Imam Abu Hanifa - His Life, Opinions and Fiqh

knowledge of people’s differences.’” Scholars count Ja‘far as one of Abu Hanifa’s shaykhs, even though they
were the same age.
Abu Hanifa was also, according to various sources, a student of ‘Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan. He
was a reliable and truthful hadith transmitter. Sufyan ath-Thawri, Malik and others related from him. He was
respected by people and performed a lot of worship. He visited ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdu’l-‘Aziz who honoured him.
He also went to as-Saffah at the beginning of the Abbasid period and he showed him honour and gave him a
thousand dirhams. When al-Mansur came to power, he treated him in the opposite fashion and also dealt
harshly with his sons and family. They were brought in chains from Madina to al-Hashimiyya and put in
prison where most of them died. ‘Abdullah himself died in 145 AH at the age of about 75. He was ten years
older than Abu Hanifa.
Abu Hanifa’s scholarly links were not confined to the men of the Community and Imams of the People of
the House. Biographies also state that he studied with some of the people of different sects and it is said that
one of his shaykhs was Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju‘fi. He was an extreme Shi‘ite who believed that the Prophet
would return as would ‘Ali and the Shi‘ite Imams. Ibn al-Bazzazi said that his father Yazid was one of the
followers of ‘Abdullah ibn Saba’ but that is unlikely. It is more likely that he was a Shi‘ite but not a Saba’ite
because the Saba’ites claimed that ‘Ali was a god or close to a god and ‘Ali disavowed them. Abu Hanifa
would not take the knowledge of Islam from an unbeliever. His claim that ‘Ali would return agrees with the
Saba’ites, but also with the Kaysanites, and it is more likely that he was one of them.
It appears that Abu Hanifa studied some intellectual matters with him, although he believed that his creed
was deviant and that he was following a sect. He used to say about him, “Jabir al-Ju‘fi is corrupted by the
erroneous view which he espoused. But in his subject I found no one greater than him in Kufa.” He did not
specify what area of knowledge Jabir was expert in: it may have been deduction or logical matters.
He used to discuss with him, but he forbade his companions to sit with him. It seems that he feared that
Jabir’s intellect might seduce them and lead to them into deviation and following his false views and beliefs.
He stated that he was a liar. We read in Mizan al-I‘tidal, “Abu Yahya al-Hammani claimed to have heard Abu
Hanifa remark, “Among those I have seen, I have not seen any better than ‘Ata’ nor a greater liar than Jabir
al-Ju‘fi.”’”
There were two types of scholars in his time: those who confined themselves only to the fiqh of Islam and
did not deal with anything else, even if they had more understanding of extrapolation and opinion, and those
who studied creeds and philosophy which involved them in sciences outside the deen and sometimes led them
to deviate from its aims and meanings. None of them combined profound exact legal studies and philosophical
studies and proceeded in a manner neither excessive nor aberrant except Abu Hanifa. He was the only one to
follow this middle path. He achieved a high level in all areas by the force of his sound intellect, firm deen and
inquiring soul. He feared that his students would not be up to that and so he forbade them to deal with
anything other than fiqh.
His private studies and experiences
A person’s private life, circumstances and affairs, and his undirected studies in which he does not rely on a
teacher, and other experiences have an effect on his knowledge and direction and the honing of his intellect or
its weakness. This was, of course, also the case with Abu Hanifa.
As we said, he was from a wealthy merchant family and continued to be involved in commerce throughout
his life. Therefore he knew first-hand about market transactions and commercial customs. His market
experience enabled him to discuss commercial transactions, rules of behaviour and the judgements pertaining
to them with familiarity and understanding. Thus custom had a place in his legal deduction when there was no
elucidating example from the Book or Sunna, as we will explain, Allah willing.
It may be these experiences which made him prefer deduction through istihsan, when analogy resulted in
something contrary to benefit, natural justice or custom. His student, ash-Shaybani, said, “Abu Hanifa debated
with his companions about analogies and they appealed and argued with him until he said, ‘I have used
istihsan.’ whereupon none of them said anything because of the great amount of istihsan he used in solving
problems. They all submitted to it.”
Abu Hanifa travelled a lot and went on hajj many times. His hajj did not keep him from studying,
discussing, transmitting and giving fatwa. In Makka when he first met ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah, ‘Ata’ asked him,