Abū Ḥanīfa

Islamic scholar Imām e Azam Abū Ḥanīfah
Title	Leader of the Believers of the True Faith (oneness of Allah)
Born	September 5, 699 (80 Hijri) Kufa, Umayyad Caliphate
Died	June 14, 767(767-06-14) (aged 67) (150 Hijri) Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Ethnicity	Persian
Region	Muslim World
Jurisprudence	Sunnah
Main interest(s)	Jurisprudence
Notable idea(s)	Istihsan
Notable work(s)	Kitabul-Athar Fiqh al-Akbar
Influenced by Imam Jaʿfar al-Sādiq, Qatada ibn al-Nu'man, Alqama ibn Qays, Mansoor Ibn Umar
Influenced Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad al-Shaybani, Abu Yusuf, al-Tahawi, Ahmad Sirhindi, Shah Waliullah, Ja’ far Ibn Awn, Ubaydullah Ibn Musa

Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān also known as Imam Abū Ḥanīfah (699 — 767 CE / 80 — 148 AH) (Arabic: نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان‎), was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).

Life

Name, birth and ancestry

Abū Ḥanīfah was born in the city of Kufa in Iraq, during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Acclaimed as Al-Imām al-A'zam, or Al-A'dham (the Great Imam), Nu’man bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Mah was better known by his Kunya Abū Ḥanīfah. Born into a family of tradesmen, his family were of Persian origin as well as descending from the Islamic Prophet Muhammad's companion Salman al-Farsi. Abū Ḥanīfah's father, Thabit, had met in Kufa `Ali Ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son in law of Prophet Muhammad who made dua for him and his progeny, and some say that Abū Ḥanīfah was a result of this dua.None of his sons or daughters is reported as having the name "Hanifah," so it was a type of Kuniya like Abu Hurairah or Abu Turaab etc., i.e., an epithetical name meaning "pure in monotheistic belief."

His father, Thabit bin Zuta, a trader from Kabul, Afghanistan, was 40 years old at the time of Abū Ḥanīfah's birth. Some called Abū Ḥanīfah "al-Taymi." The origin of this name may be that Abū Ḥanīfah's grandfather Zuta was a slave and a member of the tribe of Taym and purchased his freedom; but this is only weakly supported, as some people mix the Arabic word Maula, which was used to denote a slave master and also the person at whose hands a person accepted Islam. So it is mostly accepted that his grandfather accepted Islam at his hands, the same as Imaam Bukhari, whose name contains "Jafa'e," which is the name of a tribe of the Sahabi, at whose hands ancestors of Imaam Bukhari accepted Islam and hence are called their Maula.

His ancestry is generally accepted as being of non-Arab origin as suggested by the etymology of the names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather (Mah). The historian, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, records a statement from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah's grandson, Ismail bin Hammad, who gave Abū Ḥanīfah's lineage as Thabit bin Numan bin Marzban and claiming to be of Persian origin. The discrepancy in the names, as given by Ismail of Abū Ḥanīfah's grandfather and great-grandfather, are thought to be due to Zuta's adoption of the Arabic name (Numan) upon his acceptance of Islam and that Mah and Marzban were titles or official designations in Persia, with the latter, meaning a margrave, referring to the noble ancestry of Abū Ḥanīfah's family as the Sasanian Marzbans (equivalent of margraves) of Kabul. Those stories maintain for his ancestors having been slaves purchased by some Arab benefactor are, therefore, untenable and seemingly fabricated. There is a discussion on being of Turkic or Persian origin. But the widely accepted opinion, however, is that most probably he was of Persian ancestry from Kabul.

Childhood and education

Abū Ḥanīfah grew up in a period of oppression during the caliphates of Abdul Malik bin Marwan and his son Al-Walid I (Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik). The governorship of Iraq was under the control of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, a loyal follower of Abdul Malik. During his governorship leaders in religion and learning were especially targeted by Hajjaj as they were proving to be an obstacle to Abdul Malik's establishment of his rule across Arabia and Iraq. Consequently, Abū Ḥanīfah had no interest nor the opportunity to acquire any education in his early childhood. He was simply content with following in the footsteps of his father as a silk merchant.

