Understanding Taqlid by Mufti Muhammad Sajaad

understanding taqlīd
Tahzib al-Kamal, testifies to his abundance of narrations, his many
teachers and students.
One can gain the lofty rank of Imam Abu Ḥanīfa has in hadith
by his elevated chain. He narrates many hadith with chains that
are termed Thunaiyāt (Two-narrator narrations) and Thulathiyāt
(Three-narrator narrations). This means that between the Imam
and the Messenger of Allah a there only exists three narrators
and often only two. In a recent study published under the title: Al-
Imam al-A‘azam Abu Ḥanīfa Wa al-Thunaiyāt Fi Masānidihi, by Shaikh
Abd al-Aziz al-Sa‘di, it is stated just the two-narrator narrations
(Thunaiyāt) of the Imam are approximately 219 narrations. This
makes his narrations, according to the standards of the classical
hadith specialists (Muhadithin), stronger and more esteemed and
valuable 4 than the narrations found in the Sahihs of Al-Bukhari
and Muslim, as there, one will find, that the number of narrators
between the muhaddith and the Messenger a are in most cases
not less than four (in fact, the thulathiyāt of Imam Bukhari only
number 21 narrations). This proves beyond doubt that Imam Abu
Ḥanīfa was not only a reputable Muhaddith, moreover he was from
the major authorities and Huffaz of Hadith.
4 The great Muhaddith Imam Ibn Salah narrates that his Shaikh Muhammad
Aslam al-Tusi would say: “The closeness in the chain is a closeness to Allah -
‘azza wa jalla”. Commenting Imam Ibn Salah says: “It is as he said, for closeness
of the chain is closeness to the Messenger of Allah a and (obviously being)
closer to him is being closer to Allah –azza wa jalla, (Op.cit. p4). One of the
reasons Imam Malik is considered a major hadith specialist and an unrivalled
authority is because of his special “Silsilat al-Dhahab” (Golden Chain), that has
only two narrators between him and the Messenger a. Namely: Imam Malik
from Nafi‘ from Ibn Umar from the Messenger a. Clearly, as we have seen,
this lofty virtue is also found with Imam Abu Ḥanīfa.
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