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Chapter Two
The Knowledge of Abu Hanifa
and its Sources
In the history of Islamic
fiqh
, there is no man both so highly praised and so severely criticised as Abu
Hanifa, may Allah be pleased with him. This dichomtomy occurred because he was an independent
faqih
who
had an independent method of thought as a result of deep study. Such a person must have admirers and
detractors. Most of those who criticised him were incapable of following the course of his thinking or of
understanding his perception. Many were narrow-minded and considered any method which involved more
than the simple statements of the
Salaf
alone as being rejected innovation.
Some of his critics were very ignorant and knew nothing of his fear of Allah, integrity, great intellect and
knowledge, and were unaware of his high position with the common and elite alike. It was almost within his
own lifetime that lies were forged about him and that process continued apace after his death. On the other
hand, there were also those who went to excess in his praise.
His contemporary, al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad, a man renowned for scrupulousness, said about him, “Abu Hanifa
was a
faqih
, a man known for
fiqh
, reasonably wealthy and known for graciousness towards all who visited
him. He was steadfast in teaching knowledge both night and day. He had a good reputation and was often
silent. He was a man of few words. When a question on the lawful or unlawful would come to him, he was
good at pointing out the truth and he was loath to accept the ruler’s money.”
Ja‘far ibn ar-Rabi‘ said, “I sat with Abu Hanifa for five years and never saw anyone silent longer than him.
When he was asked a question of
fiqh
, sweat poured from him like a river before he spoke outloud.”
His contemporary, Malih ibn Waki‘ said about him, “Abu Hanifa was very trustworthy. By Allah, he had a
noble heart and preferred the pleasure of his Lord above everything. If swords had been used on him in the
Cause of Allah, he would have endured that. May Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him as He is
pleased with the pious.”
His contemporary, ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, described him as ‘the quintessence of knowledge.’
Ibn Jurayj observed about him at the beginning of his life, “He will have amazing importance in
knowledge.” After Abu Hanifa was an adult, he said, “He is the
faqih
. He is the
faqih
.”
When Malik was asked about ‘Uthman al-Batti, he said, “He was an average man.” When he was asked
about Ibn Shibrama, he said, “He was an average man.” When he was asked about Abu Hanifa, he said, “If he
had gone to these columns and formed an analogy which showed that they were made of wood, you would
have thought that they were wood.”
We cannot go into all the statements in praise of Abu Hanifa. All of his contemporaries, supporters or
opponents, described him as a
faqih
. Perhaps the best description is that of Ibn al-Mubarak who said that he
was ‘the quintessence of knowledge’. He had the heart of knowledge and took it as far as it would go. He
deduced questions, reached their essence and learned their basis and then built on them. He occupied himself
with thought, knowledge and debates. Thus he debated with the
mutakallimun
and refuted the erroneous views
of some of them and argued against various sects.
There were several treatises ascribed to him. He also has a
musnad
in
hadith
ascribed to him. If this
ascription is true, he has a position in
hadith
. So his position in
fiqh
and extrapolation, understanding of
hadiths
and derivation of the causes of judgements and building on them is of the highest calibre. One of his
contemporaries said that he did not know anyone with a better understanding of
hadith
than him. That was
only because he derived the reasons behind the judgements, so that it was almost as if he did not turn to the
outward words but understood the meanings and derived the intention behind them and connected that to
similar matters and built upon it.
From where did Abu Hanifa obtain all this knowledge? What were his sources? What was his background?
What enabled him to attain the high place given to him in the history of Islamic knowledge? The necessary
background for turning a person towards distinction in knowledge comprises four things.
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