1 - Endless Bliss - Hüseyin Hilmi Işık

The superiority of al-Imâm al-a’zam Abu Hanîfa (rahmat-
Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih) is understood also from these hadîths.
The rules of Islâm in the Hanafî madhhab were transmitted
through a chain beginning with ’Abdullâh ibn Mas’ûd (radî-
Allâhu anh), who was a sahâbî. Al-Imâm al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa
(rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih), the founder of the madhhab,
acquired the knowledge of fiqh from Hammâd, and Hammâd
from Ibrâhîm an-Nakhâ’î. An-Nakhâ’î learnt it from Alkama and
Alkama, learnt it from Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, who learnt it from
Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam).
Abu Yûsuf, Imâm Muhammad ash-Shaibânî, Zufar ibn
Hudhail and Hasan ibn Ziyâd were al-Imâm al-a’zam’s disciples
(rahimahum-Allâh). Of these, Imâm Muhammad wrote about
one thousand books on Islâmic teachings. He was born in 135
A.H. (752) and passed away in Rayy, Iran, in 189 (805).
Because he was married to the mother of al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î,
one of his disciples, ash-Shâfi’î inherited his books upon his
death, thus his knowledge increased. For this reason, al-Imâm
ash-Shâfi’î (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih) said, ‘I swear that my
knowledge of fiqh has increased by reading Imâm
Muhammad’s books. Those who want to deepen their
knowledge of fiqh should be in the company of the disciples of
Abu Hanîfa.’ And once he said, ‘All Muslims are like the
household children of al-Imâm al-a’zam.’ That is, as a man
earns a living for his wife and children, al-Imâm al-a’zam took it
upon himself to find out the religious knowledge which people
needed in their affairs. Thus, he spared the Muslims from a lot
of work.
Al-Imâm al-a’zam Abu Hanîfa (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih) compiled
the knowledge of fiqh, classified it into branches and subbranches
and set usûls (methods) for it, and also collected the
knowledge of i’tiqâd, as Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam) and the as-Sahâbat al-kirâm (ridwân-Allâhi ’alaihim
ajma’în) had preached, and taught them to thousands of his
disciples. Some of his disciples became specialists in ’ilm alkalâm,
that is, in the teachings of îmân. Of them, Abu Bakr al-
Jurjânî, one of Imâm Muhammad ash-Shaibânî’s disciples,
became famous. And Abu Nasr al-’Iyâd, one of his pupils,
educated Abu Mansûr al-Mâturîdî in ’ilm al-kalâm. Abu Mansûr
wrote in his books the knowledge of kalâm taught by al-Imâm
al-a’zam (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih). By contending against
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