Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit

The scholars differed, but most said that he was of non-Arab origin. His name was al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit, from Nashāwar. It was also said that Thābit was one of the people of Anbār; another account places him in Tirmidh. Abū Ḥanīfa’s grandson Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād likewise said: “My grandfather was Abū Ḥanīfa ibn Thābit ibn al-Marzubān, of Persian descent.” It is related that al-Marzubān, Abū Ḥanīfa’s grandfather, presented ʿAlī with fālūdhaj on the day of Nayrūz. ʿAlī asked, “What is this?” He answered, “This is our Nowruz.” ʿAlī said, “Let every day be our Nowruz.” Al-Marzubān brought his young son Thābit to ʿAlī, who prayed for blessing upon him and his descendants. Those who said that Abū Ḥanīfa was Arab followed the statement of Abū Muṭīʿ al-Balkhī. Abū Muṭīʿ said: “Abū Ḥanīfa’s name was Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Yaḥyā ibn Zayd ibn Rāshid al-Anṣārī.”

First, we say that he was mentioned on the Prophet’s tongue, God bless him and grant him peace. It is related from Abū Hurayra that the Prophet said: “In my community is a man named al-Nuʿmān, whose kunyā is Abū Ḥanīfa. He is the lamp of my community, the lamp of my community, the lamp of my community.”

It is related from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib that he said in Kufa: “Shall I tell you of a man from this city of yours, this Kufa of yours? He will be in the fourth generation and will be known as Abū Ḥanīfa. His heart has been filled with knowledge and wisdom. At the end of time, people bearing wickedness, called al-Nabātha, will perish through him, as the Rāfiḍa perished through Abū Bakr and ʿUmar; God be pleased with them.”

It is related from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār: “I find the names of scholars and jurists recorded in the books of the ancients, with their descriptions and genealogies in every age. I find the name of a man called al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit, known as Abū Ḥanīfa. He will have a great standing in knowledge and jurisprudence and lead the people of his age in learning. He will live envied for his good fortune and die envied for it.”

It is related that Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī said to Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān: “When you see Abū Ḥanīfa, convey my greetings to him.” He then praised him. It is also related that al-Kalbī, the Qurʾan commentator, said: “I found Abū Ḥanīfa’s description in some books: he is filled with knowledge and wisdom as a pomegranate is filled with seeds.”

It is recounted that, in the time of Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ al-Kabīr, a dispute arose between the followers of Abū Ḥanīfa and those of al-Shāfiʿī, God have mercy upon them. Al-Shāfiʿī’s followers spoke against Abū Ḥanīfa. Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: “Count al-Shāfiʿī’s teachers: how many are there?” They counted eighty. Then they counted Abū Ḥanīfa’s teachers among the scholars and Successors and reached four thousand. Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “This is among the least of Abū Ḥanīfa’s merits.” He then named some of the teachers from whom Abū Ḥanīfa had heard.

Through this same chain, from the teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ, God have mercy upon them: my father informed us: Muḥammad informed us: Abū Ḥanīfa informed us, from Muḥammad al-Munkadir, from ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad, from Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, who said: We were discussing whether someone in pilgrimage consecration could eat game meat while the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, was asleep. Our voices rose and he awoke. “What are you disputing?” he asked. We said: Game meat eaten by someone in consecration. He ordered us to eat it.

Muḥammad said: We adopt this position: if someone outside consecration slaughters game, someone in consecration may eat it, even if it was slaughtered for him. This is Abū Ḥanīfa’s position. Muḥammad said: I consider that, in this hadith, they disputed jurisprudence until their voices rose and the Prophet awoke; he did not reproach them for it.

This Aflaḥ did not see Abū Ḥanīfa; he met only Judge Abū Yūsuf. Aflaḥ was the first to bring Abū Ḥanīfa’s teachings to Bukhara. Abū Ḥafṣ al-Kabīr learned from him, then went to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan.

If these ignorant, obstinate people do not acknowledge Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit, how can that harm him after these great righteous scholars? Evidence is that Sufyān al-Thawrī initially did not acknowledge his merit. Abū Ḥanīfa’s companions visited Sufyān, debated with him and presented questions. Sufyān paid attention to their wording and answered according to what he heard. They told Abū Ḥanīfa that Sufyān answered these questions well. He said: “Woe to you! Do you not realize that he is clever, taking your wording and answering? Put the question to him and remain silent until he answers.” They went, posed the questions and fell silent. He erred in most of them, and this distressed him.

Abū Ḥanīfa sat after the night prayer, presenting questions to his companions and teaching them. Sufyān came to his mosque after the night prayer, wrapped himself in his cloak as if disguised and uncovered his ears to hear Abū Ḥanīfa’s questions without being noticed. When the companions visited him and questioned him, he answered well, as though he had been with them. They told Abū Ḥanīfa, who asked: “Was anyone with us who conveys our questions to him?” They said no. Later, Abū Ḥanīfa noticed him: Sufyān entered after the night prayer and sat in a corner, wrapped in his cloak with his ears uncovered, listening. Abū Ḥanīfa noticed and cited a hadith supporting a question, saying: “Saʿīd ibn Masrūq, the father of this cloaked man, related to me.” When Sufyān realized he had been noticed, he rose, left the mosque and fled.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: I heard Ḥāmid ibn Ādam say: I mentioned this to Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭanāfisī, who laughed and said: “This is well known among us.” Such was Sufyān’s initial condition; later he acknowledged Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit. Abū Saʿd al-Ṣaghānī, whose name was Muḥammad ibn Muntashir, said: I used to visit Abū Ḥanīfa. He asked: “Where have you come from?” I said: “I was with Sufyān.” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “You have come from a man whose like al-Aswad and ʿAlqama would have needed, had they been alive.” I then visited Sufyān, who asked where I had come from. I said: “From Abū Ḥanīfa.” He said: “You have come from a man with whom you find abundant knowledge and jurisprudence.” Sufyān then transmitted from Abū Ḥanīfa, from ʿUthmān ibn Rāshid, from ʿĀʾisha bint ʿAjrad, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning someone in major ritual impurity who omits rinsing the mouth and nose and prays: He repeats the prayer.

Sufyān al-Thawrī transmitted: Abū Ḥanīfa related to us, from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, from Abū Razīn, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning a woman who leaves Islam: She is confined, not killed. Thus our statement that Sufyān al-Thawrī acknowledged Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit is established. What each of these scholars transmitted from him, and the good and praise they expressed about him, will be mentioned, God willing.

Al-Aʿmash was one of the leading Successors, older than Abū Ḥanīfa, and lived in Kufa. Initially he did not acknowledge Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit. It is related that al-Aʿmash fell ill and Abū Ḥanīfa visited him. When Abū Ḥanīfa rose, al-Aʿmash said: “This man is burdensome in his own house; how much more in ours!” Abū Ḥanīfa heard and said: “What can I say of a man who has neither prayer nor fasting?” His companions asked what he meant. He answered: “He does not require washing after intercourse without ejaculation; he eats in Ramadan after dawn until sunrise, and considers daytime to begin at sunrise rather than dawn.”

Later al-Aʿmash acknowledged Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit. Evidence is what the imam Shams al-Aʾimma Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥalwānī related to us: I heard the jurist Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAlī recount from the jurist Abū Jaʿfar al-Hinduwānī: Al-Aʿmash did not incline toward Abū Ḥanīfa or treat him kindly, and there was something difficult in his temperament. He swore an oath divorcing his wife if she told him that the flour was exhausted, wrote it, sent a message, mentioned it to anyone to tell him, or gestured about it. His wife was bewildered and sought a way out. She was told to consult Abū Ḥanīfa and related the story. He said: “It is easy: tonight tie the flour sack to the drawstring of his waistcloth, or wherever you can on his clothing. When he rises in the morning or during the night, he will discover that the sack is empty and the flour exhausted, and arrange for his provisions.” She did so. Al-Aʿmash rose in darkness or after daybreak and took his waistcloth. He felt the sack, touched it and pulled it toward himself as he pulled his waistcloth. He realized the flour was exhausted and said: “By God, this is one of Abū Ḥanīfa’s devices! How can we prosper while he lives, exposing us to our wives and showing them our incapacity and limited understanding?”