He set up a silk weaving business where he showed scrupulous honesty and fairness. Once his agent in another country, sold some silk cloth on his behalf but forgot to point out a slight defect to the purchasers. When Abu Hanifa learned this, he was greatly distressed as he had no means of refunding their money. He immediately ordered the entire proceeds of the sale of the consignment of silk to be distributed to the poor.

Following the deaths of Hajjaj in 95 AH and Walid in 96 AH, justice and good administration began to make a comeback with the caliphates of Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik and thereafter Umar bin Abdul Aziz. Umar encouraged education to such an extent that every home became a madrasa. Abū Ḥanīfah also began to take an interest in education which was heightened further by the unexpected advice of as-Sha'bi (d. 722), one of Kufa's most well-known scholars.

At first, Abū Ḥanīfah was not a student of knowledge. However, by coincidence, while one day passing by the house of Sha'bi (an acclaimed "Great Scholar among the Successors"), Abū Ḥanīfahwas called in by the shaykh who mistook him for a student. "Where are you going young man?" asked Sha'bi. Abū Ḥanīfah named the merchant he was going to see. "I meant to ask," asked Sha'bi, "Whose classes you attend?" "Nobody's," replied Abū Ḥanīfah regretfully. "I see signs of intelligence in you," began Sha'bi,"you should sit in the company of learned men."

It was after this encounter that Abū Ḥanīfah began his quest for knowledge. Abū Ḥanīfah acquired knowledge from over four thousand people. His teachers included many prestigious men of the time whose sanad went back to a number of companions of Muhammad. He himself was blessed with the meeting of the companions of Muhammad such as Anas ibn Malik, Abdullah ibn Afwa and Sahl ibn Sa'ad, thus gaining him the rank of being a Tabi'i (Successor to the Companions).Abū Ḥanīfah was the only imam among four great imams of Ahle Sunnah who met the companions of Muhammad. Taking Sha'bi's advice, Abū Ḥanīfah embarked on a prolific quest for knowledge that would in due course have a profound impact on the history of Islam. His early education was achieved through madāris and it is here that he learned the Qur'an and Hadith, doing exceptionally well in his studies. He spent a great deal of time in the tutelage of Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, a great jurist of Kufah.

Amongst Abū Ḥanīfah's shuyukh was Hammad ibn Sulayman, he joined his circle at the age of 22, having already become a well-known debater and studied with this shaykh until the latter's death, whereupon he took over his majlis (circle) at the age of forty. Shu'ba, a leading muhaddith who knew-by-heart two thousand traditions was also a teacher of Abū Ḥanīfah. Shu'ba was greatly attached to Abū Ḥanīfah, saying: "Just as I know that the sun is bright, I know that learning and Abu Hanifah are doubles of each other."

Abū Ḥanīfah went to Medina in 102 A.H. in pursuit of Knowledge and attended the lessons of seven top theologians. Musa al-Kazim and his father Ja'far al-Sadiq, the descendants of Muhammad, were the greatest authorities in Islamic learning of their times and Imām Abū Ḥanīfah took full advantage of their society in Medina, attending Al-Sadiq's institute for 2 years.

It was his good fortune that Umar bin Abdul Aziz had organised the study and recording of Hadiths on a sounder footing. Before the Caliphate of Umar bin Abdul Aziz, the record of Hadiths was confined to the memory of the people. In a letter addressed to the learned men of Medina in 101 A.H., he requested them to preserve in writing the record of Hadiths. Zuhri furnished the first collection of Hadiths. The teaching of Hadiths, too, had undergone a revolutionary change. From his pulpit, the learned teacher discoursed on the subject and the pupils assembled around him took down the notes with pen and paper. Imām Abū Ḥanīfah had learnt Hadiths from more than four thousand persons.

It redounds to the credit of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah that he left behind the greatest number of pupils in the world of Islam, including Qadi Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani, ‘Abd ar-Razzaq as-San‘ani, Abdullah ibn Mubarak, Abu Naeem Faza, and Abu Asim. Qadi Abu Yusuf rose to be the Grand Qadi of the Abbasid Caliphate during the time of Harun al-Rashid.

