Imam Abu Hanifa - His Life, Opinions and Fiqh

“Then I examined literature and grammar, and found that the logical end of that discipline is to sit
with a child and teach him grammar and literature. I examined poetry and saw that its end was eulogy,
satire, lies and tearing apart the deen. Then I thought about the forms of Qur’an recitation (qira’at) and
said, ‘When I reach the end of it, young people will gather to read with me and discuss the Qur’an and
its meanings and that is difficult.’ So I said, ‘I will seek hadith.’ But then I said, ‘To amass a lot of it I
will have to have a long life before I will be of any use to people, and even then only youths will gather
around me who will probably accuse me of lying and poor memory and that will be a burden for me
until the Day of Rising.’
“Then I turned to fiqh and no matter which way I looked at it, it only increased in esteem and I could
not find any fault in it. I saw that it involved sitting with scholars, fuqaha’, shaykhs and people of
insight and taking on their character. I saw that it is only by knowing it that the obligations are properly
performed and the deen and worship established. Seeking this world and the Next World can only be
done through it. If anyone desires to seek this world through it, he seeks a weighty matter and will be
elevated by it. If someone wants to worship and divest himself, no one can say, ‘He worships without
knowledge.’ Rather it will be said, ‘This is fiqh and acting by knowledge.’”
This anedote is illustrative of the sciences which were prevalent in his time and shows that he chose
between them as he was inclined.
The second transmission is reported from Yahya ibn Shayban. He reports that Abu Hanifa said: “I
was a man given to debate in kalam and spent some time indulging in it. The people of debate and
disputation were mostly located in Basra. So I went to Basra about twenty times, staying more or less a
year each time. I argued with the groups of Kharijites: Ibadites, Sufrites and other Kharijite sects. I
considered kalam to be the queen of the sciences. I used to say that kalam was the basis of the deen.
“Then I reconsidered after a considerable part of my life had been spent involved in it. I reflected
and realised that the Companions of the Prophet and the Tabi‘un knew as much as we know and had
more capacity, more understanding and better knowledge of the truth of matters. But they did not have
arguments about it and did not delve into it. They withheld from doing that and forbade it strenuously. I
saw them dealing with laws and areas of fiqh and speaking about such matters. That was what they sat
to learn and those were the circles they attended. That was what they used to teach people and what
they invited them to learn and what they encouraged them in. They gave fatwa and were asked for
fatwa concerning matters of fiqh.
“That was the standpoint of the Companions, and the Tabi‘un followed them in it. When their mode
of behaviour became clear to us, we left debate, argument and delving into kalam and confined
ourselves to the basic knowledge of fiqh and we returned to the position of the Salaf, taking from what
they left and legislating as they legislated. The people of knowledge sat with us for that reason and I
saw that those who were involved in kalam and debating were people whose trait was not that of our
noble predecessors and whose path was not that of the righteous. I saw them as being hard-hearted and
thick-skinned. They were not worried about the fact that they were conflicting with the Book and the
Sunna and the righteous Salaf and that they had neither scrupulousness nor fear of Allah.”
The third transmission is reported from Zafar ibn al-Hudhayl, the student of Abu Hanifa, who stated:
“I heard Abu Hanifa say, ‘I used to look into kalam until I was advanced in it and people pointed me
out. We used to sit near the circle of Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman. One day a woman came to us and
said, “A man has a wife who is a slave girl whom he wants to divorce according to the Sunna. How
many times should he pronounce the divorce?” I told her to ask Hammad and then come back and tell
me. She asked him and he said, “He should divorce her once at a time when she is not menstruating and
he has not had intercourse with her and then leave her until she has menstruated two more times. Then
when she has purified herself she may remarry.” She returned and told us what he had said. I said, “I
have no further use for kalam,” and took my sandals and sat with Hammad. I used to listen to his
questions and learned what he said and then went back again day after day. I remembered while his
other students erred. He said, “Only Abu Hanifa should sit opposite me at the front of the circle.”’”