In the introduction to his biography, al-Imaam Adh-Dhahabee said: Abu Haneefah, al-Imaam, the Jurist of the Ummah, scholar of Iraaq…’
The most interesting of his appellations is the title al-Imaam Adh-Dhahabee gave him, ‘the Jurist of the Ummah.’ Yet some nincompoop in South West Nigeria foolishly say al-Imaam Abu Haneefah was no Imaam at all.
Al-Imaam Abu Haneefah was of Persian origin. He was born in the year eighty of Hijrah in the period of the later Companions. He saw Anas bn Maalik when the latter arrived in Kufah but it is not authentic that he heard any hadith from any of the Companions. Most of his hadith reports were via ‘Ataa bn Abee Rabbaah. He also had reports from Ash-Sha’bee, al-‘Araj, Amr bn Deenaar, Naafi Maula Ibn Umar, Qataadah, Qays bn Muslim, Abdullaah bn Deenaar, Hammaad bn Abee Sulaymn [from whom he learnt Islamic Jurisprudence] and host of others scholars of repute.
Among those who reported from him were: Ibraaheem bn Tuhmaan, the scholar of Khurasaan; Abyad bn Al-Agharr, Asbaat bn Muhammad, Asad bn Amr, Ismaaeel bn Yahya, Ayyoob bn Haanee, al-Jaarood bn Yazeed, etc.
It was reported that al-Imaam an-Nasaa’ee and Ibn ‘Adiyy declared al-Imaam Abu Haneefah as weak in narrations; that allegation is rejected based on the position of other scholars of Jar’h Wa Ta’deel who him to be sound in hadith; the likes of Yahya bn Ma’een, Shu’bah, Israa’eel bn Yoonus, Yahya bn Aadam, al-Hasan bn Daawud and others. All these people were contemporaries of Abu Haneefah and they would know him better than others. Not only that, they had more knowledge than An-Nasaa’ee and Ibn ‘Adiyy.
Al-Imaam Yahyaa bn Ma’een said: ‘I never heard of anyone declaring him as weak; this is Shu’bah writing to him that he should narrate hadith to him and give him commands, and Shu’bah is the person he was.’
He also said: ‘By Allâh, he was sound in intellect and memorization.’
Alee bn al-Madeenee said: ‘He is trustworthy; there is no problem with him.’
Al-Imaam Adh-Dhahabee wrote in Siyar (6/390): Hayyaan bn Muusa al-Maroozee narrated; Ibn al-Mubaarak was asked: who is better in jurisprudence: Maalik or Abu Haneefah? Ibn al-Mubaaraak replied: ‘Abu Haneefah.’
Al-Khuraybee said: ‘None will say evil about Abu Haneefah except an envious person or an ignoramus.’
Yahyaa bn Sa’eed al-Qattaan – the Imaam of Jarh Wa Ta’deel in his time – said: ‘We should not deny Allâh; we have not heard better views as that of Abu Haneefah; we have adopted much of his views.’
Alee bn ‘Aasim said: if the knowledge of Abu Haneefah is measured against the knowledge of the people of his time, that of Abu Haneefah will outweigh.’
Hafs bn Ghiyath said: ‘Views of Abu Haneefah in jurisprudence is tiny than hair; none will find fault in it except an ignorant person.’
Jareer said: Mugheerah said to me: ‘Go and sit with Abu Haneefah and learn Fiqh from him; if Ibrahim an-Nakh’ee were to be alive, he would sit and learn from him.’
Al-Imaam Ash-Shaafi’i said: ‘People follow the footsteps of Abu Haneefah in jurisprudence.’
Al-Imaam Abu Daawud said: ‘May Allâh bestow mercy on Maalik, he was a Imaam; may Allâh bestow mercy on Ash-Shaafi’i, hhe was a Imaam; may Allâh bestow mercy on Abu Haneefah, he was a Imaam.’
Abu Mu’aawiyyah Muhammad bn bn Khaazim Ad-Dareer said about him: ‘The love of Abu Haneefah is from the Sunnah.’
Al-Imaam Adh-dhahabee concluded: ‘The leadership in Fiqh and its nitty-gritty are all left with this Imaam. This is a matter that there is no doubt. So it should not be strange if two volumes of work could be written as his biography. Radiyallahu an’hu wa rahima-hu.’
