Hadiths on Transactions, Marriage, and Criminal Law

The sections of Nasb ar-Rayah dealing with muamalat (commercial and civil transactions) and family law are among the most complex portions of the work, as these are areas where the Hanafi school sometimes departed from other schools on the basis of weaker hadith evidence while relying on stronger rational (ra'y) arguments to support its positions.

In commercial law, the hadiths cited by the Hidayah on the validity of bay' al-murabahah (cost-plus sale), bay' as-salam (forward sale), and various forms of partnership are examined by az-Zayla'i with his characteristic thoroughness. He notes where the Hidayah's citations are accurate and where they show minor variations from the original sources, and he provides the full chain analysis for each narration.

The Hanafi school's distinctive position allowing the free adult woman to contract her own marriage without a guardian (contrary to the Shafi'i and Hanbali requirement of a wali) rests on certain hadiths and their interpretation. Az-Zayla'i examines the hadith evidence for both positions, noting the strength of the narrations requiring a guardian while also presenting the evidence used by Hanafi scholars to support their more permissive position.

In criminal law, the hadiths on the conditions for applying the hadd punishment for theft receive particular attention. The Hanafi school has distinctive positions on the minimum value that triggers the penalty and on the categories of property whose theft triggers the hadd versus ta'zir (discretionary) punishment. Az-Zayla'i traces the hadiths adduced for these positions and evaluates their reliability.

The sections on qisas (retaliation for bodily harm and killing) contain hadiths with significant implications for Hanafi positions on who may and may not be subject to qisas. Az-Zayla'i examines the Hanafi position that a Muslim may not be killed in retaliation for killing a non-Muslim (dhimmi) — a controversial ruling contested by other schools — and assesses the hadith evidence on which each side relies.