Abu Hanifa (; 5 September 699 – 18 June 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, and ascetic, and the founder and eponym of the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence.Pakatchi, Ahmad and Umar, Suheyl, "Abū Ḥanīfa", in: Encyclopaedia Islamica, Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. The Hanafi school remains the most widely practised of the Sunni schools and is extensively followed and applied throughout the Muslim world, predominating in Central and South Asia, Turkey, Africa, the Balkans, Russia, and parts of the Arab world.
In his youth Abu Hanifa travelled to the Hejaz and studied in the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and he later became established as a leading religious authority in Kufa. As a jurist and theologian, Abu Hanifa became particularly associated with the use of reason in both jurisprudential rulings and theology. He played an important role as a theoretical systematizer of technical legal thought and exercised considerable influence over his students in Kufa, especially Abu Yusuf, although he never held an official post as qadi. His school was distinguished from other schools of law by its use of qiyās (analogy), istiḥsān (juristic preference), and raʾy (personal judgement) to resolve new legal problems arising in the expanding Muslim world. He also emphasized the conception of an international Muslim community united by the Qurʾān and Sunnah while avoiding extremes.
After his death, his school continued to develop, and most of its adherents eventually also came to follow the Maturidi school of theology. Al-Dhahabi described him as "one of the geniuses of the sons of Adam" who "combined jurisprudence, worship, scrupulousness, and generosity". His two principal students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, subsequently became celebrated jurists in their own right.
Abu Hanifa maintained an independent position toward political authority. He suffered punishment and imprisonment under both the Umayyads and the Abbasids because of these independent views and his refusal to accept the official office of qadi in Kufa. He ultimately died in prison in Baghdad in 767 (AH 150).
Name There is no disagreement with his first name being Nu'man in the Muslim scholarship, although its meaning is uncertain. The range of meanings given for it include: blood on which the body survives, which some suggest is the soul; the name of a pleasantly smelling red or purple flower; or the fa'lan (template) from the word ni'mah (blessing), as Muslims believe Abu Hanifah is God's blessing upon His creation.
How Abu Hanifa earned his patronymic is disputed. According to some linguists, including Muhyi al-Din, ḥanīfa refers to "inkpot". He was often seen with one, thus earning his name this way. According to this interpretation, his name literally means the "Father of the Inkpot". Alternatively, Hanifah is the feminine form of hanif, which means a recluse (nasik) or submitter (Muslim).
However, some historians contest he earned it as he had a daughter named Hanifa. His name would then mean the "Father of Hanifa". The opposing side believes he never had a daughter with such name.
Biography Birth Abu Hanifa came from Central Asia, although sources disagree on his precise birthplace, variously identifying Kufa, which is supported by the majority, Kabul, Anbar, Nasa, or Termez. Historians disagree with regards to where he was born, though they agree he was born during the period of the Umayyad Caliphate. However, they differ regarding the year: 699 CE / 80 AH (held by the majority of classical Muslim scholarship), 696 CE / 77 AH, 689 CE / 70 AH, or 680 CE / 61 AH. Many historians choose the latest date, 699 CE / 80 AH; however, Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari believed the date of 689 CE / 70 AH is supported by two considerations: First, Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-Attar considered the narration of Abu Hanifa's son, Hammad, from Malik ibn Anas to be an example of an older man's narration rather than a younger man. Second, Abu Hanifa was concerned with who should succeed Ibrahim al-Nakha'i after his death in 96 AH. This concern would have only arisen if he was older than 19, since it is considered he only took his religious studies seriously after then. If Abu Hanifa was born in 80 AH, Abu Hanifa would have been 16 at the time of al-Nakhai's death.
Family background Abu Hanifa is thought to be of Persian ancestry.S. H. Nasr (1975), "The religious sciences", in R.N. Frye, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4, Cambridge University Press. p.474: "Abū Ḥanīfah, who is often called the "grand imam"(al-Imam al-'Azam) was PersianCyril Glasse, "The New Encyclopedia of Islam", Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. p.23: "Abu Hanifah, a Persian, was one of the great jurists of Islam and one of the historic Sunni Mujtahids" However, he has also been stated to have been an Arab from the tribe of Azd, or descended from the Zuṭṭ, a Jat community present in the lower Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age. His grandfather, named Zuta, may have been captured by Muslim troops in Kabul and sold as a slave in Kufa, where he was purchased and freed by an Arab tribesman of the Taym Allah, a branch of the Banu Bakr. Zuta and his progeny thereafter would have become clients of the Taym Allah, hence the sporadic references to Abu Hanifa as "al-Taymi". Abu Hanifa was also described of being originally from the Arabs of Anbar in Iraq, who lived there before Islam. Hanafi sources confirm that he was of Arab stock, and that Thabit ibn al-Nu'man ibn al-Marzuban was from the Banu Yahya ibn Zayd ibn Asad, from the Arab tribe of Azd who migrated from Yemen and settled in Iraqi lands after the collapse of the Marib Dam due to the Great Flood, becoming part of the Nabataeans of Iraq. As Abu Hanifa's family were Christians, which was the religion of the Arabs of Iraq and the religion of the Arab Lakhmid kingdom. the name of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man has a great historical significance regarding the affiliation of his ancestors to the Arabs of Iraq who inhabited it before Islam, as it is the name of an important king of the Arab kings of Iraq, who had campaigns against the Sasanian Empire. According to Abu Hanifa's grandson, Abu Hanifa was the descendant of free Persians who had never been enslaved. He called Abu Hanifa's great-grandfather "Marzuban", which is an Arabicized form of the Sasanian military office of marzban, held by governors of the frontier provinces of the Sasanian realm. historian Naji Ma'ruf argues that the statement of Abu Hanifa's grandson, Ismail ibn Hammad, is interpreted to mean that Abu Hanifa's grandson was only referring to the place, rather than the ethnicity. That is to say, Abu Hanifa was from an Arab family that lived within Sasanian borders, not necessarily a Persian family.
Early life and scholarship There is scant biographical information about Abu Hanifa. It is generally known that he worked a producer and seller of khazz, a type of silk clothing material. He attended lectures on jurisprudence conducted by the Kufan scholar Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman (d. 737). He also possibly learnt jurisprudence (fiqh) and narrated Hadith from the Meccan scholar Ata ibn Abi Rabah (d. ) while on pilgrimage.
When Hammad died, Abu Hanifa succeeded him as the principal authority on Islamic law in Kufa and the chief representative of the Kufan school of jurisprudence. Abu Hanifa gradually gained influence as an authority on legal questions, founding a moderate rationalist school of Islamic jurisprudence that was named after him.
Adulthood and death
In 763, al-Mansur, the Abbasid caliph offered Abu Hanifa the post of qadi al-qudat (chief judge of the state), but he declined the offer, choosing to remain independent. His student Abu Yusuf was later appointed to the post by Caliph Harun al-Rashid.
In his reply to al-Mansur, Abu Hanifa said that he was not fit for the post. Al-Mansur, who had his own ideas and reasons for offering the post accused Abu Hanifa of lying.
"If I am lying," Abu Hanifa responded, "then my statement is doubly correct. How can you appoint a liar to the exalted post of a qadi?"
Incensed by this reply, al-Mansur had Abu Hanifa arrested, locked in prison and tortured. It was said that once in prison he was never fed nor cared for.Ya'qubi, vol. III, p.86; Muruj al-dhahab, vol. III, pp. 268–270. Even in prison, the jurist continued to teach those who were permitted to visit him.
On 15 Rajab 150, (15 August 767) Abu Hanifa died in prison. The cause of his death is not clear, as it was said by some that Abu Hanifa issued a legal opinion for bearing arms against al-Mansur, so al-Mansur had him poisoned.Najeebabadi, Akbar S. (2001). The History of Islam. vol, 2. Darussalam Press. pp. 287. . His fellow prisoner and founder of Karaite Judaism, Anan ben David, was said to have received life-saving counsel from Abu Hanifa.Nemoy, Leon. (1952). Karaite Anthology: Excerpts from the Early Literature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 4–5. . It was said that so many people attended his funeral that the funeral service was repeated six times for the more than 50,000 people who had massed before he was actually buried. The historian al-Khatib said that for a full 20 days people performed funeral prayers for him. Many years later, the Abu Hanifa Mosque was built in the Adhamiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad. Abu Hanifa also supported the cause of Zayd ibn Ali and Ibrahim al Qamar, both Alid Zaydi Imams.
The structures of the tombs of Abu Hanifa and Abdul Qadir Gilani were destroyed by Shah Ismail of the Safavid Empire in 1508.Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire In 1533, the Ottomans conquered Baghdad and rebuilt the tombs of Abu Hanifa and Abdul Qadir, as well as other Sunni sites.
Sources and methodology The sources from which Abu Hanifa derived Islamic law, in order of importance and preference, were: the Qur'an, the authentic narrations of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (known as hadith), consensus of the Muslim community (ijma'), analogical reasoning (qiyas), juristic discretion (istihsan) and the customs of the local population enacting Muslim laws ('urf). The development of analogical reason and the scope and boundaries by which it may be used was recognized by the majority of Muslim jurists, but its establishment as a legal tool was the result of the Hanafi school. While it was likely used by some of his teachers, Abu Hanifa is regarded by modern scholarship as the first to formally adopt and institute analogical reason as a part of Islamic law.See:*Reuben Levy, Introduction to the Sociology of Islam, pg. 236–237. London: Williams and Norgate, 1931–1933.*Chiragh Ali, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840–1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 280. Edited by Charles Kurzman. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2002.*Mansoor Moaddel, Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse, pg. 32. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.*Keith Hodkinson, Muslim Family Law: A Sourcebook, pg. 39. Beckenham: Croom Helm Ltd., Provident House, 1984.*Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary, edited by Hisham Ramadan, pg. 18. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.*Christopher Roederrer and , Jurisprudence, pg. 471. Lansdowne: Juta and Company Ltd., 2007.*Nicolas Aghnides, Islamic Theories of Finance, pg. 69. New Jersey: Gorgias Press LLC, 2005.*Kojiro Nakamura, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." Orient, v. 10, pgs. 89–113. 1974