Evidence also is what the teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ mentioned: Bishr ibn Yaḥyā mentioned, from Jarīr ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd: I heard al-Aʿmash, when a man came with a question, say: “Go to the people of that circle. When a question arises, they continue turning it over until they get it right.” He meant the circle of Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions.

He said: Through this same chain, from the teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ: ʿAlī ibn Yūnus mentioned: Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī related to us: I left Basra and came to Kufa when I heard Abū Ḥanīfa’s name. I entered a mosque in Kufa, thinking it his mosque, but it was al-Aʿmash’s, with his companions inside. I sat with them and posed questions. Al-Aʿmash was absent then; when he entered, we rose for him. His companions said: “This man from Basra poses questions to us.” Al-Aʿmash took my hand and said: “Leave this mosque and go to Abū Ḥanīfa’s mosque: he knows the answers to these questions.”

Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī then said: We sat with al-Battī and thought ourselves jurists. When I sat with Abū Ḥanīfa, it was as though a covering had been removed from my face.

He said: Through this same chain, from the teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Zurāra mentioned: I heard ʿAlī ibn Mushir say: Al-Aʿmash performed pilgrimage, and a group from Kufa accompanied him on his departure. I was among them. When he came alongside al-Ḥīra, he asked: “Is ʿAlī ibn Mushir among you?” He knew me from my attendance upon Abū Ḥanīfa. I said yes. He said: “Return to Abū Ḥanīfa so that he writes the pilgrimage rites for me, then catch up with me at al-Qādisiyya.” I returned and asked him, and he dictated them to me.

Al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad said: “I have never seen anyone who adheres to transmitted reports like Abū Ḥanīfa.” When told, in a question, that Abū Ghassān said such-and-such, he also said: “What do these youngsters say? The scrupulous Muslim jurist, who found it difficult to say anything unless it agreed with transmitted evidence, related to me.” He meant Abū Ḥanīfa.

Misʿar ibn Kidām said: We sought learning alongside Abū Ḥanīfa, and he surpassed us. We sought asceticism alongside him, and he surpassed us. We sought theological disputation alongside him, and he surpassed us.

Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ was renowned in Iraq and the regions of Syria for learning and reports. Nevertheless, he praised Abū Ḥanīfa and transmitted from him. Abū Wahb said: I heard that Wakīʿ used to visit Abū Ḥanīfa, then stopped. When Abū Ḥanīfa died, Wakīʿ regretted this and began visiting Zufar. He was asked: “You stayed away from Abū Ḥanīfa, yet visit Zufar?” He answered: “You deceived me about Abū Ḥanīfa. Do you want to deceive me about Zufar too?”

Khārija said: I met a thousand scholars and found only four wise men among them. He included Abū Ḥanīfa among the four, then said: “The wisest of them is Abū Ḥanīfa.”

Yazīd ibn Hārūn said: I transmitted hadiths from Abū Ḥanīfa; I wish they had been more numerous. Then he said: “Abū Ḥanīfa is an imam to be followed.”

Sahl ibn Muzāḥim said: We would enter Abū Ḥanīfa’s house and see nothing in it but reed mats.

Abū Ḥamza al-Sukkarī was one of the imams and leading Successors. He said: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ṣāʾigh prepared a thousand questions for me to ask Abū Ḥanīfa. I came to him, asked and found the answers. I withheld most of them out of possessiveness over them.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: In Kufa, Abū Ḥanīfa continually pursued theological disputation and argued with people until he excelled in it. One day they discussed īlāʾ, the oath of abstention from marital intercourse. He asked a companion: “What is īlāʾ?” He answered: “I do not know.” Abū Ḥanīfa said to himself: “Woe to you! You pursue disputation, while this belongs to the obligations we must know.” He then attended Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān and reached a level of jurisprudence none other had reached.

Yaḥyā ibn al-Naḍr said: When Abū Ḥanīfa spoke to a man, he spoke gently and with little anger, saying: “Be dignified! Be dignified!” He was among the best in character, gentlest, most generous with what he owned, longest in nightly prayer and most ascetic toward the world.

The Commander of the Faithful ordered eighty dinars and an enslaved woman to be given to him, but he refused. The Commander said: “Do not tell people that you refused them.” Abū Ḥanīfa never took a dirham or dinar from a ruler. He sat at the beginning and end of the day in a mosque beside his house, and at night with his companions to teach jurisprudence. He showed the Arabs great respect.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: I heard Ḥāmid ibn Ādam say: I heard Asad ibn ʿAmr say: Abū Ḥanīfa used to tell us: “When I tell you something for which I have not found a transmitted report, seek one: there may be a report concerning it.” One day he said: “If a man tells his wife, ‘By God, I shall not approach you for three months,’ he does not enter īlāʾ until he swears for four months.” He cited no report but told us to seek one. Later Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba visited us; at that time he was foremost because of his extensive learning and visits to scholars. We asked him and he related, from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās: If a man swears not to approach his wife for three months and leaves her for four months, he has not entered īlāʾ. We brought Abū Ḥanīfa this good news, and he rejoiced. We asked his evidence. He answered: “God’s Book: ‘For those who swear abstention from their wives, a waiting period of four months’ [Qurʾan 2:226]. I disliked venturing upon interpretation by my own opinion.”

Al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad was from Kufa, had accompanied and sat with Abū Ḥanīfa, and was among his closest companions. He later settled in Marw, then set out on pilgrimage with an enslaved woman. In Kufa he met Abū Ḥanīfa, who welcomed him kindly and lodged him at his house. When he left for Mecca, he left the woman there. On returning, he asked Abū Ḥanīfa to have the attendant take her to a house in al-Kunāsa. Abū Ḥanīfa invited him to remain in a part of his house, but al-Naḍr refused. The attendant took the woman. When al-Naḍr wanted to spend the night with her, she said: “Do you not claim to be this man’s student?” He said yes. She said: “The distance between you and him is like that between heaven and earth.” He said: “Yes, in his jurisprudence, learning and insight.” She said no. “Then what?” he asked. She answered: “I was with him four months: no lunch or dinner was prepared for him, nor a bed. When night fell, he stood like a pillar until morning. Yet you cannot endure one night.” Al-Naḍr was distressed and spent the night apart from her. She said: “He fed us fine white bread and ate coarse food himself.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak was one of the religious imams, known in Iraq, the regions of Syria, the Hijaz, Yemen and Khurasan. He praised Abū Ḥanīfa, saying: “Abū Ḥanīfa was a sign among signs and a wonder among wonders.” When he heard a man disparaging Abū Ḥanīfa, he said: “How can you speak ill of a man who prayed dawn and night prayer with one ablution for thirty years?”

Abū Isḥāq al-Khallāl, a companion of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, said: I heard that Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās claimed that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak had abandoned Abū Ḥanīfa. This distressed me and I rejected it. I came to Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās almost angry and said: “I heard you say that ʿAbd Allāh abandoned Abū Ḥanīfa.” He answered: “God forbid! I said nothing of the sort.” Abū Isḥāq said: Had Ibrāhīm answered otherwise, I would have confronted him, attacked and rejected his words, and struck him in the face.

He said: The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Naḍr said: Abū Ḥanīfa completed the Qurʾan sixty times in Ramadan, once during the day and once during the night.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak said: Abū Ḥanīfa prayed the five prayers with one ablution for forty-five years. He would complete the Qurʾan in two units in one night.

Khārija said: Three people completed the Qurʾan in one unit of prayer: among the Companions, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; among the Successors, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Abū Ḥanīfa, God be pleased with them.

Al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad said: I heard Abū Ḥanīfa say: “There is no chapter of the Qurʾan with which I have not performed witr.”

He said: In another account, al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad said: Abū Ḥanīfa said: “There is no verse of the Qurʾan with which I have not performed witr.” Bishr said: I asked al-Naḍr what this meant. He answered: He would read a portion, and when he reached witr, continue reading in witr from where he had stopped.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī said: I heard from Abū Yūsuf that Abū Ḥanīfa was asked about a man who told his wife, “You are divorced if so-and-so is not sparsely bearded [kawsaj].” He answered: “Count his teeth. If there are twenty-eight, he is sparsely bearded; if thirty-two, he is not.” A sparsely bearded man passed, and they counted his teeth and found them as he had said.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Ḥāmid ibn Ādam informed us: Salm ibn Sālim informed us: A man of Mecca, one of its best people, related to me: Abū Ḥanīfa spent nine nights at a man’s house in Mecca, and I never saw him sleep during them.