Al-Imaam Abu Haneefah died as a martyr in Baghdaad in the year 150 Hijrah nat age seventy.
Response to the Alleged Criticism of Abu Haneefah by al-Imaam Abdullaah the son of al-Imaam Ahmad.
Al-‘Allaamah Saalih al-Fauzaan was asked: What is the standpoint of student of knowledge as regard what has come in some books of scholars regarding a serious criticism against Abu Haneefah; an example of that is what is written in Kitaabus-Sunnah of Al-Imaam Abdullaah the son of al-Imaam Ahmad, and others? What should be the position regarding that?
Answer: This matter is not well-known to the people except what some ignoramuses (such as the Jabtawis in South West Nigeria) spread about in some television stations in two days; if not that, people are not aware of that at all.
Yes it is there in Kitaabus-Sunnah of al-Imaam Abdullaah the son of al-Imaam Ahmad in the last edition attributed to him. As for the published edition, there is nothing as such thus it was in the later editions.
The intention of the Salaf that talked against Abu Haneefah was from the perspective of the fact that he used to rely on analogy, that he would not cite hadith as proofs rather Qiyaas most times. That was the reason those who criticised him did so – that he was relying on Qiyaas.
There is no doubt that Qiyaas is from the sources from which the rulings of the Sharee’ah can be derived. The bases of the Islamic legislation are: Qur’an, Sunnah, Ijmaa and Qiyaas only that great scholars would not resort to Qiyaas except when necessity called for it; that if they could not get proofs from the Qur’an and Sunnah, nor Ijmaa, then they would pick al-Qiyaas.
Some said Abu Haneefah had a vast knowledge regarding Qiyaas. This was the reason he was criticised and faulted by some scholars over some of what emanated from him due to the fact that he was living in Iraaq during the time of tribulations and lies; lies were commonplace then and some people used to fabricate hadith upon the Messenger of Allâh (salaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam), so Abu Haneefah resorted to Qiyaas so that he would not report from fabricators and liars because lies were widespread in Iraaq then unlike Hijaaz, Makah and Madeenah where were people of narrations and hadiths, and were upright in memorization. As for Iraaq, there were many sects so there were many fabrications and lies upon the Messenger of Allâh (salaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam). So this was the reason Abu Haneefah relied on Qiyaas.
There is no doubt therefore that he was a great Imaam; he was the first to come among the Four Imaams, and the first to have reports from the Taabioon; it was said that he had reports from the Companions. So he was a great Imaam. There is no statement about his ‘Aqeedah or Deen rather it was his going deep into Qiyaas; this is what was held against him, may Allâh bestow mercy on him. So he is to be excused as we said to you because his time was filled with lies and fabrication of hadith especially in Iraaq.
Nevertheless, we do not love that this kind of matter is spread. So the portion in the book on this matter is not there in the edition which scholars rely on in the time of Ash-Shaykh Abdullaah bn Hasan who was the head of the Judiciary in Makah; the edition which he published did not have this addition (from Abdullaah ibn Al-Imaam Ahmad), rather it came from some researchers, may Allâh forgive them, who added it to the main book from which they began to cause confusion about.
All the same, we love Abu Haneefah; he is our Imaam because he was among the Imaams of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa’ah, we shall never say evil about him.[Source: ajurry.com].
The other allegation that al-Imaam Abu Haneefah used to say that the Qur’aan was created, al-Imaam Al-Albaanee destroyed the allegation in Mukhtasar Uluww pp.154-157.
As for the allegation of Ir’jaa, then it remains an allegation to be proved by whoever says al-Imaam Abu Haneefah was a Mur’ji. Here, his words must be seen.
Rather we saw what proved the opposite just as Ash-Shaykh Al-Fauzaan said above; Al-Imaam abu Ja’far At-Tahaawee Al-Hanafee wrote in his Al-Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah:
‘This is the mention of ‘Aqeedah of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa’ah upon the Madh’hab of jurists of the Ummah: Abu Haneefah an-Nu’maan bn Thaabit al-Koofee...’
And he wrote in the Aqeedah what destroys al-Ir’jaa:
‘We do not say: No sin will affect the faith of whoever is guilty of it.’
That statement destroys the pillar of Ir’jaa which al-Imaam Abu Haneefah has been accused of.
Allâh knows best.
