The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (934 page)

fa himself. The
anafites are distinguished from the other law schools by recognizing that
Qur’
n
and
ad
th
are not sufficient for all issues, so that
qiy
s
and
ra’y
(personal opinion) are legitimate.
Nowadays this school prevails in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, USSR (Turkistan, Bukhara, and Samarkand), China, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.

 
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Hana Matsuri
(flower festival)
:

see
FESTIVALS AND FASTS
(JAPANESE).

 
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anbalites
.

One of the four main law schools of
shar
‘a
which developed from the teachings of the theologian A
mad
ibn
anbal
(d. 855 (AH 241)).
anbal established no system of his own, but his pronouncements over legal problems were systematized by such followers as Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 924 (AH 311)). This school was an orthodox reaction against the excesses of esoteric Sufism (though certainly not against all S
f
s) and speculative theology. The
anbalite school is characterized by its literal and dogmatic nature. It recognizes no other source than the Qur’
n and the
Sunna
in Islamic law. At the present time, because of their proselytizing efforts in Africa and the East, and because of secularizing threats to Islam, the
anbalites are becoming increasingly influential.