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

 
 
 
Foreword
 
 
It says in 
al-Khayrat al-Hisan
by
 
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami al-Makki: “The renown of a man in the past is 
indicated by the disagreement of people regarding him. Do you not see that when ‘Ali died, may Allah 
ennoble his face, there were two parties: one of which intensely loved him and the other of which intensely 
hated him?” 
This test is true of many people and can also be applied to Abu Hanifa. People were partisan about him to 
the extent that some people practically put him in the ranks of the Prophets and claimed that the Torah gave 
the good news of him and that Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had mentioned him by 
name and stated that he was the Lamp of his Community. They attributed to him endless virtues and qualities 
and exalted him above his rank. On the other hand, some people were partisan against him to a fanatical 
extent, accusing him of being a heretic and of leaving the path, corrupting the deen and abandoning the 
Sunna
. 
Indeed, they accused him of contradicting it and giving 
fatwas
regarding the 
deen
without evidence or clear 
authority. Some of them went to excess in attacking him and were not content with unfounded falsification, 
but were so intensely hostile that they attacked his 
deen
, personality and faith. 
This happened even while Abu Hanifa was still alive and discussing with his students the requirements of 
fatwas
: what should be taken from 
hadith
, what should be derived by analogy and rules, and how to conduct 
ijtihad 
in a proper manner. 
Why was there such disagreement about him? There are various reasons for it which shall be examined in 
detail in the course of this study. But it is appropriate to mention here one reason which may be the basis of 
the others. Abu Hanifa had a forceful personality which caused his method in 
fiqh
to spread beyond his own 
circle and region to other regions of the Islamic world. People discussed his views in most areas of the Islamic 
world, some opposing them and some agreeing with them.
His views had opponents and supporters. Those who depended on texts alone regarded them as an 
innovation in the 
deen 
and strongly objected to them. Sometimes the point of objection was not even the 
opinion of Abu Hanifa, who was a scrupulous and godfearing man, but was merely something wrongly 
attributed to him. The opponent would speak of it because he saw it as an innovation without knowing its 
basis or who had actually said it. The sharpness of the criticism was sometimes blunted when the critic saw 
him or learned the evidence on which the judgement was based. Sometimes the critic would then respect the 
opinion and agree with him. 
An illustration of such an instance is found in respect of al-Awza‘i, the 
faqih
of Syria, who was a 
contemporary of Abu Hanifa. He said to ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, “Who is this innovator who has emerged 
in Kufa called Abu Hanifa?” Ibn al-Mubarak did not answer him, but began to mention some difficult 
questions and how to understand them and give 
fatwa
regarding them. He asked, “Who gave these 
fatwas
?” 
He replied, “A shaykh I met in Iraq.” Al-Awza‘i said, “This is a noble shaykh. Go and take a lot from him.” 
“It is Abu Hanifa,” he stated. After that al-Awza‘i and Abu Hanifa met in Makka and discussed the questions 
which Ibn al-Mubarak had mentioned. He investigated them. When they parted, al-Awza‘i said to Ibn al-
Mubarak, “I envy the man his great knowledge and intelligence. I ask forgiveness of Allah. I was in clear 
error. Devote yourself to the man. He is not as they say about him.” (
al-Khayrat al-Hisan
, p. 33) 
The conflict between his supporters and opponents intensified in the fourth century AH when 
madhhab