ray) approaches and the Hanafi school, which represents this approach. In this study, Ibn Taymiyyah's evaluations of the Hanafi school have been examined as a whole, and the points where he approves or criticizes the Hanafis' methodology and practices have been clarified. When these evaluations are examined comprehensively, it is seen that Ibn Taymiyyah criticizes the Hanafis for the lack of clarity in their methodology, excessive use of legal stratagems (hiyal al-shar'iyyah), their acceptance of analogical reasoning (qiyas) that may contradict explicit texts (nass), and the conditions they put forward regarding acting upon solitary reports (akhbar al-ahad).