Al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad said: I arrived in Kufa ten days after Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān’s death. I saw learned people visiting Abū Ḥanīfa. When asked ten questions, he hesitated over nine. I performed pilgrimage; on returning, I saw him asked ten questions without hesitating over one.

Wahb said: Some jurists said: Whoever rejects wiping over leather footwear, or disparages Abū Ḥanīfa, is deficient in reason.

Abū Ḥamza al-Sukkarī said: I would not exchange what I heard from Abū Ḥanīfa for a hundred thousand dirhams.

Abū Muqātil al-Samarqandī said: When Abū Ḥanīfa began giving legal opinions and his companions gathered, he composed the Book of Prayer. They circulated it among themselves and called it the Book of the Bride. Then they missed Abū Ḥanīfa: he remained at home. Distressed, they visited and asked: “What has kept you from your gathering, after encouraging us to seek knowledge?” He answered: “I saw a dream that I disliked, so I did not come.” They asked what it was. He said: “I dreamed that I was opening the Prophet’s grave. This horrified me and kept me away.” They said a companion of Ibn Sīrīn was present. They went to him and related the dream. He answered: “This man revives the Prophet’s practice after it has been allowed to die.” They brought Abū Ḥanīfa the good news and invited the man, who interpreted it in the same way. Abū Ḥanīfa rejoiced, came out and sat with his companions.

Abū Ghānim said of Abū Ḥanīfa’s merit: What do you think of a man who sat to give legal opinions, was asked a question he did not know, and stopped giving opinions for ten years? When he knew he was needed and had learned what he previously did not know, he resumed.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak said: We were with Abū Ḥanīfa in the Sacred Mosque when a man cried, “A snake! A snake!” People scattered away from him. The snake came into Abū Ḥanīfa’s lap, and he shook it off.

Abū Muṭīʿ al-Balkhī said: I prayed behind the most scrupulous, most prolific transmitter and most learned jurist. The most scrupulous was ʿAbbād ibn Kathīr, the most prolific transmitter Sufyān al-Thawrī, and the most learned jurist Abū Ḥanīfa, God be pleased with them.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd said: Musāwir the poet entered upon Abū Ḥanīfa and recited: “When people challenge us one day with an unusual difficulty in legal opinion, we meet them with a firm and sound measure from Abū Ḥanīfa’s analogy. When the jurist hears it, understands it and records it in ink upon a page... The imam of the Muslims, Abū Ḥanīfa, has adorned the lands and those within them.” [The third verse is syntactically incomplete in the transmitted wording.]

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfa said: A follower of Ghaylān arrived in Kufa from Syria. We debated him but could not refute him. Abū Ḥanīfa’s companions gathered and visited him. He said: “I have abandoned theological disputation.” We said: “This man will depart victorious if you do not debate him.” We persisted until he said: “Bring us together after Friday prayer in the house of ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth al-Qurashī.” People gathered until the roofs and courtyard were full; a carpet was laid in the middle, and the two sat. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Ask what you wish.” The follower asked: “Tell me what God willed for Pharaoh.” He answered: “Disbelief.” “What did Satan will for Pharaoh?” “Disbelief.” “What did Pharaoh will for himself?” “Disbelief.” “What did Moses will for Pharaoh?” “Faith.” The follower said: “Moses’ will then opposed God’s will, while Satan’s and Pharaoh’s agreed with it.” Abū Ḥanīfa answered: “God willed that Satan should will disbelief for Pharaoh, that Pharaoh should will disbelief for himself, and that Moses should will faith for him. All of this is through God’s will.” The follower said: “You are right, and my position is refuted. May God reward you well for Islam and its people. Can I repent?” He answered: “Your repentance is to return to your land and turn them back from the error into which you led them.” Ḥammād said: He did this in Syria.

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Abū ʿIṣma said: Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfa said: When the Khārijites heard that Abū Ḥanīfa did not declare anyone an unbeliever for a sin, forty armed men came to Kufa and visited him among a large gathering. They asked him to dismiss the people because they had a question. When the people rose, the men drew their swords and said: “Enemy of this community! Devil of this community! Killing you is dearer to us than seventy years of jihad. Answer two questions, or prepare to be killed.” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Sheathe your swords.” They answered: “How can we, when we want to stain them with your blood?” He said: “Speak, in God’s name.” They said: “Two funeral biers stand at the mosque door. One is a man who drank wine, choked and died. The other is a woman who committed adultery, became certain she was pregnant, drank a drug and killed herself. Are they believers?” He asked: “Were they Jews?” “No.” “Magians?” “No.” “Then what religion did they profess?” They said: “They bore witness that there is no god but God, that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger, and acknowledged what he brought.” He asked: “Is this statement part of faith?” “Yes.” “A third, a quarter or half of faith?” They answered: “Faith has no third, quarter or half: it is all of faith.” He said: “Why then question me about people whom you say professed all of faith?” They asked: “Are they destined for Paradise or the Fire?” He answered: “I say as Abraham said: ‘Whoever follows me belongs to me; whoever disobeys me, You are forgiving and merciful’ [Qurʾan 14:36]. We do not mean the disobedience of unbelief, because God never forgives unbelievers. And I say as Jesus said: ‘If You punish them, they are Your servants; if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise’ [Qurʾan 5:118], meaning those who died in faith after committing sins.” On hearing this, they laid down their weapons and said: “We disavow before God everything we followed and profess your religion. God has given you wisdom, knowledge, reason and merit.”

He said: The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Ibn Hubayra governed Kufa under the Umayyads. When turmoil arose in Iraq, he assembled its jurists, including Ibn Abī Laylā, Ibn Shubruma, Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind and others, and assigned each a part of his administration. He summoned Abū Ḥanīfa, wanting him to hold the seal: no document or treasury payment would pass except through him. Abū Ḥanīfa refused. Ibn Hubayra swore to give him seven lashes every week unless he accepted. The jurists said: “We implore you by God not to destroy yourself. We are your brothers and all dislike this, but found no escape.” Abū Ḥanīfa answered: “If he wanted me merely to count the doors of Wāsiṭ’s mosque, I would not participate. How then when he wants a document about a man’s blood, ordering his execution, for me to seal? By God, I shall never participate.” Ibn Abī Laylā said: “Leave your companion: he is right and the others mistaken.” The police chief imprisoned him for two weeks without beating him, then gave him fourteen lashes. Ibn Hubayra said: “Is there no adviser for this prisoner? If he asks for time, I will grant it so he can consider.” Told this, Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Let me consult my brothers and consider.” Ibn Hubayra released him. He mounted his animals and fled to Mecca in the year one hundred and thirty, remaining there until the caliphate passed to the Abbasids.

Abū Ḥanīfa returned to Kufa in the time of Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr. Abū Jaʿfar honored and loved him and ordered ten thousand dirhams and an enslaved woman for him, but he refused. One of Abū Jaʿfar’s closest servants disparaged him. The Commander of the Faithful forbade it, but the servant persisted. One day he said: “I will put three questions to him; if he knows them, I will stop.” Abū Jaʿfar said: “If he knows them, I will have you beheaded.” He agreed, and Abū Ḥanīfa was summoned. The servant asked: “Where is the middle of the world?” He answered: “Where you are sitting.” “Are creatures with heads more numerous, or those with legs?” “Those with heads.” “Are males more numerous, or females?” He answered: “Males are many and females are many. To which do you belong?” The eunuch was left speechless and bewildered. The Commander ordered the eunuch’s distinguishing mark to be struck. [The precise sense of ʿalāmat al-khaṣī and the punishment intended here are uncertain.]

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Some detractors and envious people claim that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak abandoned Abū Ḥanīfa’s views, questions and transmission. Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: I heard a man in Mecca say this, and told al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ, one of Ibn al-Mubārak’s companions. He answered: “They lie about ʿAbd Allāh. Three days before his death, I heard him transmit from Abū Ḥanīfa and mention his legal questions. Do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise: he is a liar.” Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ then said: We entered upon Abū Ḥanīfa with Ibn al-Mubārak. Musāwir the poet was there, reciting additional verses in praise of Abū Ḥanīfa:

“The imam of the Muslims, Abū Ḥanīfa, adorned the lands and those within them. He did not measure matters by desire, but with mindfulness and fear, using noble reports transmitted with chains from the distinguished people of earlier times. He clarified difficult cases for creation, cases that had been left unresolved.”

