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Question
I'm student in the University of Stony Brook, New York. I sometimes disagree with brothers in the MCA. They sometimes claim that they have to follow Hanafi and they just don't pray Asr with us. I mean it's somehow separated (Shafi'e and Hanafi). Would you please clarify the differences between Imam Shafi'e and Imam Hanafi ?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
There is no disagreement among Imams regarding the basic principles of faith; e.g. belief in Allah, The Almighty, the angels, the revealed Books, etc.
Furthermore, there is no disagreement pertaining to the pillars of Islam like prayers, fasting, Hajj and the prohibition of Zina (adultery or fornication), theft, etc. Whoever rejects or denies any of the aforementioned basic principles of faith is considered as a non-believer. However, there are some differences among scholars in the collateral issues where there is no valid expressed authority from the Quran or Sunnah. In these cases, the Imams were free to work out the rulings of jurisprudence according to the understanding and mental capacity of each one of them, which is called “Ijtihaad”; i.e. the jurist strives hard to the best of his knowledge and intelligence and this differs from one person to another.
An example of the clear cut authority which bears no other meaning is this quotation from the Quran regarding the ruling of inheritance: Allah Says (what means): {Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.} [Quran 4:11]
Here, no jurist dares to say that 'to the male a portion equal to that of one female’; on the other hand, some other texts from the Quran can be interpreted in various ways. An example is as follows: Allah Says (what means): {Divorced women remain in waiting for three periods.} [Quran 2:228]
The word Quroo’ in Arabic, which is translated as menses or periods, was interpreted by some jurists as the beginning of the menses, while others say that it meant the end of the periods. This makes difference in calculating the Iddah (the period of waiting which Allah commands the divorced women to observe after divorce).
Different points of view in interpreting the open-ended texts of the Quran by the competent jurists is lawful. The Quran referred to the disagreement between some Prophets as that between Sulayman and Daawood, may Allaah exalt their mention, and there were cases of disagreement between the Companions of the Prophet during his life and after his death. An example to this is the Hadeeth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar 
who said: “The Prophet on the day of al-Ahzab said: “No one of you is to perform the ‘Asr payer until we reach Beni Quraydhah.” Some of the companions were late in reaching the destination before sunset and they had disagreed as to comply strictly with the Prophet's order and missed the ‘Asr prayer in time. Some of them said the Prophet meant only that we march quickly, but if we were late for some reason we should not miss the prayer in time. They put up the matter to the Prophet and he said that both of the two parties were correct in their judgment and interpretation of what he said.”
The disagreement or different opinions by the Muslim jurists should not be considered as an excuse or justification for bigotry and lack of intolerance among the followers or proponents of each one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence. It is not lawful for a follower or adherent of the Hanafi school for instance to refrain from marrying a girl because her family is Shaafi'i , or refrain from praying with the congregation because the Imam of the mosque is a follower of a different school of jurisprudence. The differing opinions of the four founders of these schools were not made whimsically but were a result of different interpretation or understanding of the valid texts of the Quran and Sunnah.
For more benefit on differences between Islamic schools, please refer to Fataawa 91463 and 325342.
Allah knows best.
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