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

His involvement in learning
 
 
But to which group did he go? As is seen from the historical sources, there were three fields of knowledge 
at that time: circles which discussed the fundamentals of dogma, which was the arena of the different sects; 
circles which studied the 
hadiths
of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; and 
circles which deduced 
fiqh
from the Book and 
Sunna
and gave 
fatwa
about things which arose. 
We have three versions of what happened. One mentions that when he devoted himself to knowledge, he 
turned to 
fiqh
after examining all the sciences which were known at that time. Two other versions clearly state 
that he first selected the science of 
kalam
and debated with the sects and then Allah directed him to 
fiqh
to 
which he completely devoted himself. We will examine the three versions. 
It is related by various paths, including Abu Yusuf, that Abu Hanifa was asked, “How did you 
happen to come to 
fiqh
?” He replied, “I will tell you. Success is from Allah and praise is His as He 
deserves and merits. When I wanted to learn knowledge, I looked at all the forms of knowledge and 
read some of them and thought about the end and usefulness of each. I said, ‘I will go into 
kalam
.’ Then 
I looked and found that it had a bad aim and contained little benefit. When a man is proficient in it, he 
cannot speak openly and cast aside every evil and is likely to be called a sectarian.

---

“Then I examined literature and grammar, and found that the logical end of that discipline is to sit 
with a child and teach him grammar and literature. I examined poetry and saw that its end was eulogy, 
satire, lies and tearing apart the 
deen
. Then I thought about the forms of Qur’an recitation (
qira’at
) and 
said, ‘When I reach the end of it, young people will gather to read with me and discuss the Qur’an and 
its meanings and that is difficult.’ So I said, ‘I will seek 
hadith
.’ But then I said, ‘To amass a lot of it I 
will have to have a long life before I will be of any use to people, and even then only youths will gather 
around me who will probably accuse me of lying and poor memory and that will be a burden for me 
until the Day of Rising.’
“Then I turned to 
fiqh
and no matter which way I looked at it, it only increased in esteem and I could 
not find any fault in it. I saw that it involved sitting with scholars, 
fuqaha’
, shaykhs and people of 
insight and taking on their character. I saw that it is only by knowing it that the obligations are properly 
performed and the 
deen
and worship established. Seeking this world and the Next World can only be 
done through it. If anyone desires to seek this world through it, he seeks a weighty matter and will be 
elevated by it. If someone wants to worship and divest himself, no one can say, ‘He worships without 
knowledge.’ Rather it will be said, ‘This is 
fiqh
and acting by knowledge.’”
This anedote is illustrative of the sciences which were prevalent in his time and shows that he chose 
between them as he was inclined. 
The second transmission is reported from Yahya ibn Shayban. He reports that Abu Hanifa said: “I 
was a man given to debate in 
kalam
and spent some time indulging in it. The people of debate and 
disputation were mostly located in Basra. So I went to Basra about twenty times, staying more or less a 
year each time. I argued with the groups of Kharijites: Ibadites, Sufrites and other Kharijite sects. I 
considered