Then Abū Ḥanīfa gave this poet a thousand dirhams. ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak answered the poet:

“I understood your words and answered them with praise of Abū Ḥanīfa. Abū Ḥanīfa was righteous, mindful and devoted to worship, unlike a carcass. He transmitted his reports and answered through them, like eagles flying from a lofty height. He had no equal in Iraq, the two eastern regions or Kufa.”

He said: Abū Muṭīʿ al-Balkhī said: I saw Abū Ḥanīfa on Friday wearing a mantle and shirt worth four hundred dirhams, trailing on the ground. I asked: “Is this not disliked?” He answered: “No, the disapproval concerns the waistcloth, because of Ibn ʿUmar’s hadith: ‘Whoever’s waistcloth touches the ground, no prayer is accepted from him.’”

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād said: When someone loves Abū Ḥanīfa and supports him, we know he belongs to the people of the Sunna. When someone hates him, we know he belongs to the people of innovation.

Sufyān al-Thawrī said: I do not see anyone among the Muslims who sits with Abū Ḥanīfa without submitting to him because of his jurisprudence, scrupulousness and insight.

Mālik said: Abū Ḥanīfa debated one of our jurists and brought him over to his own view.

Al-Shāfiʿī said: In jurisprudence, they are all dependent upon Abū Ḥanīfa.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Wāqid said: I asked Sufyān al-Thawrī a question, and he said: “I do not know.” I asked Abū Ḥanīfa, who answered and explained its meaning. When I mentioned this to Sufyān, he said: “There are many like us in Abū Ḥanīfa’s drawstring.”

Abū Yūsuf had been Ibn Abī Laylā’s student. He left him and came to Abū Ḥanīfa. Ibn Abī Laylā then said: “Stay with him: you have never seen a jurist like him.”

Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna and al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said: People have never sat with anyone whose company was more beneficial than Abū Ḥanīfa’s.

Just as Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was the best, most learned, most knowledgeable in jurisprudence, most scrupulous, most mindful, most devoted to worship, most rightly guided and most generous of the Companions, so Abū Ḥanīfa was the most learned, most knowledgeable in jurisprudence, most mindful, most scrupulous, most ascetic and most generous of the Successors.

Abū Ḥanīfa had a shop selling cloth in Kufa, just as Abū Bakr had a cloth shop in Mecca. Abū Ḥanīfa wished to follow Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq in this.

Abū Ḥanīfa’s business partner was Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān al-Bazzāz, whose Qurʾanic reading people follow. A man from Medina came to the shop while Ḥafṣ was there and Abū Ḥanīfa absent. He wanted silk fabric. Ḥafṣ produced it and asked a thousand dirhams, although it was worth four hundred. The buyer did not bargain, paid a thousand and returned to Medina. When Abū Ḥanīfa returned, Ḥafṣ told him. He answered: “It was worth four hundred, yet you sold it for a thousand without compassion for the buyer.” Abū Ḥanīfa went to Medina, sought the buyer and asked to cancel the sale. He returned the thousand, took back the fabric and said: “Buy it from me for four hundred.” The man had thought the original seller was Abū Ḥanīfa. The buyer now had the fabric and six hundred dirhams. Such was Abū Ḥanīfa’s scrupulousness.

Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn said: A woman brought a valuable garment to sell. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “It is worth more than that.” The price reached nine thousand, and he still said it was worth more. She asked him to buy it for ten thousand, and he did. He could initially have bought it for two thousand. He said: “They bring goods to us because they think well of us and hope to find honesty and mindfulness in us.”

It is related that a landholder deposited a hundred thousand dirhams with Abū Ḥanīfa, then died without telling anyone, leaving young children. When they grew up, Abū Ḥanīfa returned their deposit without calling witnesses, so that no one would know they had this money.

Ḥasan ibn Qaḥṭaba, governor of Kufa, likewise deposited a hundred thousand dinars with Abū Ḥanīfa. When Abū Ḥanīfa died, he asked Ḥammād for the deposit. Ḥammād produced the treasury key, found it sealed as before and placed it before him. Al-Ḥasan said: “Leave it with you as it was with your father.” Ḥammād refused. Asked why, he answered: “Abū Ḥanīfa had a guardian like me, but I have no one like me.”

Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik related from his father: A dispute arose between the Commander of the Faithful Abū Jaʿfar and his wife al-Ḥurra. They made Abū Ḥanīfa their arbitrator. Abū Jaʿfar asked: “How many wives are lawful for a man?” He answered: “Four, and as many enslaved women as he wishes.” Al-Ḥurra heard, and Abū Jaʿfar fell silent. Abū Ḥanīfa understood and added: “That is for those who are just. For one who is not just, one wife suffices, because God says: ‘If you fear that you will not be just, then one’ [Qurʾan 4:3].” He left. Al-Ḥurra rejoiced and sent a splendid robe, fifty thousand dirhams, an enslaved man and woman, and an Egyptian donkey. Abū Ḥanīfa refused and returned everything, saying: “I said it for religion, not worldly gain.”

While Abū Ḥanīfa sat in the mosque, his servants returned from trade with ninety thousand dirhams. He asked about the transactions. On hearing their description, he said: “Your sales were invalid.” He summoned seven learned ascetics of Kufa and gave each ten thousand dirhams to distribute among the poor, taking none himself. [The source gives ninety thousand received and seven distributions of ten thousand; these figures are not reconciled here.]

It is related that a man came to Abū Ḥanīfa’s shop for silk fabric. He told his son Ḥammād to bring some. Ḥammād brought fine fabric and said: “God bless Muḥammad.” Abū Ḥanīfa stopped him: “You have praised it; it may not be sold to this man.” He abandoned the sale.

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa wished to buy an enslaved woman and spent ten years considering and consulting about which captive population to buy from.

Abū Ḥanīfa used to say: Were it not for fear of God concerning the loss of knowledge, I would give no one a legal opinion, because the burden of sin falls upon the person giving it.

It is related that Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān al-Bazzāz was Abū Ḥanīfa’s business partner. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “There is a defect in such-and-such a garment. If you sell it, disclose it.” Ḥafṣ forgot and sold without disclosing the defect. When he told Abū Ḥanīfa, he gave the entire price in charity.

Abū Ḥanīfa set aside clothing for nightly prayer: a shirt, turban, mantle and trousers worth fifteen hundred dirhams, worn specially every night. He said: “Adorning oneself for God is more fitting than adorning oneself for people.”

On Ramadan nights, Abū Ḥanīfa walked with his son Ḥammād to ʿUmar ibn Dharr’s mosque, three miles away, and prayed tarāwīḥ behind him. When his mother needed an answer, she told him to ask ʿUmar ibn Dharr. He would go and ask. ʿUmar said: “You know these questions better than I.” Abū Ḥanīfa answered: “I do not disobey my mother’s command.” ʿUmar asked the answer; Abū Ḥanīfa supplied it. ʿUmar then said: “Tell your mother on my authority that I answered such-and-such.”

Misʿar ibn Kidām said: I was walking with Abū Ḥanīfa when he stepped on a boy’s foot without seeing or noticing him. The boy said: “Do you not fear retribution on the Day of Resurrection, old man?” Abū Ḥanīfa fainted. After a long while he recovered and said: “I fear that he was prompted [to say this].” This agrees with the account of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq: leaving for prayer, he stepped with his sandal on an ant and killed it. He lifted it, weeping over what he had done, and prayed until God revived it. He apologized to the ant seventy times, fearing retribution on the Day of Resurrection.

Abū Ḥanīfa gave Abū Yūsuf a hundred dirhams from time to time. He bound himself to give a dirham in charity whenever he swore truthfully, then increased this to a quarter dinar, half a dinar, and finally a dinar. He collected profits from trade to clothe needy elderly scholars and give them dinars. When he ate something, he gave its like to a poor person; when he wore a new garment, he gave its like to someone needy. A companion gave him a garment worth ten dirhams, and he reciprocated with silk worth fifty. He gave a man a thousand dirhams for praising him. When his son Ḥammād learned the Opening Chapter from his teacher, he gave the teacher a thousand dirhams.

