Author: Abdul Hameed Nowrozi
Imam Abu Hanifah, May Allah Mercy be Upon Him: A Beacon of Knowledge in the Realm of Scholars and Hadith Masters (Part 7)
The Scientific Style of Imam Abu Hanifah, May Allah Have Mercy on Him
Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, states: “If I say something that is against the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, then abandon my word.”
He also said: “We accept what is mentioned in the Book of Allah or what has been correctly transmitted to us from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” He added: “If I do not find the answers to the questions in the Book and the Sunnah, I will refer to the opinions of the Companions. If their opinions differ, I will accept the opinion of whoever I want and leave the opinion of whoever I want. If I don’t find anything there either, and the matter comes down to the opinions of Ibrahim al-Nakha’i and other Tabe’een such as al-Uza’i, I will do Ijtihad here. As they had done Ijtihad, and as long as the issue is based on Ijtihad, I do not obligate myself to follow any of them.”
Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) accepted Ahad (one) hadith and acted upon it as much as possible. If there was a conflict between Ahad hadith and mutawatir (repeated) hadith, and it was impossible to reach an agreement, he preferred the mutawatir hadith over Ahad hadith. Additionally, even if a hadith was mursal (unattributed) or weak, he preferred Sunnah over analogy.
The Causes of the Spread of the Sect of Imam Abu Hanifah, May Allah Have Mercy on Him
The reasons for the spread of Abu Hanifah’s sect, may Allah have mercy on him, and people’s inclination towards him, unlike other sects of the same time, can be attributed to several factors:
1. Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, acquired knowledge from four thousand scholars among the Tabe’een and issued fatwas during their time.
2. Allah provided Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, with prominent students who wrote down his opinions, fatwas, and ijtihadat. Abu Yusuf compiled the jurisprudence of Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) into the form of a book, which has been recognized as one of the most important legal sources in Islamic history. Both Imam Abu Yusuf and Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on them) compiled the hadiths narrated by the Imam in his fatwas, documenting his jurisprudence, such as in “Al-Athar” and many other books.
3. Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, was the first person to categorize jurisprudential issues according to their subjects: purity, prayer, and so on. Imam Abu Yusuf collected these issues into notebooks until the total reached five hundred thousand issues. His intelligent students, who numbered 700 teachers, returned to their countries, especially Afghanistan, Bukhara, India, and elsewhere. As a result, the jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) spread to the east, west, north, and south. Mullah Ali Qari (may Allah have mercy on him) estimated that one-third of Muslims worldwide follow the sect of Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him.
4. Imam Abu Yusuf, may Allah have mercy on him, reached the position of judge by the will of Almighty Allah to such an extent that he was recognized as the chief justice, adjudicating according to the sect of Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him. Most of the judges he appointed, and the works compiled in Dar al-Khilafah were also based on the sect of Imam Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him. All these factors contributed to the expansion of the jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) more than that of other schools of jurisprudence existing before it.
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