Was Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, a Marjae?
Many scholars of hadith, such as Abdul Qadir Gilani, may Allah have mercy on him, in “Ghaniyah Talibin” And the Mu’tazila sect has considered Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, as a “Marjae”; But this statement is not true in any way and the scholars have put forward strong reasons to reject this kind of sayings and have explained their beliefs.
Some people considered him as “Marjae”, while this statement is devoid of reality based on the following reasons, and the reason for this accusation is based on a difference of opinion:
1. The commentator of the book “Al-Mawaqif” has said: “Ghassan, who himself belonged to the “Morjaeh” sect, attributed Arja to Imam Abu Hanifa and considered him as a Marjaeh, and he attributed this slander to the Imam with the aim of promoting and expanding his religion.”
2. Amadi has said: “In the beginning, the Mu’tazila called those who opposed them in Qadr as “Marjae” or because Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, did not believe in the increase or decrease of faith, they accused him of Irja, because he separated action from faith.
Sheikh Zafar Ahmad has said: “It has been very common for Muhadditheen to apply the word ‘Irja’ to those who didn’t believe in increasing or decreasing faith and didn’t consider action to be a part of faith; This naming, as it isn’t hidden from the legal scholars, isn’t considered an insult; Because the dispute in this case, as the researchers of the past and present have researched, is verbal and superficial.
3. Hafez ظahabi said in his book “Al-Mizan”: “Arja, the religion of a group of scholars and great thinkers; Therefore, it is not appropriate to attack the speaker of this speech.
4. Imam Kashmiri in his book “Faiz Al-Bari Ali Sahih al-Bukhari” Has said: “Faith in the eyes of the Salaf scholars consists of three things: belief, promise and action.”
The discussion is about deeds whether it is a part of faith or not? In this case, there are four schools of thought: Khawarij and Mu’tazila have said: Actions are a part of faith and whoever abandons them is out of faith according to these two schools of thought.
But these two groups have differences with each other, the Khawarij have taken the non-practicing Muslim out of faith and into disbelief, while the Mu’tazila did not consider him a disbeliever and said: there is a gap between disbelief and Islam, and this person is between disbelief and Islam.
The third religion is “Morjaeh”; They have said: “There is no need for action to be saved, and the circuit of man’s liberation is only the acknowledgment and belief of his heart.” In this way, the first two religions and the Morjaeh are facing each other.”
The fourth religion is Ahl al-Sunnah and Jamaat, they have chosen the middle path, because they said: Doing something is necessary, and leaving it is a transgressor, not an infidel. This group has not been strict about practices like Khawarij and Mu’tazila, Therefore, the Sunnis were divided into two sects: Muhadditheen and Fiqha. Muhaddithian believe that faith is combined with actions and actions are a part of faith; Our great leader, Imam Azam, may Allah have mercy on him, and most of the jurists and theologians believe that actions are not part of faith, despite the fact that all of these things happen, that without acknowledgment, he is a disbeliever and without action, he is a transgressor.
Imam Abu Hanifah and other jurists, although they didn’t include action as a part of faith, but they paid special attention to it and emphasized on doing it, and considered actions as the reason for the growth and prosperity of faith and didn’t destroy actions like “Morjaeh”.
Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, expressed his belief about deeds in a letter to Basra scholar Usman Bati; He mentioned in a letter to Imam Abu Hanifa, that I have been informed that you are “Mirja’a”! Imam Abu Hanifah, may God have mercy on him, wrote in his reply: Know that I consider the people of Qibla to be believers and Muslims, and I will not remove them from the realm of faith because of leaving one of the duties of religion. Whoever obeys Allah with faith and by performing his duties, according to us, he is one of the people of Paradise, and whoever abandons faith and action, he is a disbeliever and one of the people of Hell, and whoever has faith; But some leave the duties, he is one of the people of Paradise, a Muslim and a sinner, and if Allah wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him, the sin that is forgivable. But we will tell you about the name of Morjaeh that you mentioned; What is the sin of those people who speak justly, but the heretics call them Marjae, while they are just and Ahl as-Sunnah?
Since the interpretation of the muhaddiths, who believe in the detail of actions, compared to the interpretation of the Imam, who doesn’t believe in its detail, is far from the opinion of the Marjae’s; Because of this, the Imam has been accused of saying that this is oppression against him.
If sharing with “Morjaeh” in one of the types of interpretation is sufficient for attributing Irja, it is necessary that Muhadditheen should also be attributed to “”Retirement””; Because the Mu’tazila, like the Muhadditheens, believe in the detail of actions, while the Muhadditheen are exempted from abdication, and may Allah forgive those who attributed to them out of prejudice and considered them to be references; Because religion is full of benevolence and bad and false labels have no place in it.
In this section, we tried to express the opinions of the scholars regarding the issue of whether Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, was a Morjaeh or not. Just as it was proved by the words of the scholars and by his own letter to Osman Bati that he is neither a Marjae nor does he believe like them; But since sometimes among the people of knowledge, some problems arise that do not have a good end and result, some noble scholars; Like Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, they have accused Arja, which is not true.