Statement about and by Anwar Shah Kashmiri Hanafi:

Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi Hanafi said: “The existence of someone like him (Anwar Shah Kashmiri) in the Muslim ummah is a clear sign that Islam is a true and genuine religion.” [Tarjuma Sahib al-‘Arf al-Shadhi ‘ala Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, Maktabah Rahmaniyyah, Lahore] Anwar Shah Kashmiri Hanafi wrote: “Know that Imam al-Bukhari was undoubtedly a Mujtahid. The common belief that he was Shafi‘i is only because of his agreement with Imam al-Shafi‘i in some well-known issues. However, his agreement with Imam Abu Hanifah is not any less than with al-Shafi‘i. The fact that he was a student of al-Humaydi (a Shafi‘i) is not a valid argument, since he was also a student of Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, who was Hanafi. Thus, calling him Shafi‘i based on scholarly classification is not more appropriate than calling him Hanafi.” [Fayd al-Bari, vol. 1, p. 58]