Abū Ḥanīfa (699-767)

8/6/2019 Abū Ḥanīfa (699-767)

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Imaam Al-azam Abu Hanifa

Full name Imaam Al-azam Abu Hanifa

Born699

Kufa, Iraq

Died

767

Baghdad, Iraq

Era Islamic Golden Age

Region Muslim Jurist

School Hanafi

Main interests Fiqh

Notable ideas Evolution of Fiqh

Influenced by[show]

Influenced[show]

Nu m n ibn Th bit ibn Zu ibn Marzub n[3] (Arabic: ),known as Ab an fah, (Arabic: ) (699 ² 765 CE / 80 ² 148 AH) was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).

Imam Abu Hanifa was a Tabiµun, the generation after the companions (Sahabah), because he met

the Sahabi Anas ibn Malik , and transmitted hadiths from him and other Sahaba.[4]

Contents[hide]

y 1 Name, birth and ancestry

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y 2 Status as a Tabiµun y 3 Early life and education y 4 Adulthood and death y 5 Some of Abu Hanifa's Literary Works y 6 See also y 7 References y 8 External links

[edit] Name, birth and ancestryAbu Hanifa (699 ² 767 CE / 80 ² 148 AH) was born in Kufa, Iraq during the reign of the powerful Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (Abdul Malik bin Marwan). Acclaimed as Al-Imam al- A'zam, or Al-A'dham (the Great Imam), Nu¶man bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Mah koofi was better known by his kunya Abu Hanifa. It was not a true kunya, as he did not have a son called Hanifa, but an epithetical one meaning pure in monotheistic belief. His father, Thabit bin Zuta, a trader from Kabul, part of Khorasan (Afghanistan), was 40 years old at the time of Abu Hanifa's birth.

His ancestry is generally accepted as being of non-Arab origin as suggested by the etymology of then names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather (Mah). The historian, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, records a statement from Abu Hanifa's grandson, Ismail bin Hammad, who gave AbuHanifa's lineage as Thabit bin Numan bin Marzban and claiming to be of Persian origin. Thediscrepancy in the names, as given by Ismail of Abu Hanifa'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. Further differencesof opinion exist on his ancestry. Abu Muti, for example, describes Abu Hanifa as an Arab citinghis ancestry as Numan bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Yahya bin Zaid bin Asad[citation needed ]. The widelyaccepted opinion, however, is that he was of Persian ancestry.[5][6]

[edit] Status as a TabiµunAbu Hanifa was born 67 years after the death of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, but during thetime of the Sahaba of Muhammad, some of whom lived on until Abu Hanifa's youth. Anas binMalik, Muhammad's personal attendant, died in 93 AH and another companion, Abul TufailAmir bin Wathilah, died in 100 AH, when Abu Hanifa was 2 0 years old. No evidence exists,however, to indicate Abu Hanifa had narrated any hadith from the companions although there isno doubt that he was a "tabi'i" (one who had met a companion of Muhammad) and had met Anas

bin Malik.

The author of al-Khairat al-Hisan collected information from books of biographies and cited thenames of the Sahaba whom it is reported that the Imam has transmitted ahadith from. He countedthem as sixteen of the Sahaba. They are: Anas ibn Malik, Abdullah ibn Anis al-Juhani, Abdullahibn al-Harith ibn Juz¶ al-Zabidi, Jabir ibn Abdullah, Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa, Wa¶ila ibn al-Asqa`, Ma`qal ibn Yasar, Abu Tufail Àmir ibn Wa¶ila, À¶isha bint Hajrad, Sahl ibn Sa`d, al-Tha¶ib ibn Khallad ibn Suwaid, al-Tha¶ib ibn Yazid ibn Saìd, Abdullah ibn Samra, Mahmud ibn

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al-Rabi`, Abdullah ibn Ja`far, and Abu Umama. Hadeeth Reported by Abu Hanifa upon theauthority of Anas ibn Malik "Seeking of knowledge is an obligation on each and every Muslim."[1]

It is perceived this is due to the strict age requirements for learning the discipline of hadith thatexisted at the time in Kufa where no one below the age of 2 0 was admitted to a hadith school.The scholars of the time felt anyone below this age would not have attained the maturity requiredto be able to understand the meaning of the narrations.

[edit] Early life and educationAbu Hanifa grew up in a period of oppression during the caliphates of Abdul Malik bin Marwanand his son Al-Walid I (Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik). The governorship of Iraq was under thecontrol of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , a loyal follower of Abdul Malik. During his governorship leadersin religion and learning were especially targeted by Hajjaj as they were proving to be an obstacleto Abdul Malik's establishment of his rule across Arabia and Iraq. Consequently, Abu Hanifa hadno interest nor the opportunity to acquire any education in his early childhood. He was simplycontent 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 hisagent in another country, sold some silk cloth on his behalf but forgot to point out a slight defectto the purchasers. When Abu Hanifa learned this, he was greatly distressed as he had no meansof refunding their money. He immediately ordered the entire proceeds of the sale of theconsignment 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 amadrasa. Abu Hanifa also began to take an interest in education which was heightened further bythe unexpected advice of as-Sha'bi (d. 722 ), one of Kufa's most well-known scholars.

While running an errand for his mother, he happened to pass the home of as-Sha'bi. Sha'bi,mistaking him for a student, asked him whose classes he attended. When Abu Hanifa respondedthat he did not attend any classes, Sha'bi said, "I see signs of intelligence in you. You should sitin the company of learned men." Taking Sha'bi's advice, Abu Hanifa embarked on a prolificquest for knowledge that would in due course have a profound impact on the history of Islam.His early education was achieved through mad ris and it is here that he learned theQur'an andHadith, 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.