Adulthood and death

Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad, Iraq

Abū Ḥanīfah's quest for knowledge took him to the Holy Sanctuaries, at a time when Makkah was a busy center for learning. A number of acknowledged masters of hadith, who had had access to Muhammad's companions had established their own schools there. Of these was `Ata bin Rabah's school. `Ata was a famous Tabi'i who had associated with most of the companions and acquired from this association a status of authority. He himself claimed to have met two hundred men who had associated with Muhammad. The leading companions all acknowledged his learning. Abdullah ibn `Umar, son of the Caliph `Umar, often used to say: "Why do people come to me when `Ata ibn Abi Rabah is there for them to go to?" Of the other Muhaddithin of Makkah whose classes Abū Ḥanīfah attended was `Ikrimah. He was the slave and pupil of Abdullah ibn `Abbas, who educated him with great care and attention, making him so proficient that he, during his own lifetime gave Abū Ḥanīfah the authority to exercise personal judgement and rulings. "Imam Abu Hanifah was the first to analyze Islamic jurisprudence, divide it into subjects, distinguish its issues and determine the range and criteria for analytical reasoning (qiyas)."

Al-Hafiz al-Kabir Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Harizmi wrote in his book"Musnad":

`Saif al-Aimma' reports that when Abū Ḥanīfah derived a matter from the Qur'an and Hadith, he would not give the answer to the inquirer unless all of them [his students] confirmed it. One thousand of Abū Ḥanīfah's disciples attended all his classes when he taught in the Mosque of Kufa City. Forty of them were mujtahids. When he would find an answer for a matter, he would suggest to his students who would study it together, and when they reached an agreement of it being consistent with the Qur'an and Hadith, and with the words of the Sahabah, he would be delighted and say, "Al-hamdu li'llah wallahu Akbar," and all those who were present would repeat his words. Then he would tell them to write it down.

Ibn `Abd al-Barr relates in"Al-Intiqa'":

`Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Dawraqi said:"Ibn Ma'inn was asked about Abū Ḥanīfah as I was listening, so he said"He is trustworthy (thiqatun), I never heard that anyone had weakened him." No less than Shu'ba wrote to him [for narrations], and ordered him to narrate hadith.'

Ibn Hajar said in Kharija ibn al-Salt's notice in"Tahdhib al-Tahdhib":

Ibn Abi Khaythama said:"If al-Shu'bi narrates from someone and names him, that man is trustworthy (thiqa) and his narration is used as proof (yuhtajju bi hadithihi)".

Many well-known shuyukh narrated from Abū Ḥanīfah, to name but a few: al-Thawri, ibn al-Mubarak, Hammad ibn Zayd and `Abd al-Razzaq (one of al-Bukhari's shaykhs.) Al-Mizzi in"Tahdhib al-Kamal" names about one hundred names of those who narrated from Abū Ḥanīfah .

In 763, al-Mansur, the Abbasid monarch offered Abu Hanifa the post of Chief Judge of the State, but he declined to accept the offer, choosing to remain independent. His student Abu Yusuf was appointed Qadi Al-Qudat (Chief Judge of the State) of al-Mansur regime instead of himself.

In his reply to al-Mansur, Abū Ḥanīfah recused himself by saying that he did not regard himself fit for the post. Al-Mansur, who had his own ideas and reasons for offering the post, lost his temper and accused Abū Ḥanīfah of lying.

"If I am lying," Abū Ḥanīfah said, "then my statement is doubly correct. How can you appoint a liar to the exalted post of a Chief Qadi (Judge)?"

Incensed by this reply, the ruler had Abū Ḥanīfah arrested, locked in prison and tortured. He was never fed nor cared for. Even there, the jurist continued to teach those who were permitted to come to him.

In 767, Abū Ḥanīfah died in prison. The reason of his death is not clear, as some say that Abū Ḥanīfah issued a legal opinion for bearing arms against Al-mansoor, and the latter had him poisoned to death. It was said that so many people attended his funeral that the funeral service was repeated six times for more than 50,000 people who had amassed before he was actually buried. On the authority of historian Khatib, it can be said that for full twenty days people went on performing funeral prayer for him. Later, after many years, a mosque, the Abū Ḥanīfah Mosque was built in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad.

