Who was Imam Abu Hanifa?

Imam Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Hanafi School of Thought, but to follow his research we must first know what kind of a man he was, otherwise we would be blindly following a man we know nothing about whose work may be unauthentic. Even if you don’t follow the Hanafi school of thought all four imams had massive respect for each other so we should learn about them. In sha Allah at the end of this lesson we should have gained love and trust for Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa (Rahmatullahi-Alai) was born in Kufa, in Iraq. Abu Hanifa was his nickname (Kuniyya) his actual name was Nu’man Ibn Thabit; his ancestors were originally from Persia until his Grandfather named Zuta migrated to Kufa in Iraq where Abu Hanifa was born. Why did they migrate to Kufa? In that time everyone had an empire, after the death of the Prophet (SAW) the next three rulers (Caliph) Abu Bakr (RA), ‘Umar Ibn Khattab (RA) & Uthmaan (RA) were based in Saudi Arabia. When ‘Ali (RA) became Caliph he transferred their base to Kufa because a lot of his followers persuaded him and invited him to Kufa. So you can image ‘Ali (RA) with thousands of companions following him to Kufa. Abu Haifa’s father was a rich business man. Abu Hanifa was born (80 After Hijri) [approximately 60 years after the Prophet (SAW) passed away. So you can image Abu Hanifa growing up in an Islamic environment, surrounded by Sahaba (companions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)). He was in the first sight of knowledge.

There are 3 specific places for seeking knowledge. To learn about Hajj you travel to Makkah, to learn the meaning of the Qur’an you travel to Madina, to learn the topic of Fiqh you travel to Kufa. So Imam Abu Hanifa grew up in an environment of Fiqh. Out of all the four imams, Imam Abu Hanifa was born first and had the honour to see the Sahaba, he was a Taba’iee (Someone who sees the Sahaba and dies a Muslim). The last companion to pass away was Abu Tufayl who died in 102 A.H; Abu Hanifa was 22 years old when Abu Tufayl died. So now we know that Abu Hanfia was the closest to the Prophet (SAW) out of the four imams in terms of years.

Imam Abu Hanifa memorised Qur’an at a very young age. As time went by he stopped learning Hadith and Fiqh and started helping his father with his business until an incident happened which would change him form a worker to a student. Once Abu Hanifa was walking by and he passed by a man called Sha’abee, Sha’abee was a very learned man at this time. He gave talks to groups outside the mosque. When Sha’abee saw Abu Hanifa walking by he said, “Who do you learn by.” Abu Hanifa replied, “I’m not learning for anyone, I’m on my way to work.” Sha’abee then responded with a response that would change Abu Hanfia’s life. He replied by saying, “Lean knowledge and sit in the company of learned men. I see the sign of intelligence and energy in you.” Later that day Abu Hanifa would go home and reflect upon what Sha’abe said to him and then changed himself from a worker to a student.
There are two qualities that a person must have in order to be a good student. These are intelligence and energy. Without these two traits the person will not go far. After the incident, Imam Abu Hanifa stopped working and instead he went to study. He devoted his whole time to study knowledge aged 22. As his father was finically stable he wasn’t under the stress of fees.
Imam Abu Hanifa’s teacher, Hammad Ibn Sulieman who was also a Taba’iee learned from the companions and was a master of Fiqh in Kufa. Hammad Ibn Sulieman dies in 122 AH which shows that Imam Abu Hanifa studied under the same teacher for 18 years.

And Allah knows best.

Thank you for reading, more to come on the four imams In Sha Allah.