A man asked Abū Ḥanīfa: “I need two garments; sell them to me and treat me well.” He said: “Wait half a month.” The man returned then, and Abū Ḥanīfa produced two excellent garments and a dinar. Asked the price, he answered: “They are a gift. I traded on your behalf in Baghdad; these garments and the dinar are the profit and belong to you. I heard ʿAṭāʾ transmit from Ibn ʿAbbās: When a man tells his brother, ‘Treat me well,’ he entrusts him with his secret and desires his kindness. I did whatever kindness I could.”

A companion told Abū Ḥanīfa: “I wrote in your name to a merchant, saying that you sought a loan of thirty dinars. He gave me thirty.” Abū Ḥanīfa smiled and said: “I did not think anyone would benefit from something like this. If you benefit from it, keep doing it.”

It is recounted that a woman wanted to buy cloth from Abū Ḥanīfa’s shop. He produced a new garment worth four hundred dirhams. She said: “I am a vulnerable woman with a daughter whom I want to send to her husband. Sell it to me at your cost.” He offered it for four dirhams. She said: “Do not mock me.” He answered: “God forbid that I mock anyone. I bought two garments and sold one for the capital paid for both, less four dirhams. This one therefore cost me four.” She bought it for four dirhams and returned delighted.

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī said: One day Abū Ḥanīfa told his companions: “Rise and visit so-and-so; he is ill.” They went, including Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī. The sick man lived far away. On arriving, a companion said: “We are hungry; perhaps we shall get lunch here.” After entering and sitting awhile, a companion recited: “We shall certainly test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth, lives and fruits” [Qurʾan 2:155]. The poor man recited: “Give good news to the patient” [2:155], then: “There is no blame upon the weak, the sick, or those who cannot find anything to spend” [9:91]. Abū Ḥanīfa smiled and said: “Rise: your companion has nothing to offer.” Then he gave them dirhams for their lunch.

It is related that a neighbor of Abū Ḥanīfa was a singer. Every night he sang songs and love poetry, which Abū Ḥanīfa heard. Among his verses was:

“They neglected me, and what a young man they neglected, for a day of adversity and the defense of a frontier.”

The authorities arrested him and imprisoned him for three nights. Abū Ḥanīfa no longer heard his singing and asked about him. Told he was imprisoned, he said: “It is not generous to neglect a neighbor’s rights.” He interceded with the ruler, who accepted and released the man. The prisoner did not know who had interceded; later he learned it was Abū Ḥanīfa and was astonished. He visited him. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “We did not neglect you, young man.” The man repented and became righteous.

Every Friday, Abū Ḥanīfa gave twenty dirhams in charity on behalf of his parents, besides what he gave for them on other days.

Among the accounts of his generosity is what is recounted of Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī. When he came to Kufa to learn from Abū Ḥanīfa, he first came across al-Aʿmash’s mosque; al-Aʿmash directed him to Abū Ḥanīfa. He studied with him four or five years, then asked to return to Basra. Abū Ḥanīfa told him to wait a week. He then invited him home and produced a written collection of admonitions, including: “Yūsuf, you have learned and become more learned than Basra’s scholars. You probably think that, on entering Basra, you will disregard its jurists, compel them and not be troubled by them.” Yūsuf said this was what he thought. Abū Ḥanīfa warned: “Beware of that. When you enter Basra and jurists and imams visit, honor and respect them. Return their visits and speak kindly to each. If you can send each a gift of good things, do so. If no one visits you, visit them and honor each.” He gave such admonitions, then a thousand dirhams and fine garments as a gift. Yūsuf departed for Basra and said: “I followed Abū Ḥanīfa’s advice, and it benefited me in both worlds.”

Some foolish, ignorant and envious people addressed Abū Ḥanīfa with abusive words to his face, but he did not answer, in accordance with God's saying: “When the ignorant address them, they say: Peace” (Qurʾān 25:63).

One of them said to him, “You are an unbeliever, a Murjiʾī.” His composure did not change. Even when they spoke about him in his absence, he did not listen or answer.

It is related that ʿUthmān al-Battī of Basra wrote to Abū Ḥanīfa: “People claim that you are a Murjiʾī.” Abū Ḥanīfa wrote back explaining the sound position: “We do not declare anyone an unbeliever because of a sin. We do not consider someone who sins and disobeys to be excused, even though his action occurs by God's decree.” When the letter reached ʿUthmān al-Battī, he stood on the pulpit and said: “People of Basra, the position is as Abū Ḥanīfa says. If you say that this position makes him a Murjiʾī, then I have been a Murjiʾī for seventy years.”

A man insulted Abū Ḥanīfa, saying, “Heretic! Unbeliever!” Abū Ḥanīfa replied: “[God] knows that I am different from what you say. I hope only for His pardon and fear only His punishment.” Then he said, “May God forgive you.” The man felt ashamed and said, “Release me from my liability to you.” Abū Ḥanīfa answered, “You are released.”

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa left his home intending to go to his mosque. He noticed a man behind him insulting him, but said nothing. The man continued adding insult to insult; at each step he uttered another abuse. When Abū Ḥanīfa reached his door, he stopped, faced the man and said: “This is my house, and I want to go inside. If you have any insults left, say them now so that none of what you have remains and you need not fear losing the opportunity.” The man felt ashamed and asked to be released from his liability to him. He replied, “You are released.”

It is related that ʿUmar ibn Dharr came to Abū Ḥanīfa and said: “I have a Shiʿi neighbour who has encountered a legal question. He said to his wife, ‘You are forbidden to me.’ What is your answer?” Abū Ḥanīfa said, “Tell him to come, so I can answer him.” ʿUmar informed the man, who came and repeated his question. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “According to the position of the man whose love you profess—that is, ʿAlī—three divorces have taken effect against your wife.” The Shiʿi replied: “I want your position; I do not accept ʿAlī's position.” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “If you intended divorce, one irrevocable divorce takes effect. If you intended nothing, nothing takes effect.” The man left, saying: “May God reward you well and grant you Paradise, even if you dislike that!” Abū Ḥanīfa smiled and said nothing to him.

Before studying jurisprudence, Abū Ḥanīfa had a study circle in theology. A woman asked him a question of jurisprudence that he could not answer. He left that circle and went to Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān to study jurisprudence. Ḥammād told him, “Learn three questions each day.” Abū Ḥanīfa did so and became a jurist.

A Bedouin asked Abū Ḥanīfa a question of jurisprudence that he could not answer. The Bedouin prayed evil against Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions and prayed well for Ḥammād and his companions. Abū Ḥanīfa consequently left the theology circle and regularly attended Ḥammād's circle.

Ḥammād's companions included Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī, Abū Burda al-ʿUtbī and Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥanafī—or, in another version, al-Juʿfī. When Ḥammād died, his son did not take his teaching seat because he was not a jurist. Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī did not take it because he was easily wearied, and Abū Burda did not take it. Abū Ḥanīfa therefore took the seat to teach jurisprudence, and Ḥammād's companions gathered around him.

Ibn Abī Laylā, Ibn Shubruma, Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Sufyān al-Thawrī and al-Aʿmash opposed him. He continued until his position became established, without becoming weary. His companions gathered around him: Abū Yūsuf, Zufar, Asad ibn ʿAmr, al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn, al-Walīd, al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād, Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī, Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī, Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida, Nūḥ ibn Abī Maryam, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, al-Mughīra ibn Ḥamza and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Forty men among Abū Ḥanīfa's companions composed books on jurisprudence, including the men just mentioned.

Abū Yūsuf said: Abū Ḥanīfa said, “Someone whose company is burdensome cannot acquire understanding of jurisprudence”—meaning someone who is easily wearied. Then he recited:

“We have known burdensome people in every town; Lord, do not forgive every burdensome person.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir was told, “People disparage Abū Ḥanīfa.” ʿAbd Allāh replied in verse:

“What harm comes to the sea, overflowing as it is, if a boy throws a stone into it?”

Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād related from his grandfather Abū Ḥanīfa that a barber was cutting his hair. Abū Ḥanīfa wanted him to pluck out the white hairs. The man said: “Do not pluck out the white hairs: if you pluck them, they will multiply.” Abū Ḥanīfa replied, “Then I shall pluck out the black ones so that the black ones multiply.” This indicates his readiness with an answer.