Abu Hanifa was one of the distinguished students of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (The Truthful was alsoMuhammad's great grandson), as has been confirmed by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in his Al-Sawa'iqal-Muhriqah, Allamah Shiblinji in his Nur al Absar, Abdul Haleem Jindi and Mohaqiq AbuZohra and various other Muhadatheen (hadith scholars) and Ulema have clarified that Imam Abu

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Hanifa was a student of Imam Ja'far Sadiq. Imam Ja'far had opened a university that not onlytaught religion, but the sciences and math. The Islamic alchemist, Geber , studied at the Imams'university. Under these conditions Abu Hanifa studied and gained his knowledge. Abu Hanifa¶sinitial chain of knowledge was with Muhammad al-Baqir and he subsequently expanded thischain of knowledge with Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq.

[edit] Adulthood and death

Abu Hanifa Mosque

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 wasappointed Qadi Al-Qadat (Chief Judge of the State) of al-Mansur regime instead of himself.

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

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

Incensed by this reply, the ruler had Abu Hanifa arrested, locked in prison and tortured. He wasnever fed nor cared for. [7] Even there, the indomitable jurist continued to teach those who were permitted to come to him.

In 767, Abu Hanifa died in prison. It was said that so many people attended his funeral that thefuneral service was repeated six times for more than 50,000 people who had amassed before hewas actually buried. Later, after many years, a mosque, the Abu Hanifa Mosque in theAdhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, was built in honor of him.

[edit] Some of Abu Hanifa's Literary Worksy K itaab-ul-Aathaar narrated by Imaam Muhammad_al-Shaybani - compiled from a total

of 70,000 ahadithy K itabul Aathaar narrated by Imaam Abu Yusuf y Aalim wa'l-mutaµallim y F iqh al-Akbar

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y M usnad Imaam ul A'zam y K itaabul Rad alal Qaadiriyah

[edit] See alsoy Fatw y Triple talaq y Salah y Sunni-Shia relations

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ab an fa

y Nu'mani, Shibli (1998). Imam Abu Hanifah ² Life and Works. Translated by M. HadiHussain. Islamic Book Service, New Delhi. ISBN 81-85738-59-9.

1. ^ Imaam Abu Hanifa

2 . ^ The Conclusive Argument from God:Shah Wali Allah of Delhi's Hujjat Allah Al- baligha, pg 42 5

3. ^ AB AN F A, Encyclopedia Iranica

4. ^ Imam-ul-A¶zam Abu Hanifa, The Theologian

5. ^ S. H. Nasr(1975), "The religious sciences", in R.N.Frye, the Cambridge History of Iran,Volume 4, Cambridge University Press. pg 474: "Abu Hanfia, who is often called the"grand imam"(al-Imam al-'Azam) was Persian

6. ^ Cyril Glasse, "The New Encyclopedia of Islam", Published by Rowman & Littlefield,2 008. pg 19: "Abu Hanifah, a Persian, was one of the great jurists of Islam and one of thehistoric Sunni Mujtahids"

7. ^ Ya'qubi, vol.lll, p.86; Muruj al-dhahab, vol.lll, p.2 68-2 70.

[edit] External linksy Biographical summary of Abu Hanifa

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y Abu Hanifa on Muslim heritage

y Imam Abu Hanifa

By Shiekh G. F. Haddad

y Tajik president¶s articles about Imam Azam attract interest in Muslim countries

y 2009 announced Year of Imam Azam in Tajikistan

[hide]v d e

Islamic Philosophyand Islamic Theology

Fields:Aqidah · 'Aql · Cosmology · Eschatology · Ethics · Kalam · Legal Philosophy · Logic · Metaphysics · Natural Philosophy · Peace · Philosophy of Education · Philosophy of Science · Psychology · Sociology (Medieval Sociology) · Sufism

Schools of Theology: Ash'ari · Athari · Maturidi · Mu'tazili · Murji'ah · Imami · Ismaili

Schools of Philosophy:

Early Islamic Philosophy · Farabism · Avicennism · Averroism · IlluminationistPhilosophy · Transcendent Theosophy · Traditionalist School · Sufi Philosophy (Metaphysics · Cosmology) · Contemporary Islamic Philosophy

Theologians:

Ja'far al-Sadiq · Abu Hanifa an-Nuµman· Shafi`i · Malik Ibn Anas · Ahmad ibnHanbal · Abu Yusuf · Wasil ibn Ata · Amr ibn Ubayd · Abd al-Jabbar · Ibn Aqil · al-Ash'ari · al-Maturidi · Al-Ghazali · Al-Shahrastani · Fakhruddin Razi · Al-Jahiz · Al-Jubba'i · al-Mas' d · Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid · Shaykh Tusi · Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi · Ibn al-Haytham · Ab Rayh n al-B r n · Ibn al-Nafis · Ibn Khaldun · Abul Ala Maududi · Muhammad Hamidullah · Muhammad Taqi Usmani ·

Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri · Fazlur Rahman Malik · Morteza Motahhari

Philosophers:

Al-Kindi · Al-Farabi · Al-Razi · Al Amiri · Ibn Miskawayh · Ibn Sina · Ikhwan al-Safa · Abu Sulayman al-Sijistani · Ayn-al-Quzat Hamadani · Ibn Masarrah · IbnHazm · Ibn Tufail · Ibn Rushd · Ibn Sab¶in · Suhrawardi · Ibn Arabi · al-Abhar · Nasir al-Din Tusi · Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi · Mulla Sadra · Sabzevari · Mir Damad · Mir Fendereski · Allameh Tabatabaei · Muhammad Iqbal · Gohar Shahi · Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr · René Guénon · Frithjof Schuon · Hossein Nasr · Naquib al-Attas

Abū Ḥanīfa (699-767)

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