the life of imam abu hanifah

8/4/2019 The Life of Imam Abu Hanifah

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The Life ofImam Abu Hanifah - Numan ibn Thabit,80-150 A.H.

Maida Malik

Better known as Imam-e-`Adham (The GreatestImam), or by his kunyah Abu Hanifah, Numanibn Thabit was born in the city of Kufa (modern day Iraq)in the year 80 A.H (689 A.D). Born into a family oftradesmen, theImams family were of Persian origin aswell as descending from the noble Prophets (saw)

Companion Salman al-Farsi (ra). Imam AbuHanifahs father, Thabit, had met in KufaImam `AliIbn Abi Talib (ra) who made dua for him and his progeny,and some say that Abu Hanifah was a result of this dua.

A hadith given by al-Bukhari and Muslim states thatAbu Hurairah (ra) narrated Allahs Messenger(saw) assaying: If the Religion were at the Pleiades, even then

a person from Persia would have taken hold of it, or oneamongst the Persian descent would surely have foundit. Abu Hurairah ( ra) also narrates: We weresitting in the company of Allahs Apostle (saw) whenSurat al-Juma was revealed to him and when he recitedamongst them, (those who were sitting there) saidAllahs Messenger? but Allahs Apostle

(saw) made no reply, until he was questioned once, twiceor thrice, and there was amongst us Salman the Persian.Allahs Apostle (saw) placed his hand on Salman andthen said: Even if faith were near the Pleiades, a manfrom amongst these would surely find it.


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Imam as-Suyuti a Shafii alim(rh) remarked: Ithas been communicated unanimously that this hadith referstoImam Abu Hanifah.

Kufa at the time of theImams birth was a great centerof knowledge and learning, with many of the nobleProphets (saw) Companions (ra) having takenresidence there. Due to the presence of these venerablepeople who had engendered so much interest in hadith andriwayatthat practically every house in Kufa had become a

center of these disciples and their disciplines. At first,Imam Abu Hanifah was not a student of knowledge.However, by coincidence, while one day passing by thehouse of Shabi (acclaimed Great Scholar amongthe Successors (rh) ), Abu Hanifah was called in by the shaykh who mistook him for a student. Where areyou going young man? asked Shabi. Abu Hanifah named the merchant he was going to see. I

meant to ask, asked Shabi, Whos classes you attend? Nobodys, replied the Imam regretfully. I see signs of intelligence inyou, began Shabi, you should sit in the company of learned men. It was after this encounter that the young Imam began his quest for knowledge.Imam Abu Hanifah acquired knowledge from over four

thousand people. His teachers included many prestigiousmen of the time whose sanad went back to a number ofCompanions (ra). He himself was blessed with themeeting of the Companions: Anas ibn Malik, Abdullah ibnAfwa and Sahl ibn Saad (ra), thus gaining him the


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rank of being a Tabii (Successor to the Companions).

Amongst Imam Abu Hanifahs shayukh was Hammad

ibn Sulayman, he joined his circle at the age of 22, havingalready become a well-known debater and studied with thisshaykh until the latters death, whereupon he took overhis majlis (circle) at the age of forty. Shuba, aleading muhaddith who knew-by-heart two thousandtraditions was also a teacher ofImam Abu Hanifah.Shuba was greatly attached to Imam Abu Hanifah

saying: Just as I know that the sun is bright, I knowthat learning and Abu Hanifah are doubles of eachother.

The Imams quest for knowledge inevitably took himto the Holy Sanctuaries, at a time when Makkah was a busycenter for learning. A number of acknowledged mastersof hadith, who had had access to the Prophets (saw)

Companions (ra) had established their own schools there.Of these was Ata bin Rabahs (rh) school. Atawas a famous Tabii who had associated with most ofthe Companions (ra) and acquired from this association astatus of authority. He himself claimed to have met twohundred men who had associated with the Noble Prophet(saw). The leading Companions (ra) all acknowledged

his learning. Abdullah ibn Umar (ra), son of theCaliph Umar (ra) often used to say: Why do peoplecome to me when Ata ibn Abi Rabah is there for themto go to? Of the other Muhaddithin of Makkah whoseclasses the Imam attended was Ikrimah. He was theslave and pupil of Abdullah ibn Abbas, who educated


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him with great care and attention, making him so proficientthat he, during his own lifetime gave Imam Abu Hanifahthe authority to exercise personal judgement and rulings.Imam Abu Hanifah was the first to analyze Islamicjurisprudence, divide it into subjects, distinguish its issuesand determine the range and criteria for analyticalreasoning (qiyas).