Abū Yūsuf said: “I found Abū Ḥanīfa's position more conducive to salvation in the Hereafter.”

Know that Abū Ḥanīfa was more knowledgeable about sound hadith and the interpretation of hadith, while others took the outward wording. It is related that ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd said: “I performed the pilgrimage with the people of Basra in the year when the people of Kufa also performed it. On the second day of the sacrifice—the day called the Day of Rest, because people remain at Minā and do not leave—I saw Abū Ḥanīfa sitting with his companions at Minā. I also saw Ibn Abī Laylā sitting elsewhere with his companions, and Ibn Shubruma elsewhere with his companions. I asked Abū Ḥanīfa about a sale subject to a condition. He answered, ‘The sale is defective.’ I asked Ibn Abī Laylā, who answered, ‘The sale is valid, but the condition is void.’ I asked Ibn Shubruma, who answered, ‘The sale is valid and the condition is effective.’ I wondered to myself how these scholars differed over this question.”

“I asked Ibn Shubruma for his evidence. He said: ‘Abū al-Zubayr informed me, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, that Jābir was travelling with the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, riding a camel and falling behind his companions. The Prophet saw him and asked, “Jābir, why have you fallen behind?” I said, “My mount is slow.” The Prophet took a whip and struck the animal gently, and it began moving ahead of his companions. The Prophet asked, “Will you sell this animal?” Jābir said yes. He asked, “For how much?” I replied, “Messenger of God, how much will you pay?” The Prophet asked, “Will you sell it for ten dirhams?” I said no. “For a hundred?” I said no. He kept increasing the offer until it reached two hundred, and I said no; then three hundred, and I said no; then four hundred, and I said, “Yes, but on condition that I do not hand it over to you now: I shall ride it to Medina and then send it to you.” I sold it on that condition. When we reached Medina, I unloaded my baggage at home and brought the animal to the Prophet. He gave me four hundred dirhams.’”

“Then I went to Ibn Abī Laylā and asked for his evidence. He said: ‘Hishām informed me, from ʿUrwa, from ʿĀʾisha—God be pleased with them—that she wanted to buy Barīra. The seller said, “I will sell her on condition that if you free her, the patronage belongs to us.” ʿĀʾisha told the Prophet, who said: “Buy her and stipulate the patronage for them: patronage belongs to the one who frees.”’”

“Then I went to Abū Ḥanīfa and asked for his evidence. He said: ‘Ḥammād informed me, from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, from ʿAlqama, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, that the Prophet prohibited a sale combined with a condition.’ He then explained the interpretation of ʿĀʾisha's hadith: ‘Stipulate the patronage for them’ means ‘against them,’ as in God's words, ‘For them is the curse, and for them is the evil abode’ (Qurʾān 40:52), meaning ‘against them.’”

He also explained the other hadith: the transaction between the Prophet and Jābir. When the Prophet paid the four hundred, he said, “Jābir, the price is yours and the animal is yours.” This demonstrates that Abū Ḥanīfa was more knowledgeable about interpreting hadith.

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa mentioned, through a chain of his, that the Prophet said: “On the Day of Resurrection, a Jew or Christian will be handed over to each Muslim, and it will be said: ‘This is your ransom from the Fire.’”

Abū Ḥanīfa related through his chain, from ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās—God be pleased with them—that the Messenger of God said: “The foremost of the martyrs is Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and a man who stands before an unjust ruler, commands him to do right and forbids him to do wrong, and is killed by that ruler.” Ibrāhīm al-Ṣāʾigh heard this hadith and went to the ruler, commanding and forbidding him. The ruler ordered his killing. They struck him with a sword, but his throat was not completely severed. He was then thrown into a well, and his groaning could be heard for three days.

It is related that al-Awzāʿī said: “I prayed beside Abū Ḥanīfa. I raised my hands when bowing, but Abū Ḥanīfa did not. When I finished praying, he asked, ‘Why did you raise your hands when bowing?’ I replied: ‘Al-Zuhrī related to me, from Sālim, from Ibn ʿUmar, that the Messenger of God raised his hands when bowing and when lifting his head.’”

Abū Ḥanīfa replied: “Ḥammād related to me, from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, from ʿAlqama, from ʿUmar, that the Messenger of God raised his hands the first time and did not repeat it.” He then said: “Ḥammād is more learned in jurisprudence than [al-Zuhrī], Ibrāhīm more learned than Sālim, and ʿAlqama was no less than Ibn ʿUmar; and ʿUmar is ʿUmar.” Al-Awzāʿī was astonished.

Abū Ḥanīfa taught his companions legal questions after dawn. He was asked: “Is speaking after dawn not disapproved?” He replied: “That concerns worldly conversation. Explaining what is lawful and unlawful is good. When a provisions bag is empty, its owner goes hungry.”

Abū Ḥanīfa was asked about a man who swore that he would have intercourse with his wife during the daytime in Ramadan. No one knew the answer except Abū Ḥanīfa, who said: “He should travel with his wife and have intercourse with her during the daytime in Ramadan.”

Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr, Commander of the Faithful, needed a purchase deed or an endowment deed written. The jurists Ibn Abī Laylā, Ibn Shubruma, al-Aʿmash and Sufyān al-Thawrī gathered and jointly wrote a deed. It was presented to Abū Jaʿfar, who found many errors and returned it. He summoned Abū Ḥanīfa and said: “I give you two months to write such a deed.” Abū Ḥanīfa replied, “I do not need the time,” and dictated it immediately. Abū Jaʿfar approved it and offered him ten thousand dirhams, but Abū Ḥanīfa did not accept them.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Sulaymān said: A report from the Prophet states, “The Hour will not come until knowledge appears.” He then said: “This is Abū Ḥanīfa's knowledge.”

A man claimed prophethood in Abū Ḥanīfa's time and said: “Give me time to bring signs.” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Whoever asks him for a sign has disbelieved, because the Prophet said, ‘There is no prophet after me.’”

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa was sitting with Ibn Abī Laylā, Sufyān and Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh. A man came and asked: “What do you say about some people sitting together? A snake climbed onto a man, who pushed it away. It fell onto another, who pushed it away, then onto another, who pushed it away, then onto a third, who pushed it away, and onto a fourth, whom it bit and killed. Who owes the blood money for the fourth?” They debated in confusion, while Abū Ḥanīfa smiled. They agreed that he should answer. He said: “The first is not liable, because the snake did not injure the second. The second is also not liable, because it did not injure the third. The third is liable in one circumstance and not liable in another.” They asked about these circumstances. He replied: “If it bit the fourth immediately upon falling onto him, the third is liable. If it remained for a while and then bit him, the third is also not liable.” They acknowledged his answer to be correct.

When Abū al-ʿAbbās became caliph, the jurists of Kufa gathered to pledge allegiance. They all agreed that Abū Ḥanīfa should deliver the pledge. He said to the caliph: “We have pledged allegiance to you upon God's command and to fulfil your covenant until the rising of the Hour.” Another version says, “Until the Hour rises.” They left, then wanted to dissolve the pledge. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “It is permissible to dissolve this pledge. In saying ‘until the rising of the Hour,’ I did not pronounce ‘the Hour’ with a genitive ending. I stopped on the word, intending the accusative, and understood an omitted ‘my’ in ‘my rising at this hour.’ It therefore does not mean the Day of Resurrection. In the version ‘until the Hour rises,’ I did not pronounce an indicative case ending on ‘the Hour.’ By ‘you rise’ I intended the second-person prefix, not the feminine third-person prefix, and intended ‘the hour’ as an accusative adverb of time: ‘until you rise at this hour.’ Thus it is not a pledge until the Day of Resurrection, but for a single hour.” His companions agreed and said, “How well you spoke!” He replied: “You entrusted the speech to me, so I devised a way out for myself.” They understood that what he said was correct.

It is related that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak was asked about a pot in which meat was cooking: a small bird fell into it and died. Were the meat and broth forbidden? He asked many jurists in Kufa, who hesitated and became confused. He then asked Abū Ḥanīfa, who said: “The broth is impure in every case and is not lawful. The meat is pure in one circumstance and impure in another.” Ibn al-Mubārak asked him to explain. He said: “If it was boiling when the bird fell in, the meat is forbidden and cannot be purified; washing does not help. If the boiling had stopped, the outside of the meat is impure, but washing helps. Wash it three times and it becomes pure.” They acknowledged his answer to be correct.

