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Abū Ḥanīfa: Rising Out of Kūfa
Abū Ḥanīfa Nuʽman b. Thabit (80-150AH/703-767CE) is considered by many to have been the greatest scholar of the Ahl al-Raʽy. Presently, his school is also the predominant school of Sunni law with nearly half of all Muslims associating with it. However, the Imam has not escaped fierce criticisms alleged against him based upon misperceptions concerning the city of Kūfa; particularly the belief that hadiths were severely limited to people so far removed from Medina. However, recent scholarship has shown just how important and active the study of hadith was in Kūfa. In fact, a study of classical sources (conducted by Wael B. Hallaq) revealed a source detailing Kūfa as the largest base of hadith specialists (living between 80-120AH/699-737CE), followed by Basra, then Medina, Syria, Mecca, and Egypt.[1]
Dr. Ingrid Mattson: #Interfaith Event in #Edmonton
Dr. Ingrid Mattson was my first teacher when I attended Hartford Seminary’s Islamic Chaplaincy program. At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was the right school for me and was still on the fence about it. However, I was so impressed with her knowledge, academic rigor, and the way that she carries herself that I knew I had to stay.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Mattson is one of the key authorities on Islam and Interfaith Relations. She will be visiting Edmonton to provide a talk on promoting interfaith and multicultural connections, and I encourage you to attend if you are in the area.
Tickets may be purchased in advance here.
al-Shaybānī and the Conclusion of this Tale…
After Abū Yūsuf, the second most prominent student of Abū Ḥanīfa is Abū ʽAbdullah Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaṣan al-Shaybānī (132-189AH/749-804CE), more often known simply as Imam Muḥammad or al-Shaybānī. He was born in Wasit but grew up as a client in Kūfa and, like Abū Yūsuf, he first began his studies in hadith. Unfortunately he was only able to study briefly under Imam Abū Ḥanīfa since he passed away when al-Shaybānī was about 18 years old. However, this limited time of study must have included an intense study of hadiths for al-Shaybānī later compiled (or transmitted from Imam Abū Ḥanīfa) a work of hadith and transmitted sayings of earlier scholars which rivaled in size Mālik’s al-Muwaṭṭa (the book is called Kitāb al-Athār).
After Abū Ḥanīfa passed away al-Shaybānī continued his study of Ḥanafī fiqh under Abū Yūsuf. However, he also took his fiqh from the hadith scholar al-Thawri, the scholar of Syria al-Awza’i, and traveled to Medina to study under Mālik b. Anas. In fact, al-Shaybānī is one of the main narrators of Mālik’s al-Muwaṭṭa. Notably, al-Shaybānī also included a commentary in his transmission of al-Muwaṭṭa where he discussed points of agreement and disagreement between Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfa; making it one of the first books on comparative fiqh.
Continue reading “al-Shaybānī and the Conclusion of this Tale…”
Abū Yūsuf: The Knowledge of Kūfa Inherited
One day Waki’ b. al-Jarrah, a prominent hadith scholar of the time, cited a ruling given by Abū Ḥanīfa when someone remarked that Abū Ḥanīfa had committed an error. “How could Abū Ḥanīfa commit an error,” Waki’ replied. “He had eminent men to assist him – in analogy Abū Yūsuf and Zafar [b. al-Hudhayl]; in hadith Yaḥya b. Zaʽidah, Hafs b. Ghiyath, Habban and Mundal; in lexicography and the Arabic language Qasim b. Ma’n; in devotion and piety Dawūd al-Ta’i and Fadl b. ʽIyād. How could one with such men at his side commit an error? Even if he were going to commit one, would these men let him do so?”
In the city of Kūfa, Abū Ḥanīfa had surrounded himself by some forty scholars–some of whom were considered mujtahīds (independent legal jurists) in their own right. They debated issues of fiqh and were free to agree or disagree with the Imam’s legal judgments. Yet, it appears through reported statements and their later writings that they often accepted Abū Ḥanīfa’s judgments. In fact, after his death they still held his rulings with great esteem and maintained that he was a prominent, if not the most prominent, legal authority of their time. Many of his students later went on to become respected scholars of not only fiqh but also hadith; some specializing in Asma’ al-Rijāl, the study of hadith narrators.
Continue reading “Abū Yūsuf: The Knowledge of Kūfa Inherited”
A New Class @AlRashidMosque
Windows to Islam is a 2-Day course intending to provide those interested with an objective look at Islam and Muslims. This will be provided through a basic, albeit in-depth, overview of Islamic Theology, Law, and History.
By the end of the course students will have become familiar with many of the subjects covered in a 12-week undergraduate course.
Windows to Islam is not intended to proselytize, or convert any person to the religion of Islam. The sole purpose of the class is to provide fellow community members, clergy, professionals and those interested with an objective perspective of Islam and Muslims in a time when stereotypes have muddled rational observation.
Registration now available online.
Origins of the Ḥanafī Madhhāb, Part II: A Young City with Ancient Controversies
As the newly emerging Muslim empire expanded to the north, it acquired not only new land, spoils, and converts; but also inherited the home of many different religions, sects and philosophical teachings.[1] Throughout the region, Syriac Christians had established educational institutions for the study of Greek philosophy and the ancient wisdom of Persia, [2] laying the groundwork for what would later become some of the greatest religious and philosophical debates in history.
To help resolve some of the religious and political issues that arose within this region came some of the greatest Companions: Ṭalḥa, al-Zubayr, Saʽd and his son ʽUmar, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʽarī, ‘Abdullah b. Masʽūd, Khālid b. ʽUrfuṭa, ‘Adī b. Ḥātim, Jarīr b. ʽAbdullah al-Badhalī, al-Ashʽath al-Kindī, Umm Hānī (the sister of ‘Ali), and ‘Ali b. Abī Ṭalib [3]; may God be pleased with them all.
Continue reading “Origins of the Ḥanafī Madhhāb, Part II: A Young City with Ancient Controversies”
Origins of the Ḥanafī Madhhāb: Part I
It is an all too common misperception that the Ḥanafī madhhāb (school of legal thought) was forged at a time and locality where hadiths were not widely available. Likely due to this misperception, the Ḥanafī madhhāb is often singled out as the only representative among the Sunni schools today of an earlier, and controversial, school known as Ahl al-Raʽy (proponents of considered legal opinion); so named by their detractors the Ahl al-Ḥadīth (proponents of tradition). Kūfa, the city of Hanafism’s birth, is truly the key to understanding these misperceptions. Allegations made against the city have contributed much to the controversy surrounding Ḥanafi thought to this day.
Since many books and articles already exist that examine the unique legal methodology (uṣūl al-fiqh) of Hanafism, as well as other Sunni schools of law (madhāhib); and many more exist which illustrate the life of Abū Ḥanīfa, I will respond to these misperceptions by focusing upon that which is less well-known. In the following series of posts I plan to briefly survey the vast diversity of culture and thought that flooded the city from which the most widely-practiced Sunni madhhāb would spring: Kūfa.
