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The imam of the Hanafî school and a great mujtahid.
His full name was Nu'mân b. Thâbit b. Zûtâ b. Mâh. He was born at Kûfa in the year 80 (699).
He was the son of a wealthy family engaged in the cloth trade; he was himself a merchant, and after he turned to the life of learning he carried on his business through his partners.
His principal teacher was Hammâd b. Abî Sulaymân; he attended his lessons for eighteen years from the year 102 onwards.
The order he followed in jurisprudence is known from his own words: what is in the Book of God is taken first, then the Sunna, then consensus; in a question where no ruling is found, judgement is given by qiyâs.
It is reported that under the Umayyads he supported the rising of Zayd b. 'Alî materially and, through his legal opinions, morally. He also resisted the pressure of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansûr: when the judgeship of the newly founded city of Baghdad was offered to him, he did not accept it.
He died at Baghdad in Sha'bân of the year 150 (September 767); the caliph himself was present at the funeral prayer.
His Circle of Influence — His circle of teaching did not proceed by the dictation of a single man but by the method of deliberation in company: a question put to him was first debated with the students, and it was investigated whether there was a text bearing on it. From this circle came Abû Yûsuf, Muhammad al-Shaybânî and Zufar b. al-Hudhayl; it is stated that forty of his students reached the degree of ijtihâd.
His Works — Treatises on belief are attributed to him: the al-Fiqh al-akbar, the al-'Âlim wa'l-muta'allim, the al-Fiqh al-absat, the al-Risâla and the al-Wasiyya.
His Tomb and Complex — His grave is at Baghdad, in the quarter known today as al-A'zamiyya. In 459 (1067) Sharaf al-Mulk Abû Sa'd al-Mustawfî had a tomb built over his grave and a madrasa erected around it.
Differing Scholarly Views
The circumstances of his death. According to the sounder reports, because he did not accept the judgeship he was thrown into prison at Baghdad, tortured and beaten. It is also said that he was killed by poison; the source records at this point that the caliph thereby freed himself, at least in appearance, from a heavy charge in the eyes of the people. The atlas conveys these reports in the source's own manner and passes no judgement (rule #9, principle 3).
Two criticisms directed at him, and the source's answer.
① The criticism of ra'y: he was accused of making much use of qiyâs, indeed of preferring qiyâs to the text. The source answers plainly: "the claims advanced that Abû Hanîfa preferred qiyâs to the text are not correct."
② The criticism of his knowledge of hadith: it was claimed that he knew only some ten-odd hadiths, or 150, or 400 of which half were erroneous. The source states that what he transmitted with a chain of authority is not few, and that he transmitted 4000 hadiths.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · entry “Ebû Hanîfe”
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) — Mustafa Uzunpostalcı · vol. 10, pp. 131-138, entry “EBÛ HANÎFE”
The sources for this record are listed below (Mandatory Sources).
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Permanent ID: EA-Z-000290 · this address reaches the same record even if its name changes; use it when citing.
External records: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam article