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Abu Hanifa
Abu Hanifa (Arabic: أَبُو حَنِيفَة, romanized: Abū Ḥanīfa; 5 September 699 CE – 18 June 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic, and eponym of the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence, which remains the most widely practiced to this day. His school predominates in Central and South Asia, Turkey, Africa, the Balkans, Russia, and some parts of the Arab world.
Sources disagree on exactly where he was born, whether in Kufa (held by the majority), Kabul, Anbar, Nasa or Termez. Abu Hanifa traveled to the Hejaz region of Arabia in his youth, where he studied in the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He was named by al-Dhahabi as "one of the geniuses of the sons of Adam" who "combined jurisprudence, worship, scrupulousness, and generosity".
As his career as a jurist and theologian progressed, he became known for favoring the use of reason in his jurisprudential rulings, and even in his theology. His school grew after his death, and the majority of its followers would also eventually come to follow the Maturidi school of theology. He left behind two major students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, who would later become celebrated jurists in their own right.
Muslim scholarship states that there is no disagreement with his name being Nu'man. This name is said to mean blood on which the body survives, which some suggest is the soul. An alternate meaning is that this is the name of a pleasantly smelling red or purple flower. A third alternative is that it is the fa'lan (template) from the word ni'mah (blessing), as Muslims[clarification needed] believe Abu Hanifah is God's blessing upon His creation.
How Abu Hanifa earned his patronymic is disputed. According to some linguists, including Muhyi al-Din, ḥanīfa refers to "inkpot" in Abu Hanifa's dialect. He was often seen with one, thus earning his name this way. According to this interpretation, his name literally means the "Father of the Inkpot". Alternatively, Hanifah is the feminine form of hanif, which means a recluse (nasik) or submitter (Muslim).
However, some historians contest he earned it as he had a daughter named Hanifa. His name would then mean the "Father of Hanifa". The opposing side believes he never had a daughter with such name.
Historians disagree with regards to where he was born, though they agree he was born during the period of the Umayyad Caliphate. However, they differ regarding the year: 699 CE / 80 AH (held by the majority of classical Muslim scholarship), 696 CE / 77 AH, 689 CE / 70 AH, or 680 CE / 61 AH. Many historians choose the latest date, 699 CE / 80 AH; however, Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari believed the date of 689 CE / 70 AH is supported by two considerations:[citation needed]
Abu Hanifa is thought to be of Persian ancestry. However, he has also been stated to have descended from the Zutt, Jats who migrated into Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age. His grandfather, Zuta, may have been captured by Muslim troops in Kabul and sold as a slave in Kufa, where he was purchased and freed by an Arab tribesman of the Taym Allah, a branch of the Banu Bakr. Zuta and his progeny thereafter would have become clients of the Taym Allah, hence the sporadic references to Abu Hanifa as "al-Taymi". According to his grandson Isma'il, however, his lineage went back to free Persians who had never been held as slaves. He called Abu Hanifa's great-grandfather "Marzuban", which is an Arabicized form of the Sasanian military office of marzban, held by governors of the frontier provinces of the Sasanian realm. Another view taken from the Iraqi historian Naji Ma'ruf, One of Iraq's most prominent figures in scholarship and literature, who authored a book establishing Abu Hanifa's Arab origins and ancestry through historical documentation, refuting all previous claims about his non-Arab origins. In his valuable work (The Arabian Origins of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man ; Arabic: عروبة الإمام أبي حنيفة النعمان), and based on the principle that 'the people of Mecca know best its valleys,' Hanafi sources confirm that he was of Arab stock, and that Thabit ibn al-Nu'man ibn al-Mirzban was from the Banu Yahya ibn Zayd ibn Asad, from the Arab tribe of al-Azd who migrated from Yemen and settled in Iraqi lands after the collapse of the Marib Dam due to the Great Flood, becoming part of the Nabataeans of Iraq. Among the Orientalists, the prominent scholar Carl Brockelmann expressed surprise in his study published in the German Journal of Orientalists at how Iraqi historians had overlooked the Iraqi identity of Abu Hanifa, who was one of the ancient Arabs of al-Hira, and how they attributed him to people other than his own, despite him being a national symbol of Baghdad. From among the Indian Hanafis, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi affirmed that the great Imam was of Arab origin and no other, and he strongly criticized anyone who attributed him otherwise.
