The first leading jurisprudent: Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man (150/767)

Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man b. Thabit b. Zuti al-Kufi (80—150/699—767)⁷ was ‘the master of the adherents of personal judgement (imam ahl al-ray)’ and ‘thejurist of Iraq’. He was one of Islam’s most distinguished figures and the founder of the Hanafi school.

Abu Hanifa was a disciple of al-Hakam b. 'Utayba, the grand master of Kufa, and studied for 18 years under Hammad b. Abi Sulayman, who transmitted material from Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and 'Amir al-Sha'bi. Drawn to the jurisprudence characteristic of Kufa, which was based on analogical reasoning (qiyas) and personal judgement (ray), he succeeded Hammad upon his teacher’s death. He was familiar with Meccan jurisprudence through 'Ata’ b. Abi Rabah, the jurist of the Successors and the leader of what had been Ibn al-'Abbas’s study circle in the Grand Mosque. He learned Medinan jurisprudence through Shihab al-Zuhri, who memorized the learning of ‘the seven jurists’ of Medina, Nafi', the chief transmitter of material from the renowned hadith scholar 'Abdullah b. 'Umar, Muhammad b. al-Munkadir, the distinguished Qur’anic reciter, and the jurist and Qur’anic reciter Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari. He was also in touch with the three leading masters of Ahl al-Bayt: Zayd b. 'Ali, Muhammad al-Baqir b. 'Ali b. al-Husayn, and his son Ja'far al-Sadiq.

Abu Hanifa, distinguished by his expansive use of analogical and deductive reasoning (istinbdt), dedicated his efforts to imposing and estimating the occurrence of cases. He often employed rational argument and was open to learning opinions superior to his own. When he encountered one, he would allow it to be presented and then adopt it. When he debated with other jurists about legal analogy, they would often agree with him out of fear that he would persuade his opponent. The Caliph al-Mansur twice offered him an official position. Yazid b. 'Umar b. Hubayra, the Umayyad deputy in Iraq, had him whipped when he de­clined to serve as judge in Kufa. When Abu Hanifa refused the caliph for the second time, the latter jailed him and let him die in prison. It is reported that the caliph poisoned him for his affiliation with Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, and thus he is considered a martyr.

Abu Hanifa explained his approach to Ijtihdd as follows. He would adopt what was in the Qur’an, provided that it applied directly to the issue at hand. If he did not find anything applicable, he would then consider the authentic Prophetic Sunnah and, if he found noth­ing there, the sayings of the Companions. Of these sayings, he would adopt that which was relevant and ignore the rest. He followed the opinions of the Companions up until Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, al-Sha'bi, Ibn al-Musayyib, and other trustworthy figures. Overall, Abu Hanifa relied on the Qur'an, the Prophetic Sunnah, consensus, legal analogy, the Companions’ sayings, juristic preference (istihsdn), and custom (‘urf). His disciples realized that his method­ological approach, as well as the secondary bases of his doctrine, derived from the opinions he had constructed to address specific cases.

Abu Hanifa stressed the acceptance of those hadiths that supported his use of analogy and personal judgement, but declined to accept solitary traditions (akhbar al-dhdd) on account of their problematic nature. He preferred analogy and treated it as superior to solitary reports. According to Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, this caused many hadith scholars to criticize him in an ex­treme manner. But his disapproval of solitary reports was inevitable because he accepted interpretation. Al-Layth b. Sa'd also disapproved of Abu Hanifa’s use of hadith, as one can see from his correspondence with Malik. Regarding the 70 questions he gathered, he noted Abu Hanifa’s violations of the Sunnah.⁸

In his Introduction to History, Ibn Khaldun indicated that Abu Hanifa used approximately 17 hadith reports and tried to explain why he adopted a methodological approach that sub­jected hadith to strict conditions of transmission. Moreover, Abu Hanifa responded to his critics regarding his limited incorporation of hadith by stating that it did not affect one’s doctrine because the Shari‘ah is derived from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Those who claim that he referred less frequently to hadith should examine the hadith literature’s authority seriously in order to reach authentic rulings.⁹

Abu Hanifa’s lack of reliance on hadith reports was due to his negative assessment of their reliability. He rejected most reports on account of inherent defects and especially the criti­cism of transmitters on account of defects of character, which required Ijtihad to avoid using weak or unauthentic hadiths. This responsibility fell upon the mujtahids, as they specialized in this field. Waki' b. al-Jarrah, the hadith authority of Kufa, agreed with Abu Hanifa’s opinion and transmitted many of his hadiths.¹⁰ Yahya b.

Despite the many attestations to Abu Hanifa’s wide knowledge in the field, questions did exist about his jurisprudence, and concerns were raised about his disciples and their responsibility for recording his work. It appears that many legal works were published in different regions during this period. One such work was a book on religious obligations by Ibn Abi Layla, the chief mufti and judge of Kufa, who employed personal judgement in his legal responsa.¹² According to Ibn al-Nadim’s Fihrist, Ibn Jurayj, a prominent Meccan scholar, wrote Kitab al-Sunan, which consisted of many chapters on purification, fasting, prayers, and alms-giving.¹³ Similarly, al-Awza'i’s works Kitab al-Sunan fi al-Fiqh and Kitab al-Masa'il fi al-Fiqh were also published.¹⁴ Therefore, it is very likely that a prominent scholar such as Abu Hanifa would have had similar published works. This supposition corroborates the state­ments of some medieval scholars such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi that Abu Hanifa authored books onfiqh.¹⁵ Ibn Kathir, in his al-Bidayah wa-l-Nihayah, noted the report about 'Abdullah b. Mubarak keeping in his house a book authored by Abu Hanifa which he used to resolve issues and which he showed to al-Awza'i. 'Abdullah b. Mubarak stated, ‘Without God and help from Abu Hanifa, I would be the same as other people’.¹⁶ According to Fuat Sezgin’s Tdrikh al-Turdth al- Arabi, Sufyan al-Thawri had copied Abu Hanifa’s Kitab al-Rahn.¹⁷

Since Abu Hanifa had many detractors, especially among the hadith scholars, Abu Muayyad Muhammad b. Mahmud al-Khwarizmi (d. 665/1267) wrote a work to defend him.

Among the works attributed to Abu Hanifa are, first, Kitab al-Fiqh al-Akbar, which begins with the principle of monotheism. It has been said that his son Hammad transmitted the work on his authority. The second book, Kitab al-Fiqh al-Absat, was transmitted on his authority by his disciple Abu al-Muti' al-Hakam b. 'Abdullah b. Salama (d. 199/815). The third is Risala fi al-Fara'id, a title he shares with two famous contemporary jurists. The fourth work, Kitab al- Alim wa-l-Muta‘allim, was compiled by his disciple Abu Muqatil Hafs b. Salm al-Samarqandi (d. 208/823). Another work was known as Arba Wasaya: wasiyyafi usul al-Islam. Two varying accounts of this wasiyya or ‘testament’ exist. The second wasiyya is addressed to Abu Hanifa’s son Hammad, the third wasiyya to his disciple Yusuf b. Khalid al-Samati al-Basri, and the last wasiyya to his disciple Abu Yusuf. Moreover, to Abu Hanifa are attributed two treatises for 'Uthman b. Sulayman al-Batti (d. 143/760) and a debate with Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Rida (d. 148/765). Lastly, a Musnad Abu Hanifa was transmitted by Abu Yusuf, his son Yusuf, and al-Hasan b. Ziyad al-Lu’lu’i (d. 204/819). According to Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, this Musnad is really the Kitab al-Athar, which contained accounts of Abu Hanifa transmitted by Muhammad b. Hasan. In the fourth/tenth century, Abu Muhammad al-Harithi sought to ferret out, collect, and compile the hadiths of Abu Hanifa. In other instance, the hadiths of Abu Hanifa were also edited by Abu Bakr al-Muqri’.²⁰