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Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘manAbu Hanifa al-Nu‘man (al-Imam al-A'zam) ("The Greatest Imam") (Nu'man bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Mahan) (c. 699-767). A theologian and religious lawyer. He is the eponym -- the person for whom something is named -- of the school of the Hanafites, one of the four orthodox schools (madhhab) of Islamic jurisprudence. His grandfather is said to have been taken prisoner in Kabul and transported to Kufa, an early Arab town on the Euphrates River in present day Iraq, where Abu Hanifa was born. He studied at Kufa and gradually gained influence as an authority on legal questions, founding a rationalist school which was named after him. Afghanistan adheres to the Hanafite interpretation of Islamic law which has the largest in number of adherents; is the most liberal of the four schools; and permits a certain amount of personal reasoning and free judgment in arriving at legal decisions.
Abu Hanifa was born in Kufa during the reign of the powerful Umayyad caliph 'Abdul Malik bin Marwan. Acclaimed as al-Imam al-A'zam, or al-A'dham (the Great Imam), Nu'man bin Thabit Zuta bin Mah was better known by his kunya Abu Hanifa. It was not a true kunya, as he did not have a son called Hanifa, but an epithetical one meaning pure in monotheistic belief. His father, Thabit bin Zuta, a trader from Kabul, part of Khorasan in Persia (the capital of modern day Afghanistan), was 40 years old at the time of Abu Hanifa's birth.
Abu Hanifa's ancestry is generally accepted as being of non-Arab origin as suggested by the etymology of the names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather (Mah). The historian, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, records a statement from Abu Hanifa's grandson, Ismail bin Hammad, who gave Abu Hanifa's lineage as Thabit bin Numan bin Marzban and claiming to be of Persian origin. The discrepancy in the names, as given by Ismail of Abu Hanifa's grandfather and great-grandfather are thought to be due to Zuta's adoption of a Muslim name (Numan) upon his acceptance of Islam and that Mah and Marzban were titles or official designations in Persia. Further differences of opinion exist on his ancestry. Abu Muti, for example, describes Abu Hanifa as an Arab citing his ancestry as Numan bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Yahya bin Zaid bin Asad. The widely accepted opinion, however, is that he was of Persian ancestry.
Abu Hanifa grew up in a period of oppression during the caliphates of Abdul Malik bin Marwan and his son Walid bin Abdul Malik. The governorship of Iraq was under the control of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, a loyal follower of Abdul Malik. During his governorship, leaders in religion and learning were especially targeted by Hajjaj as they were proving to be an obstacle to Abdul Malik's establishment of his rule across Arabia and Iraq. Consequently, Abu Hanifa had no interest nor the opportunity to acquire any education in his early childhood. He was simply content with following in the footsteps of his ancestors as a businessman.
Abu Hanifa set up a silk weaving business where he showed scrupulous honesty and fairness. Once his agent in another country, sold some silk cloth on his behalf but forgot to point out a slight defect to the purchasers. When Abu Hanifa learned this, he was greatly distressed as he had no means of refunding their money. He immediately ordered the entire proceeds of the sale of the consignment of silk to be distributed to the poor.
Following the deaths of Hajjaj in 95 A.H. and Walid in 96 A.H., justice and good administration began to make a comeback with the caliphates of Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik and thereafter Umar bin Abdul Aziz. Umar encouraged education to such an extent that every home became a madrasa. Abu Hanifa also began to take an interest in education which was heightened further by the unexpected advice of as-Sha'bi (d. 722), one of Kufa's most well-known scholars.
While running an errand for his mother, he happened to pass the home of as-Sha'bi. Sha'bi, mistaking him for a student, asked him whose classes he attended. When Abu Hanifa responded that he did not attend any classes, Sha'bi said, "I see signs of intelligence in you. You should sit in the company of learned men." Taking Sha'bi's advice, Abu Hanifa embarked on a prolific quest for knowledge that would in due course have a profound impact on the history of Islam. His early education was achieved through madrasas and it is here that he learned the Qur'an and Hadith, doing exceptionally well in his studies. He spent a great deal of time in the tutelage of Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, a great jurist of Kufa.
Abu Hanifa was one of the distinguished students of Ja'far al-Sadiq, as has been confirmed by Ibn Hajar al Makki in his Sawaiq al Muhriqa, Allamah Shiblinji in his Nur al Absar, Abdul Haleem Jindi and Mohaqiq Abu Zohra and various other Muhadatheen and Ulema have clarified that Abu Hanifa was a student of Ja'far al-Sadiq. Abu Hanifa's initial chain of knowledge was with Imam Baqar and he subsequently expanded this chain of knowledge with Ja'far al-Sadiq.
Abu Hanifa was born 67 years after the death of Muhammad, but during the time of the companions of Muhammad, some of whom lived on until Abu Hanifa's youth. Anas bin Malik, Muhammad's personal attendant, died in 712 and another companion, Abu Tufayl Amir bin Wathilah, died in 719, when Abu Hanifa was 20 years old. No evidence exists, however, to indicate Abu Hanifa had narrated any hadith from the companions although there is no doubt that he was a "tabi'i" (one who had met a companion of Muhammad) and had met Anas bin Malik.
It is perceived this is due to the strict age requirements for learning the discipline of hadith that existed at the time of Kufa where no one below the age of 20 was admitted to a hadith school. The scholars of the time felt that anyone below the age of 20 would not have attained the maturity required to be able to understand the meaning of the narrations.