Al-Hafiz al-Kabir Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Harizmi wrote inhis book Musnad :

Saif al-Aimma reports that when ImamAbu Hanifah derived a matter from theQuran and Hadith, he would not give theanswer to the inquirer unless all of them [hisstudents] confirmed it. One thousand of AbuHanifahs disciples attended all his classeswhen he taught in the Mosque of Kufa City.

Forty of them were mujtahids. When he wouldfind an answer for a matter, he would suggest tohis students who would study it together, andwhen they reached an agreement of it beingconsistent with the Quran and Hadith, andwith the words of the Sahabah (ra), he would bedelighted and say, Al-hamdu lillah

wallahu Akbar,

and all those who were present would repeat his words. Then hewould tell them to write it down.

Ibn Abd al-Barr relates in Al-Intiqa :


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Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Dawraqi said:Ibn Mainn was asked about AbuHanifah as I was listening, so he said He is

trustworthy (thiqatun), I never heard that anyonehad weakened him. No less than Shuba wrote to him [for narrations], andordered him to narrate hadith.

Ibn Hajar said in Kharija ibn al-Salts notice inTahdhib al-Tahdhib :

Ibn Abi Khaythama said: If al-Shubinarrates from someone and names him, that manis trustworthy (thiqa) and his narration is used asproof(yuhtajju bi hadithihi) .

Many well-known shuyukh narrated from Imam AbuHanifah, to name but a few: al-Thawri, ibn al-Mubarak,Hammad ibn Zayd and Abd al-Razzaq (one ofImam al-

Bukharis shaykhs.) Al-Mizzi in Tahdhib al-Kamal names about one hundred names of those who narrated fromImam Abu Hanifah.

Imam as-Shafii (rh)is recorded to have stated: Allmen offiqh are Abu Hanifahs children and I would not have acquired anything of knowledge had it notbeen for my teacher. All men of knowledge are children

of the ulema of Iraq, who were the disciples of the ulemaof Kufa, and they were the disciples of Abu Hanifah.

The Hanafi madhhab, entitled after the Imam, spread far-and-wide during the time of the Ottoman Empire. Today,


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more than half of the Muslims on the earth perform their`ibabadah according to the Hanafi madhhab. TheHanafi school has decided court cases in the majority ofIslamic lands for the greater part of Islamic history,including the `Abbasid and Ottoman periods.

Not only wasImam Abu Hanifahs extraordinary mindand knowledge something to be admired, but so too washis exemplary character and piety. Al-Dhahabi writes:Accounts of his piety and devotion have reached a

degree of tawatur (i.e., an unbroken chain ofuncontradicted narrations).

He was given the title of The Peg by some, for his continuous standing in prayer, often reciting theentire Quran in his nightly rakahs. He performedtheFajrprayer with the ablution made for the Isha prayersfor forty years (due to him praying the whole night

through). It is reported that he had recited the wholeQuran seven thousand times in the place where hedied.

He earned his living through trade (sending goods to otherplaces), and with the earnings he made, he met the needs of

his students. He gave much to charity and every Fridayhe would distribute twenty gold coins to the poor for hisparents souls.

In the year 146 A.H, Abu Hanifah was sent to prison byMansur, the leader at the time, after theImams refusal


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to state that Mansur was the rightful khalifa, as well asrefusing the position of presidency of the Supreme Court inrecompense. While in prison, Imam Abu Hanifah wasthrashed with a stick. Mansur repented and sent theImam money, only to be refused again. By now, ImamAbu Hanifah had become well-known and thousandsflocked to meet and seek his opinion wherever he went.His imprisonment far from reduced his popularity, andMansur realized that he would have to treat the Imamcarefully, thus he allowed him to teach while still in

prison. Mansur finally decided to do away with the greatImam and had him poisoned. Abu Hanifah, feeling theeffects of the poison, bent down in prayer and died in themonth of Rajab. News of the Imams death reachedfar-and-wide, and thousands gathered at the prison. Thecity Qadi washed his body, and kept repeating: ByGod, you were the greatestfaqih and the most pious man of

our time ...

By the time the bathing was finished, so many people hadassembled that the funeral prayer was performed attendedby fifty thousand people.

The GreatImam died in Baghdad in 150 A.H at the age ofseventy. May Allah (swt) be pleased with him. Ameen.

the life of imam abu hanifah

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