Ibn Shubruma

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.