Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad

Istihsan
 (Discretion)
 
 
Abu Hanifa used 
istihsan
a lot as we have noted previously. The great amount of the use of 
istihsan
by 
Abu Hanifa was the focus for the attack of those who criticised its worth in 
fiqh
. Some fiercely attacked the 
use of 
istihsan,
and Abu Hanifa and his followers for using it, because they regarded it as allowing a ruling to 

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be reached that was based on personal interpretation and feeling rather than an actual text and defined 
judgement. 
Scholars at the time of Abu Hanifa and after him disagreed about 
istihsan
. Malik, Abu Hanifa’s 
contemporary, used to say that 
istihsan
was nine-tenths of knowledge, but ash-Shafi‘i, who came after them, 
used to say, “Anyone who uses 
istihsan
has legislated for himself,” and he devotes a chapter in 
al-Umm
to the 
“invalidation of 
istihsan
”. 
But what was the 
istihsan
about which some 
fuqaha’
disagree but about which there was no disagreement 
between the 
fuqaha’
of the Hijaz and Iraq, and which Malik considered nine-tenths of knowledge but which 
ash-Shafi‘i criticised? Hanafi 
fuqaha’
have explained the 
istihsan
transmitted from Abu Hanifa and laid down 
the rules for legal reasoning in exercising 
ijtihad
which involves 
istihsan
. Part of their definition is that it is 
clear that the 
istihsan
used by Abu Hanifa did not part from the text and analogy. The 
istihsan
which he used 
was to restrain the analogy, if allowing its general application would be contrary to public interest, concern for 
which was the overriding consideration of the 
Shari‘a
. 
Fuqaha’
disagree regarding the 
istihsan
which Abu Hanifa and his adherents used. Some of them define it 
as being, “Departure from what analogy entails to a ruling which is stronger than it.” This is a definition 
which does not embrace all forms of 
istihsan
. The best definition in my view is that stated by al-Karkhi: “That 
the 
mujtahid
depart from an established precedent in favour of another ruling for a stronger reason which 
necessitates turning away from the precedent.” This definition embraces all forms of 
istihsan
.