Within the Framework of the Discussion of the Regionality of Ancient Law Schools, Abū Yūsuf's Work Titled Ik̲h̲tilāfu Abī Ḥanīfa wa Ibn Abī Laylā

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In the Islamic geography that expanded with the conquests, Kūfa became a center of knowledge thanks to the scholars who settled here and maintained this quality from the early periods. Although many scholars from the companions of the Prophet had a share in this, the influence of Ibn Masʿūd is evident. Ibn Masʿūd was influential in the formation of a tradition of knowledge in Kūfa through his students Alḳama b. Ḳays, Aswad b. Yazīd, and Masrūḳ. Shaʿbī, Ibrāhīm Nak̲h̲aʿī, and Ḥammād represented this tradition in the next generation. Abū Ḥanīfa and Ibn Abī Laylā represent this tradition in the second century of the Hijra. The most distinctive feature of the Kūfa tradition of knowledge is that reason is given an important place along with the Ḳurʾān and the Sunnah in solving legal problems. The activities of fabricating ḥadiths, especially those centered in Iraq, have led scholars from this tradition to meticulously examine a ḥadith before acting on it. The fact that these scholars, who belong to Kūfa, are called people of 'Ahl al-Ray' stems from the importance of reason in this tradition. It also explains the process of a school of jurisprudence that is geographically regional evolving into a school due to following a standard methodology. This process has been discussed extensively in the modern period. However, researchers who discuss the subject with opposing views are Joseph Schacht and Wael B. Hallaq. In short, while Schacht bases the emergence of schools of law on ancient regional schools of law, Hallaq rejects the regionalism thesis. Abū Yūsuf's work titled Ik̲h̲tilāfu Abī Ḥanīfa wa Ibn Abī Laylā, on the one hand, demonstrates the unity of methodology in the process of the Kūfa school of law evolving into the Ḥanafī school, on the other hand, it contains essential information about the regionalism debate in the modern period.