In 763, al-Mansur, the 'Abbasid monarch offered Abu Hanifa the post of Chief Judge of the State, but he declined to accept the offer, choosing to remain independent. His student Abu Yusuf was appointed Qadi al-Qadat (Chief Judge of the State) of al-Mansur regime instead of himself.
In his reply to al-Mansur, Abu Hanifa excused himself by saying that he did not regard himself fit for the post. Al-Mansur, who had his own ideas and reasons for offering the post, lost his temper and accused Abu Hanifa of lying.
"If I am lying," Abu Hanifa said, "then my statement is doubly correct. How can you appoint a liar to the exalted post of a Chief Qadi (Judge)?"
Incensed by this reply, al-Mansur had Abu Hanifa arrested and put in prison where he was tortured. Even there, the indomitable jurist continued to teach those who were permitted to come to him.
In 767, Abu Hanifa died in prison. It was said that so many people attended his funeral that the funeral service was repeated six times for more than 50,000 people who had amassed before he was actually buried.
Nu'man, Abu Hanifa al- see Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man
Hanifa, Abu see Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man
Imam al-A'zam, al- see Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man
"The Greatest Imam" see Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man
Nu'man bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Mahan see Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man
The Hanafi school is one of the four traditional major Sunni schools (maddhab) of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). Its eponym is the 8th-century Kufan scholar, Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man ibn Thabit, a tabi'i -- a companion successor -- of Persian origin whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.
Under the patronage of the Abbasids, the Hanafi school flourished in Iraq and spread eastwards, firmly establishing itself in Khorasan and Transoxiana by the 9th-century, where it enjoyed the support of the local Samanid rulers. Turkic expansion introduced the school to the Indian subcontinent and Anatolia, and it was adopted as the chief legal school of the Ottoman Empire.
The Hanafi school is the maddhab -- school of thought -- with the largest number of adherents, followed by approximately one third of Muslims worldwide. It is prevalent in Turkey, Pakistan, the Balkans, the Levant, Central Asia, India, Bangladesh, Egypt and Afghanistan, in addition to parts of Russia, China and Iran. The other primary Sunni legal schools are the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools.
As the fourth Caliph, Ali transferred the Islamic capital to Kufa (a city in Iraq), and many of the first generation of Muslims settled there. The Hanafi school of law based many of its rulings on the earliest Islamic traditions as transmitted by Sahaba (the Prophet's companions) residing in Iraq. Thus, the Hanafi school came to be known as the Kufan or Iraqi school in earlier times. Ali and Abdullah ibn Masud, formed much of the base of the school, as well as other personalities such as Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja'far al-Sadiq, and Zayd ibn Ali. Many jurists and historians lived in Kufa including one of Abu Hanifa's main teachers, Hammad ibn Sulayman.
The 5th Sunni sheikh and 6th Shi'ite Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq ( a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) 6was reportedly a teacher of Sunni Imams Abu Hanifah and Malik ibn Anas, who in turn was a teacher of Imam Ash-Shafi'i, who in turn was a teacher of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Thus all of the four great Imams of Sunni Fiqhs are connected to Ja'far, whether directly or indirectly.
In the early history of Islam, Hanafi doctrine was not fully compiled. The fiqh was fully compiled and documented in the 11th century.
The Turkish rulers were some of the earliest adopters of the relatively more flexible Hanafi fiqh, and preferred it over the traditionalist Medina-based fiqhs which favored correlating all laws to Quran and Hadiths and disfavored Islamic law based on discretion of jurists. The Abbasids patronized the Hanafi school from the 10th century onwards. The Seljuk Turkish dynasties of 11th and 12th centuries, followed by Ottomans, adopted Hanafi fiqh. The Turkic expansion spread Hanafi fiqh through Central Asia and into Indian subcontinent, with the establishment of the Seljuk Empire, Timurid dynasty, Khanates, Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Empire. Throughout the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb, the Hanafi based Fatawa-e-Alamgiri served as the legal, juridical, political, and financial code of most of South Asia.
Hanafi usul -- Hanafi principles of Islamic jurisprudence -- recognizes the Qur'an, hadith, consensus (ijma), legal analogy (qiyas), juristic preference (istihsan) and normative customs (urf) as sources of the Sharia. Abu Hanifa is regarded by modern scholarship as the first to formally adopt and institute qiyas as a method to derive Islamic law when the Qur'an and hadith are silent or ambiguous in their guidance; and is noted for his general reliance on personal opinion (ra'y).
The foundational texts of Hanafi madhhab, credited to Abū Ḥanīfa and his students Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, include Al-fiqh al-akbar (theological book on jurisprudence), Al-fiqh al-absat (general book on jurisprudence), Kitab al-athar (thousands of hadiths with commentary), Kitab al-kharaj and Kitab al-siyar (doctrine of war against unbelievers, distribution of spoils of war among Muslims, apostasy and taxation of dhimmi).
The Hanafi school favors the use of istihsan, or juristic preference, a form of ra'y which enables jurists to opt for weaker positions if the results of qiyas lead to an undesirable outcome for the public interest (maslaha) Although istihsan did not initially require a scriptural basis, criticism from other schools prompted Hanafi jurists to restrict its usage to cases where it was textually supported from the 9th-century onwards.
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