The khilāf genre of legal literature refers to those works of the Ḥanafī madhhab which focus on explicating the divergent legal positions of the imāms along with legal arguments for each of the positions. One may notice that the nature of many of these works differ. Some are shorter rebuttals to a specific set of issues, some are larger, more encyclopedic treatments of divergent arguments between the madhhabs, and many are aimed specifically at responding to the counter-arguments of one particular madhhab (Shāfiʿī or Mālikī).

Kitāb al-Āthār of Abū Ḥanīfah, transmissions of Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī (d. 182), Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (d. 189), and Ḥasan ibn Ziyād al-Luʾluʾī (d. 204)

Ikhtilāf Abī Ḥanīfah wa Ibn Abī Layla by Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī (d. 182)

Al-Radd ʿalā Siyar al-Awzāʾī by Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī (d. 182)

Muwaṭṭā Mālik through transmission of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (d. 189)

al-Ḥujjah ʿalā Ahl al-Madīnah by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (d. 189)

Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Mukhtaṣar Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ by Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370)

al-Tajrīd by Abū ʾl-Husayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Qudūrī (d. 428)

al-Asrār by Abū Zayd al-Dabūsī (d. 430)

Manẓūmat al-Khilāfiyāt by Najm al-Dīn ʿUmar al-Nasafī (d. 537)

Ruʿūs al-Masāʾil by Jār Allāh al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538)

Ṭarīqat al-Khilāf by al-Asmandī? (d. 552)

Ḥaqāʾiq al-Manẓūmah (Ibn Wahbān) by al-Afshanjī (d. 671)

al-Lubāb fī ʾl-Jamʿ bayna ʾl-Sunnat wa ʾl-Kitāb by al-Manbajī (d. 686)

al-Muṣaffā Sharḥ Manẓūmat al-Khilāfiyāt by Ḥāfiẓ al-Dīn al-Nasafī (d. 710)

Zubdat al-Aḥkām fī Ikhtilāf al-Aʾimmat al-Aʿlām by Sirāj al-Dīn ʿUmar al-Ghaznawī (d. 773)

Dalāʾil

It is assumed that the more expanded legal texts, such as al-Marghīnānī’s al-Hidāyah and some of its commentaries or al-Kāsānī’s Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ will be first references for Ḥanafī legal arguments. Additionally, a number of tafsīr and hadith works, including original hadith compilations as well as commentaries, contain a wealth of the legal arguments of the madhhab. In fact, the genre of legal tafsīrs (aḥkām al-Qurʾān) are indispensable for anyone desiring a thorough understanding of the legal arguments of the madhhab. Below is a list of some such works will may benefit researchers.

Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Aḥkam al-Qurʾān by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321)

Aḥkam al-Qurʾān by Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370)

Naṣb al-Rāyah by Jamāl al-Dīn al-Zaylaʿī (d. 762)

al-Ghurrah al-Munīfah fi Taḥqīq Baʿḍi Masāʾil al-Imām Abī Ḥanīfah by Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar al-Ghaznawī (d. 773)

ʿUmdat al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī by Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī (d. 855) (Munīriyyah Print, ʿIlmiyyah Print)

ʿUqūd al-Jawāhir al-Munīfah fī Adillat Madhhab al-Imām Abī Hanīfah by Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (d. 1205)

Āthār al-Sunan by Shawq al-Nīmawī (d. 1322)

al-Nukat al-Ṭarīfah fī ʾl-Taḥadduth ʿan Rudūd Ibn Abī Shaybah ʿalā Abī Ḥanīfah by Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī (d. 1371)

Iʿlāʾ al-Sunan by Ẓafar Aḥmad al-ʿUthmānī (d. 1394)

Fiqh al-Sunan wa al-Āthār  (Muḥammad ʿAmīm al-Iḥsān al- Ḥusaynī al-Mujaddidī al-Barakatī d. 1395)

Adillat al-Ḥanafiyyah min al-Aḥādīth al-Nabawiyyah ʿalā al-Masāʾil al-Fiqhiyyah by Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim al-Bahlawī

Badhl al-Majhūd Sharḥ Sunan Abi Dāwūd by Khalīl Aḥmad al-Sahāranpūrī

Awjaz al-Masālik ilā Muwaṭṭā Mālik by Muḥammad Zakariyyā al-Kāndhalwī

Maʿārif al-Sunan Sharḥ Sunan al-Tirmidhī by Muḥammad Yūsuf al-Binnūrī

Fatḥ al-Mulhim Sharḥ Ṣaḥīh Muslim by Shabbīr Aḥmad al-ʿUthmānī and Muḥammad Taqī al-ʿUthmānī

Aḥkam al-Qurʾān written by instruction and with guidance of Ashraf ʿAlī al-Thānwī (d. 1362)