It is related that Abū Yūsuf stopped attending Abū Ḥanīfa's sessions and stopped studying jurisprudence, thinking he had learned it all. Abū Ḥanīfa sent a man to ask him: “A man handed a garment to a fuller. When he requested it, the fuller denied receiving it. Some days later he admitted receiving it and returned it fulled. Does he deserve payment from the owner?” Abū Yūsuf said yes. The man said, “You are wrong.” He then said no. The man again said, “You are wrong.” Abū Yūsuf became confused, returned to Abū Ḥanīfa and asked him. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “If he fulled it first, then denied receiving it, then admitted it, payment is due. If he denied it before fulling it, then fulled it and admitted receiving it, he must return the garment but receives no payment.” Abū Yūsuf resumed attending him. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Whoever thinks he can dispense with learning should weep for himself.”

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa was asked about two brothers who married two sisters: the elder brother married the elder sister and the younger married the younger. Both brides were brought to their husbands on the same night, but a mistake was made: the younger sister was brought to the elder brother and the other to the other brother. Each had intercourse with the woman brought to him. In the morning they discovered the mistake. They asked Abū Ḥanīfa whether the marriages became forbidden, whether the original marriages remained in force, whether additional dowers were due beyond those stipulated, and whether each sister had to observe a waiting period. None of the jurists of Kufa knew this question.

Abū Ḥanīfa answered and summoned the brothers. He told the elder: “You have a choice: choose the woman you had intercourse with last night, or the woman you contracted to marry.” The elder asked what difference that made. He replied: “If you choose the woman you had intercourse with, divorce the woman you contracted to marry and marry the one you had intercourse with. She is lawful for you immediately, and no waiting period is required [before marrying you]. But you owe two and a half dowers: the half is for the woman divorced before consummation, and the two are for the woman you had intercourse with—one for intercourse under an apparent entitlement and another for the new marriage. The waiting period does not prevent this new marriage, because you are marrying a woman whose waiting period arises from you.” He gave the younger brother the corresponding answer. “If you choose the younger sister whom you contracted to marry, she is not lawful for you while observing the waiting period, because it arises from your brother rather than from you. But you owe two dowers: the stipulated dower to your wife and the customary dower to her sister for intercourse under an apparent entitlement.”

Abū Ḥanīfa married a woman besides Ḥammād's mother. When Ḥammād's mother learned of this, she shunned him and demanded that he divorce the new wife three times. He devised a way to make her think the new wife had been divorced three times, so she would be reassured. He told the new wife: “You should come into the house to Ḥammād's mother while I am with her, as though requesting a legal answer, and ask whether a woman may shun her husband when he marries another woman.” When the new wife entered and asked, [Ḥammād's mother said,] “I will not live with you.” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Every wife of mine outside this house is divorced three times.” Ḥammād's mother was pleased and apologised, but he had not divorced the new wife.

A man in Kufa wanted to open a small window in his wall towards his neighbour. The neighbour informed the judge of Kufa, Ibn Abī Laylā, who forbade the opening. Abū Ḥanīfa told the man to open a large doorway towards his neighbour, but the judge forbade that too. Abū Ḥanīfa said, “Demolish the whole wall.” The man intended to do so. The judge realised this was permitted, abandoned his prohibition and was confounded.

It is related that Abū Ḥanīfa was travelling with his companions. They wanted to eat and had vinegar, but no vessel or bowl. They were at a loss. Abū Ḥanīfa dug a hollow in the ground and placed the food cloth in it, making it into a bowl. He poured the vinegar into it, so they could eat it.

One of Abū Ḥanīfa's companions wanted to marry a man's daughter. Her family said: “We will not marry her to you until you pay the whole dower.” He asked Abū Ḥanīfa, who asked some wealthy people to lend him a thousand dirhams. They did, and he married her and paid the dower. The borrower then asked Abū Ḥanīfa for a device to discharge the debt. He replied: “Tell them you intend to travel to Syria, taking your wife with you, and have hired two camels for that purpose.” He told them, and they found her departure distressing. They asked Abū Ḥanīfa, who said: “He may take her with him, because he has paid the whole dower. If you want her to remain with you, return the dower to him.” They returned it; he repaid his loan and obtained his wife without expense.

Abū Ḥanīfa was sitting in the mosque of Kufa when a Rāfiḍī called Shayṭān al-Ṭāq came and asked: “Abū Ḥanīfa, who is the strongest person?” He replied: “According to our position, ʿAlī; according to yours, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq.” Shayṭān al-Ṭāq said, “That is reversed.” Abū Ḥanīfa explained: “We say ʿAlī is strongest because he knew the right belonged to Abū Bakr and handed it to him. You say the right belonged to ʿAlī, but Abū Bakr took it and ʿAlī lacked the strength to recover it. Thus Abū Bakr overpowered him and was stronger.” The Rāfiḍī was confounded and left.

A man deposited ten thousand dirhams with someone, who denied the deposit when asked to return it. The owner was at a loss and told Abū Ḥanīfa. He said, “Tell no one,” and asked the custodian's name and neighbourhood. A month later he summoned the custodian and said: “The Commander of the Faithful has written to me that the treasury contains much property belonging to orphans and its safekeeping is burdensome. He wants an upright man to hold it as a deposit. I have asked several people, who told me of your uprightness and trustworthiness. If your house needs repair, repair it so that we can send the property to you.” The man went away delighted. Abū Ḥanīfa told the owner: “Go to him and say that you are connected to me and that I know your circumstances and your deposit.” He did so. The custodian said: “Tell no one of my denial. Your money is still sealed as it was when you deposited it [the wording here is difficult].” The owner said: “I have told no one and will tell no one.” He returned the very same ten thousand dirhams, hoping to receive further deposits. The owner told Abū Ḥanīfa his money had been returned. He said: “May God bless it for you. Go in safety.” Some days later the custodian came to ask for the other deposits. Abū Ḥanīfa paid him no attention, saying only: “Our purpose has been achieved. Go where you wish.”

It is related that Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī divided an inheritance, correctly allocating a sister one dinar out of six hundred. She came to Abū Ḥanīfa and said: “My [brother] died leaving six hundred dinars. Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī divided it and gave me one dinar.” She did not say “out of six hundred” [the text's wording repeats the total earlier]. Abū Ḥanīfa said, “That is correct.” She had not stated how many heirs there were. He considered the question and said: “Perhaps your brother left two daughters, a mother, a wife, twelve brothers shared by you and him, and you as a sister?” She answered, “Yes, that was the family.” He said: “Your share is one dinar. Two thirds go to the two daughters—four hundred; a sixth to the mother—one hundred; and an eighth to the wife—seventy-five. Twenty-five remain for the brothers and sister: the twelve brothers receive twenty-four, leaving one dinar for the sister.” Such was Abū Ḥanīfa's discernment.

It is related that while he was sitting with his companions, a man who spoke ill of him came and asked about someone who says: “I do not hope for Paradise or fear the Fire; I do not fear God; I eat dead animals and consider them lawful; I testify to what I have not seen; I pray without bowing or prostrating; I hate the truth and love temptation.” His companions called this person an unbeliever. Abū Ḥanīfa smiled and said, “Rather, a believer.” He asked the questioner: “If I explain these questions, will you restrain your tongue against me?” He said yes. Abū Ḥanīfa explained: “‘I do not hope for Paradise’ means that he hopes in God, the Lord of Paradise. ‘I do not fear the Fire’ means he fears its Lord. ‘I do not fear God’ means he does not fear injustice from Him, because He is just and does not wrong anyone. Eating dead animals means fish: considering fish lawful is harmless though it is dead. He prays the funeral prayer without bowing or prostrating and invokes blessings on the Prophet. Testifying to what he has not seen means testifying that God is one without a partner, although he has not seen Him, and that the angels, Paradise, the Fire and the prophets are real, although he has not seen them. He hates death, which is a truth. He loves temptation—that is, family, property and children—as God says: ‘Your property and children are only a trial’ (Qurʾān 64:15).”

