Zakat, Fasting, and Hajj in Hanafi Legal Maxims

The chapters on zakah, sawm, and hajj in Ibn Nujaym's Ashbah wan-Naza'ir demonstrate the Hanafi school's distinctive approach to the pillars of Islam, applied through the lens of legal maxims.

For zakah, the Hanafi school has several positions that differ from the majority. On the nisab for gold and silver, the Hanafi school combines the values of gold and silver for the purpose of determining whether the nisab has been reached — if a person has some gold and some silver, their combined value is assessed. This contrasts with the Shafi'i position of assessing them separately. Ibn Nujaym connects this to the maxim that wealth of the same type and purpose is assessed together, arguing that gold and silver serve the same monetary function and are therefore treated as a single category for nisab purposes.

The Hanafi school's extension of zakah to a broader range of trade goods than some other schools is explained by the maxim 'the ruling follows the intention of the parties.' Trade goods — which Hanafi law defines as any property held with the intent of profit through exchange — are subject to zakah at the same rate as gold and silver, assessed on their market value at the time the hawl is completed. The critical element is the intention to trade: property held for personal use is not subject to this zakah even if it is valuable.

On fasting, the Hanafi school's position on the intention (niyyah) for Ramadan fasting differs from the Shafi'i position. The Hanafi school permits a general intention for the entire month of Ramadan to be formed at the beginning of the month, without requiring it to be renewed each night. Ibn Nujaym connects this to the principle of facilitation and to the nature of Ramadan as a continuous unit of worship rather than thirty separate fasts. He notes the disagreement within the school on this point and identifies the mu'tamad position.

The Hanafi school's distinctive position on the kaffarah for a broken Ramadan fast is that it applies to all deliberate nullifiers, not only intercourse — a position that is stricter than the Shafi'i and Hanbali positions, which restrict kaffarah to intercourse. Ibn Nujaym discusses the evidential basis for the Hanafi extension and connects it to the maxim that where the text specifies a penalty for a cause, analogically similar causes share the penalty unless specifically excluded.

For hajj, the Hanafi preference for qiran — combining hajj and 'umrah in a single ihram — reflects the school's reading of the prophetic sunnah. Ibn Nujaym connects this preference to the principle of comprehensiveness in worship: where two acts of worship can be performed together without one compromising the other, combining them is preferable to performing them separately. The Hanafi position on the dam (blood sacrifice) for tamattu' and qiran pilgrims is that it is obligatory (wajib) as a shukr (gratitude) offering, not a penalty.