Mysore Muslim weddings evoke vitality with vigorous customs and rituals. In the Islamic sect- based Karnataka Muslim matrimony Hanafi school of law is a predominant one. The Hanafi school is one of the four schools of law jurisprudence (fiqh) within Sunni Islam. The other three schools of thought are Maliki, Shafi and Hanbali. The Hanafi madhab was founded by Hasrat imam Abu hanifa annuman bin sabit. His two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al shay Bani preserved primarily his legal views. The Hanafi school has more followers than the other schools of law and is the oldest and slightly more liberal. The source from which the law is derived are: the Quran, the authentic narrations of the prophet (S.A.S) hadith, consensus(ijma), analogical reasoning(qiyas), qiyas only being applied if direct material cannot be found in the hadith or Quran. The Hanafi school had based many of its rulings on prophetic narrations (hadith) transmitted by companions residing in Iraq, thus it came to be known as the Iraqi school in the earlier times.
In Hanafi madhab there are some notable differences in prayer from other madhabs. In the first takbir, Hanafi’s raise their hands parallel to their ear lobes, position of folding of the hands during Al qayyam (standing) is below the navel for men and on the chest for women. Hanafi’s do not raise their hands before going to ruku and they raise the index finger of their right hand when reciting the Shahadah and lower it after recitation. Though not considered obligatory by the madhab, tasleem includes two salaams, one to the right and one to the left. Hanafi’s pray three rakat’s consecutively and the tasleem is proclaimed after the last one of them and the dua qunoot is recited before ruku during witr. Some distinctive opinions of Abu hanifa and the Hanafi school are, it is prohibited or disliked eating some forms of non-fish seafood based on the hadith of the prophet Muhammad. Except for at hajj, every salah needs to be made in its regular time. (some non-Hanafi scholars allow a person who is travelling to adjust certain prayer times for convenience)
