Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad

Abu Hanifa’s knowledge transmitted by his students 
 
 
It is clear that the only method we can use to discover the 
fiqh
of Abu Hanifa is by way of his companions. 
We see that they wrote down the issues which they discussed with their shaykh after a specific opinion had 
been reached. We must, however, take note of three things: 
• The writings of the companions of Abu Hanifa that have been mentioned do not preclude him having 
recorded his 
fiqh
himself.
• The statements transmitted by his companions lack any proofs other than transmitted traditions or reports, 
reliance on the 
fatwa
of a Companion, or the position of a 
Tabi‘i
. Rarely are analogy or reliance on 
istihsan
mentioned, except in the books of Abu Yusuf, and he only reports them occasionally. There is no 
doubt that this does not take us far towards understanding the use of analogy which was so strong in Abu 
Hanifa’s time that his opponents accused him of going too deeply into it and claimed that his analogies 
left the 
Sunna
and exceeded the scope of the Muslim 
mujtahid
.
When we read the books of ash-Shaybani, we only rarely find an analogy in which the underlying 
reason is clarified so that we know how it was deduced and pursued. Also, where is the 
istihsan
of Abu 
Hanifa which his students could not dispute because of his profound perception and insight? We have no 
evidence that the later form of deduction was the same method of thought as that followed by Abu Hanifa. 
• Abu Hanifa’s companions served his school by transmitting its teachings clearly to following generations 
and their concern made Abu Hanifa respected. Each of those companions was an imam in his own right. 
Abu Yusuf was a respected and important imam. He was the Chief 
Qadi
of the government for a long 
time. Muhammad ash-Shaybani was an imam like Abu Yusuf in both 
fiqh
of opinion and 
fiqh
of 
hadith
. 
He also related the 
Muwatta’
of Malik as he related the 
fiqh
of Iraq and he knew both. 
We have no option but to take Abu Hanifa’s 
fiqh
from those who accompanied him and so we should 
briefly mention those of them who transmitted his 
fiqh
. Abu Hanifa had many students. Some travelled to him 
and stayed for a time and then returned home after learning his method and technique. Others remained with 
him. More than once, he mentioned the companions who remained with him: “They are thirty-six men: 
twenty-eight are fit to be 
qadis
; six are able to give 
fatwa
; and two – Abu Yusuf and Zafar – are fit to teach 
the 
qadis
and those who give 
fatwa
.” For Abu Hanifa to make such a statement, these students must have 
already been mature. Because of his age, this would exclude ash-Shaybani, although he is in fact the major 
source for the transmission of the 
fiqh
of Abu Hanifa to subsequent generations. 
We will take a brief look at some of the companions who were responsible for recording the 
fiqh
of Abu 
Hanifa, whether they were with him for a long time or whether, like Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani, 
they were not. The criterion is whether they play an important role in the transmission of his 
fiqh
.