Abu Hanifa: Difference between revisions

According to oldest biographies, Abu Hanifa's family had the relation of [[wala' al-'itq]] (being emancipated slaves) with the Banu Taym Allah b. Tha'laba clan from the Rabi'a tribe, a significant branch of the great tribe of [[Bakr b. Wa'il]]. According to some sources, Thabit, Abu Hanifa's father, was an emancipated slave of a man from the Banu Qafal family from the above tribe.

[[Ibn Abi l-Hadid al-Mu'tazili]] explicitly said that Abu Hanifa was Imam al-Sadiq's (a) student. There is a well-known statement attributed to Abu Hanifa: "if there were not those two years, Nu'man [Abu Hanifa] would be nothing" ({{ia|لولا السنتان، لهک نعمان}}). It is said that the statement was first cited in the 14th/20th century in the short book, ''Tuhfa al-ithna 'asharaiyya''. Some people have interpreted this statement as referring to Abu Hanifa's studies with Imam al-Sadiq (a) for two years.

In 126/744, Abu Hanifa played the role of a moderator between people of [[Khorasan]] and Ajlah, an official close to the [[caliph]], in order to receive a safety conduct for [[Harith b. Surayj]] (a revolutionary head of Khorasan).

Abu Hanifa's body was buried in the al-Khayzaran cemetery of [[Baghdad]] after Hasan b . 'Umara al-Bajali, the Kufi [[muhaddith]] (narrator of Hadith), said [[Funeral Prayer]] on his body. A dome and school were constructed over his burial place in 459/1066-7. Today the place in which his burial place is located is called "Hayy al-A'zamiyya" (al-A'zamiyya reign).

Many authors from [[People of Hadith]], [[Imamis]], [[Mu'tazilis]], and [[Ash'aris]], take Abu Hanifa to lean towards [[Murji'a]]. It has been taken as a widely accepted fact.

In the first half of the 2nd/8th century, it was common among denominations of Islam other than [[Shi'a]] and Khawarij to take [[Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa]] and [['Umar b. Khattab]] as superior to other caliphs, but with respect to [['Ali (a)]] and [['Uthman b. 'Affan]], not only was there a disagreement with respect to their superiority, but the early Murji'a, as Ibn Sa'd says, had even suspended judgment about whether they were believers (holders of iman or faith) in the first place. A well-known figure of the early Murji'a was [[Muharib b. Dithar]], a teacher of Abu Hanifa.

There are many [[hadiths]] involving debates between Abu Hanifa and [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] or [[Imam al-Kazim (a)]], as well as some Imami scholars of Kufa, such as [[Mu'min al-Taq|Muhammad b. 'Ali Sahib al-Taq]], [[Faddal b. Hasan]], and [[Haytham b. Habib al-Sayrafi]]. The chains of transmitters of each of these hadiths have to be assessed with respect to their reliability. In these debates, various issues are discussed, such as imamate, [[Iman|faith]], and [[predestination]]. In some hadiths, Imam al-Sadiq (a) is cited as reproaching Abu Hanifa and sometimes taking him to be a person who does not love and respect 'Ali (a) so much.

In addition to the formulated Hanafi fiqh which is extant today, the only thing known about sources of his fiqh from old reports are some hadiths which are not very reliable. The most important and comprehensive such hadith is the one transmitted by [[Yahya b. Durays]] in which Abu Hanifa took the sources of his fiqh to be the following:

===Recital of the Quran===

Abu Hanifa learned the [['Ilm Qira'at|recital]] of the [[Qur'an]] from prominent teachers such as [['Asim b. Abi l-Najud|'Asim]] (one of the [[Seven Reciters]]), [[Sulayman b. Mihran al-A'mash|al-A'mash]] (one of the Fourteen Reciters), and [[Ibn Abi Layla|'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Layla]]. [[Hasan b. Ziyad al-Lu'lu'i]] transmitted his recital of the Quran.

He had a recital of his own recorded by [[Abu l-Fadl Muhammad b. Ja'far al-Khuza'i]] (d. [[408]]/1017-8). It is cited by Hudhali in ''al-Kamil'' and al-Makki in ''Manaqib''.

Abu Hanifa never collected his hadiths in a volume. This led some authors throughout centuries to collect several works under ''Musnad Abi Hanifa'' in which hadiths transmitted by Abu Hanifa here and there are collected in a volume.

The only hadith cited in [[al-Sihah al-Sitta]] from Abu Hanifa is one concerning [[hudud]] (punishments) in [[al-Nasa'i]]'s ''[[al-Sunan al-Kubra]]''. [[al-Tirmidhi]] has cited a biographical remark by Abu Hanifa about [[Jabir b. Yazid al-Ju'fi]] and [['Ata' b. Abi Ribah]] in his [[Sunan al-Tirmidhi|al-Sunan]], and in several parts of the book, he referred to Abu Hanifa's views in fiqh.

A number of hadiths transmitted by Abu Hanifa are cited in 3 of the [[Four Books]] of [[Imamiyya]]. There are some of his hadiths in other Shiite collections of hadiths as well.