The tomb of Abū Ḥanīfah and other Sunni sites including tomb of Abdul Qadir Gilani were destroyed by Shah Ismail of Safavi empire in 1508. In 1533, Ottomans reconquered Iraq and rebuilt the tomb of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and other Sunni sites.

Generational status

Abū Ḥanīfah is regarded by some as one of the Tabi‘un, the generation after the Sahaba, who were the companions of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. This is based on reports that he saw the Sahabi Anas ibn Malik, with some even reporting that he transmitted Hadith from him and other companions of Muhammad. Others take the view that Abū Ḥanīfah only saw around half a dozen companions, possibly at a young age, and did not directly narrate hadith from them. Nevertheless, it is widely acknowledged that he learnt hadith from tabi'een including Ibrahim al Nakha'i.

Abū Ḥanīfah was born 67 years after the death of Muhammad, but during the time of the first generation of Muslims, some of whom lived on until Abū Ḥanīfah's youth. Anas bin Malik, Muhammad's personal attendant, died in 93 AH and another companion, Abul Tufail Amir bin Wathilah, died in 100 AH, when Abū Ḥanīfah was 20 years old. The author of al-Khairat al-Hisan collected information from books of biographies and cited the names of Muslims of the first generation from whom it is reported that the Abu Hanifa had transmitted hadith. He counted them as sixteen, including Anas ibn Malik, Jabir ibn Abd-Allah and Sahl ibn Sa'd.

Legacy

Imam as-Shafi'i is recorded to have stated: "All men of fiqh are Abu Hanifah's children" and "I would not have acquired anything of knowledge had it not been for my teacher. All men of knowledge are children of the ulema of Iraq, who were the disciples of the ulema of Kufa, and they were the disciples of Abu Hanifah." Imam Malik was asked about Abu Hanifa in which he said: "I have not seen anyone like him, by Allah if he said that this pillar was made of gold, he would have brought an analogical proof proving the validity of his case". Shafi'i said, "whoever seeks to become an ocean in the jurisprudence, then he should venture to Abu Hanifa. I have not known a faqih like him." Equally, Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal would cry when remembering Abu Hanifa and would supplicate Allah's mercy upon him. An-Nadhr said, "The people were sleeping with regards to jurisprudence. They were awoken by Abu Hanifa."

Reception

In Sunni Islam

Throughout history, Abu Hanifa has proven to be a polarizing figure, drawing both extensive praise and criticism, with mild or neutral reactions being rare. The honorific title "al-Imam al-A'zam" or the greatest leader, granted to him both in communities where his legal theory is followed and elsewhere, attests to the amount of respect he as been accorded. The majority of Sunni Muslim movements in the modern era - including adherents of Sufism, Deobandism, the Muslim Brotherhood and Tablighi Jamaat - tend to profess positive views of Abu Hanifa.

Works

• Kitaab-ul-Aathaar narrated by Imaam Muhammad al-Shaybani – compiled from a total of 70,000 hadith
• Kitabul Aathaar narrated by Imaam Abu Yusuf
• Aalim wa'l-muta‘allim
• Musnad Imaam ul A'zam
• Kitaabul Rad alal Qaadiriyah
• Read by Munir

Disputed

• Fiqh al-Akbar, which some historiographers claim has been incorrectly attributed to Abu Hanifa.

References

• Nu'mani, Shibli (1998). Imām Abū Ḥanīfah — Life and Works. Translated by M. Hadi Hussain. Islamic Book Service, New Delhi. ISBN 81-85738-59-9. 

External links

• [2]
• The Life of Imam Abu Hanifa Biography at Lost Islamic History
• [3]
• Al-Wasiyyah of Imam Abu Hanifah Translated into English by Shaykh Imam Tahir Mahmood al-Kiani
• Book on Imam e Azam Abu Hanifa
• Biographical summary of Abu Hanifa
• Abu Hanifa on Muslim heritage
• Imām Abū Ḥanīfah By Shiekh G. F. Haddad
• Tajik president’s articles about Imam Azam attract interest in Muslim countries
• 2009 announced Year of Imam Azam in Tajikistan
• Some teachers and students of Imam Abu Hanifa
• Code of conduct of his students