It is related that the caliph summoned Abū Ḥanīfa, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nakhaʿī and Misʿar ibn Kidām, intending to appoint them judges. They came, but Sufyān escaped on the way. Misʿar feigned madness. When he entered, he asked the caliph: “How are your animals? How are your servants?” The caliph's attendants called him mad and let him go. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “My father was a baker, and the people of Kufa will not accept a baker's son as judge.” The caliph let him go. Sharīk said: “I am mostly forgetful.” The caliph replied: “We shall give you frankincense: chewing it removes forgetfulness.” Sharīk said: “I have another fault: frivolity.” The caliph said: “I shall provide you daily with sugar pudding in almond oil to remove it.” Sharīk said: “I do not care whom I rule against, and do not distinguish close from distant people.” The caliph answered: “Rule against me and my children,” and appointed him. One day a female client of the caliph came with an opponent. She moved ahead of her opponent in court. The judge said: “Step back [the following word is unclear], for one party may not move ahead of another in court.” She said: “You are a foolish old man.” He replied: “I said so myself, but your patron would not accept it.” They dismissed him.

It is related that al-Layth ibn Saʿd swore to strike Abū Ḥanīfa with a sword. He regretted saying this and sought a way out of his oath. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Take the sword and strike me with its flat side, and you will discharge your oath.”

A man told Abū Ḥanīfa: “I have a grown son who is somewhat dissolute. I fear he will commit fornication if I do not marry him. I married him to a woman, but he divorced her and my money was lost. Then I bought him a slave woman, but he freed her and wasted my money. What should I do?” He replied: “Buy a slave woman for yourself, then marry her to your son. If he divorces, your property remains intact. If he attempts to free her, it is unanimously invalid.”

It is related that Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr summoned Ibn Abī Laylā and Ibn Shubruma and asked: “The Khārijites took Muslims' property and shed their blood, then repented and returned, and we overcame them. Are they liable to compensation?” Ibn Abī Laylā said yes; Ibn Shubruma said no. They asked Abū Ḥanīfa for his answer. He said: “If their authority prevailed and the Muslims' judgments did not operate, compensation is not due. If our judgments operated over them, compensation is due.” They agreed that his answer was correct.

It is related that Ibn Hubayra wanted to appoint Abū Ḥanīfa judge of Kufa, but he refused. He threatened to beat him, gave him twenty lashes and imprisoned him. Ibn Hubayra saw the Prophet in a dream, saying: “Do you not fear God, mighty and majestic, when you beat a man of my community without an offence?” He released him.

When Abū Jaʿfar built Baghdad and moved there, he summoned Ibn Abī Laylā, Ibn Shubruma and Abū Ḥanīfa from Kufa. He asked: “I stipulated that the people of Mosul must not rebel against me, and that if they did, their blood and property would be lawful to me. They accepted. What do you say?” Ibn Shubruma and Ibn Abī Laylā answered: “You are free to act; if you pardon them, you earn merit.” He asked Abū Ḥanīfa, who said: “They stipulated for you something they did not own, and you stipulated against them something that is not yours. You have held them to something unlawful for you. God's condition has the greater right to be fulfilled.” They dispersed. Abū Jaʿfar then told Abū Ḥanīfa, “Your answer is correct,” and they returned to Kufa.

Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr summoned Abū Ḥanīfa, Ibn Abī Dhiʾb and Mālik ibn Anas and asked: “Do you consider me fit for the caliphate?” They were silent. Ibn Abī Dhiʾb then said: “If you obey God, His enabling grace is near you; if you disobey, it is far from you. The caliphate rests on the agreement of the God-fearing. You and your helpers are outside that grace, overpowering what is right. If you ask God for safety and approach Him through pure deeds, that is better for you; otherwise you are the one who will be called to account.”

Abū Ḥanīfa said: “If you were honest with yourself, you would know that in seeking our agreement you did not intend God. You intended the public to know that we say what you desire through fear of your sword and prison. Not even two of the God-fearing have agreed to your caliphate. The caliphate comes through the believers' agreement and consultation. Do you not see that when Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq became caliph after the Prophet's death, he did not rule for six months until the pledge of the people of Yemen reached him?” He then asked Mālik, who said: “Had God not regarded you as fit, He would not have assigned you kingship and authority over this community. May God help you in what He has entrusted to you and inspire you concerning what He has granted you.” They departed.

Al-Manṣūr told his minister al-Rabīʿ ibn Yūnus: “Take three purses, each containing ten thousand silver dirhams, and follow them. If Mālik accepts, give him all of them. If Abū Ḥanīfa or Ibn Abī Dhiʾb accepts, cut off his head.” Al-Rabīʿ said: “I went to Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, who said, ‘I do not approve of this money for him; how could I approve of it for myself?’ Abū Ḥanīfa said, ‘Even if my neck were struck to make me touch one dirham, I would not touch it.’ He added: ‘He should have mercy on himself, seek pardon from those he wrongs, or return the property to the wronged.’ Mālik accepted all the money. Abū Jaʿfar said: ‘Abū Ḥanīfa and Ibn Abī Dhiʾb have preserved their blood through this restraint.’”

It is related that Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, author of the military campaigns, envied Abū Ḥanīfa because he saw al-Manṣūr favour him above other scholars. In the caliph's presence, he asked Abū Ḥanīfa: “What do you say about someone who swears an oath, falls silent, then says ‘if God wills’ after finishing?” He replied: “The exception has no effect because it is disconnected; it helps only when connected.” Ibn Isḥāq objected: “How can it fail when the caliph's ancestor, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, said it has effect even after a year, according to ‘Remember your Lord when you forget’ (Qurʾān 18:24)?” The caliph asked whether this was his ancestor's position. Told yes, he angrily asked: “Do you oppose my ancestor, Abū Ḥanīfa?” He replied: “Ibn ʿAbbās's statement has an interpretation that makes it correct.” Then he said: “Commander of the Faithful, this man and his companions do not consider you fit for the caliphate. They pledge allegiance, then leave and say ‘if God wills,’ releasing themselves from their pledge without breaking an oath.” The caliph told his attendants, “Seize this man”—meaning Ibn Isḥāq. They seized him, placed his leg against his neck and imprisoned him.

It is related that the Commander of the Faithful sent ten thousand dirhams as a gift to Abū Ḥanīfa, carried by al-Ḥasan ibn Qaḥṭaba. Abū Ḥanīfa remained silent. When he died, he instructed that the money be returned. Al-Ḥasan said: “He was indeed protective of his religion after others had readily spent theirs.”

Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: Yaḥyā ibn al-Naḍr said: “They did not doubt that he had been given poison and died.” Another version says he was forced to drink a draught of sawīq and died from it. It is also related that the Commander of the Faithful appointed him judge of al-Ruṣāfa, but he refused. He was flogged, became ill and died six days later.

Another version says that Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh rose in Basra claiming the caliphate. Al-Manṣūr heard that al-Aʿmash and Abū Ḥanīfa had written to him. He forged two letters in Ibrāhīm's name, addressed to them. When a letter was brought to Abū Ḥanīfa, he took it and kissed it. Abū Jaʿfar consequently suspected him and gave him poison. His face turned green and he died. Another version says Abū Jaʿfar imprisoned him and gave him ten lashes every day, and he died in prison.

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmāra washed him. His funeral bier was carried from prison, and a great crowd gathered and prayed over him at the gate of al-Khayzurān. Prayers were offered over him after burial for more than ten days. His son Ḥammād was the last to pray over him.

They differed over his age. Muqātil al-Samarqandī said: “Abū Ḥanīfa died in the year 150, aged seventy-two.” Abū Nuʿaym said the same. Others said he was seventy.

Abū Yaḥyā said: “I was in Muqātil ibn Sulaymān's circle when Abū Ḥanīfa's death was announced. Muqātil wept intensely and said, ‘The man who stood on behalf of Muḥammad's community has died.’”

A man saw someone in a dream saying: “Tonight a man of Paradise will die.” Abū Ḥanīfa died.

When Muḥammad ibn Abī Rajāʾ saw Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan in a dream, he asked: “What has God done with you?” He replied: “God said to me, ‘I did not place My wisdom in you in order to punish you.’” He was asked about Abū Yūsuf and replied: “He is one degree above me.” Asked about Abū Ḥanīfa, he said: “Far, far above, in the highest heights!” May God Most High have mercy on them.