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Abu Hanifa
Abu Hanifa (Arabic: أَبُو حَنِيفَة, romanized: Abū Ḥanīfa; 5 September 699 CE – 18 June 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic, and eponym of the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence, which remains the most widely practiced to this day. His school predominates in Central and South Asia, Turkey, Africa, the Balkans, Russia, and some parts of the Arab world.
Sources disagree on exactly where he was born, whether in Kufa (held by the majority), Kabul, Anbar, Nasa or Termez. Abu Hanifa traveled to the Hejaz region of Arabia in his youth, where he studied in the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He was named by al-Dhahabi as "one of the geniuses of the sons of Adam" who "combined jurisprudence, worship, scrupulousness, and generosity".
As his career as a jurist and theologian progressed, he became known for favoring the use of reason in his jurisprudential rulings, and even in his theology. His school grew after his death, and the majority of its followers would also eventually come to follow the Maturidi school of theology. He left behind two major students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani, who would later become celebrated jurists in their own right.
Muslim scholarship states that there is no disagreement with his name being Nu'man. This name is said to mean blood on which the body survives, which some suggest is the soul. An alternate meaning is that this is the name of a pleasantly smelling red or purple flower. A third alternative is that it is the fa'lan (template) from the word ni'mah (blessing), as Muslims[clarification needed] believe Abu Hanifah is God's blessing upon His creation.
How Abu Hanifa earned his patronymic is disputed. According to some linguists, including Muhyi al-Din, ḥanīfa refers to "inkpot" in Abu Hanifa's dialect. He was often seen with one, thus earning his name this way. According to this interpretation, his name literally means the "Father of the Inkpot". Alternatively, Hanifah is the feminine form of hanif, which means a recluse (nasik) or submitter (Muslim).
However, some historians contest he earned it as he had a daughter named Hanifa. His name would then mean the "Father of Hanifa". The opposing side believes he never had a daughter with such name.
Historians disagree with regards to where he was born, though they agree he was born during the period of the Umayyad Caliphate. However, they differ regarding the year: 699 CE / 80 AH (held by the majority of classical Muslim scholarship), 696 CE / 77 AH, 689 CE / 70 AH, or 680 CE / 61 AH. Many historians choose the latest date, 699 CE / 80 AH; however, Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari believed the date of 689 CE / 70 AH is supported by two considerations:[citation needed]
Abu Hanifa is thought to be of Persian ancestry. However, he has also been stated to have descended from the Zutt, Jats who migrated into Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age. His grandfather, Zuta, may have been captured by Muslim troops in Kabul and sold as a slave in Kufa, where he was purchased and freed by an Arab tribesman of the Taym Allah, a branch of the Banu Bakr. Zuta and his progeny thereafter would have become clients of the Taym Allah, hence the sporadic references to Abu Hanifa as "al-Taymi". According to his grandson Isma'il, however, his lineage went back to free Persians who had never been held as slaves. He called Abu Hanifa's great-grandfather "Marzuban", which is an Arabicized form of the Sasanian military office of marzban, held by governors of the frontier provinces of the Sasanian realm. Another view taken from the Iraqi historian Naji Ma'ruf, One of Iraq's most prominent figures in scholarship and literature, who authored a book establishing Abu Hanifa's Arab origins and ancestry through historical documentation, refuting all previous claims about his non-Arab origins. In his valuable work (The Arabian Origins of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man ; Arabic: عروبة الإمام أبي حنيفة النعمان), and based on the principle that 'the people of Mecca know best its valleys,' Hanafi sources confirm that he was of Arab stock, and that Thabit ibn al-Nu'man ibn al-Mirzban was from the Banu Yahya ibn Zayd ibn Asad, from the Arab tribe of al-Azd who migrated from Yemen and settled in Iraqi lands after the collapse of the Marib Dam due to the Great Flood, becoming part of the Nabataeans of Iraq. Among the Orientalists, the prominent scholar Carl Brockelmann expressed surprise in his study published in the German Journal of Orientalists at how Iraqi historians had overlooked the Iraqi identity of Abu Hanifa, who was one of the ancient Arabs of al-Hira, and how they attributed him to people other than his own, despite him being a national symbol of Baghdad. From among the Indian Hanafis, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi affirmed that the great Imam was of Arab origin and no other, and he strongly criticized anyone who attributed him otherwise.
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