Life story of Imam Abu Hanifa R

 Life story of Imam Abu Hanifa R

name

The real name of Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) was "Nu'man Ibn Sabet Ibn Jhaoti" (RA). Abu Hanifa was his nickname or nickname. In later times, he became famous as Imam Abu Hanifa. The people of the world know him as Abu Hanifa.

Birth and childhood

Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) was born in Kufa, Iraq during the Caliphate of Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan in 80 AH.  He grew up there from childhood and spent his early life there.  Historians have not mentioned much about his early life,,,, he was an eminent textile artist.  He had a famous shop in the market.  He used to run business from there.  Knowing his honesty in business, people flocked to his shop from far and wide.  Thus he became widely known to people.  Eventually he established a large cloth factory where a large number of workers worked under him.  He took up this business as his profession until Imam Sha'bi (RA) encouraged him to acquire knowledge.  (Usuluddin Inda Abi Hanifa-66)

education life

Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) met several companions during his childhood, including Anas Ibn Malek and Abdullah Ibn Abi Awfa (RA). According to the narration of Imam Suyuti (RA) he met four companions. They are Anas Ibn Malek, Abdullah Ibn Abi Awfa, Sahl Ibn Sa'd and Abu Tofail (RA). But, he could not learn from any of them.

  As for the reason for his not receiving education from them, many ulama were of the opinion that he was not old enough to acquire religious knowledge from them. He was then passing through childhood

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Demonstration in the world of fiqh

Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) was a successful businessman in the beginning of his career. Business was his only vow in life. Business occupied his entire world of thought and consciousness. In this situation, Almighty Allah gave him the opportunity to contribute to the service of Islam through Imam Shabi (RA). With his personal inspiration, he devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge, and along this path, later devoted himself to the study of the Qur'an and Hadith.

  One day he met Imam Shabi (RA). Then he encouraged Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) to acquire the knowledge of religion in science. With his encouragement, Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge and religion; Became a world famous Mujtahid of Islamic Sharia. In this regard, Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) said:

  "One day I was passing by Imam Shabi's side, he was sitting. He saw me and called to me. He asked me where are you coming and going? I said, I am going to the market. He said, I am not talking about going to the market.  , rather about visiting the scholars. I said, I rarely travel with them. He said, "Don't do that. Rather, you should concentrate on acquiring knowledge and religion and spending time with the scholars. I see talent in you."  .His words created a scar in my heart. As a result, I stopped going to the bazaar and concentrated on acquiring knowledge and Allah Ta'ala made me benefit greatly from his words.

Charity of imam abu hanifa

Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) was a very charitable person. He made good use of this opportunity because Allah Ta'ala made him rich. He also made sure that Riya did not lose heart because of the donation.

  In one narration, Hazrat Abu Hanifa (RA) once saw a companion of his Majlis wearing shabby clothes. He asked her to wait. Wait, when everyone left, he called him and said, pick up the prayer. Take what's under it. The man looked up and saw 1000 dirhams under it. He said, take it and change your condition. The man said, I am wealthy and in the favor of Allah Ta'ala. I don't need them. In response, Abu Hanifa (RA) said, "Didn't this hadith reach you that Allah Ta'ala likes to see the signs of favor given to His servant?" Therefore, you should change this situation yourself. Your friends should not be able to express their displeasure in this situation.

Abu Hanifa's contribution to  fiqh

In addition to possessing extraordinary knowledge in logic and other subjects, Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) acquired a deep knowledge of the rules of Islamic Shari'ah.  He entered the world of Fiqh after being inspired by Imam Shabi (R.A.).  In order to learn the religion of knowledge, Manse interacted with and learned from various muhaddis and faqihs.  He became so interested in Fiqh that he spent 18 long years studying Ilm Deen in the presence of Hammad Ibn Abi Sulayman (RA).  Apart from Hammad, he also learned from Meccan jurist Ata Ibn Abi Rabah, Ibn Umar's (RA) disciple Nafe, Zayd Ibn Ali, Ja'far Sadeq (RA).  One day Caliph Mansur asked him, from whom did you learn knowledge of religion?  He replied, From Umar through the Companions of Umar, from Ali through the Companions of Ali, from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud through the Companions of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud.  The Khalifa heard the answer and said,

    I trusted you

    That means you have adopted a reliable method for yourself.

    Imam Abu Hanifa's contribution to the world of fiqh cannot be denied.  Explaining the contribution of Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) to Fiqh, Imam Shafi'i (RA) said,

     Whoever wants to learn Fiqh should go to Imam Abu Hanifa and his Companions.  Because, according to fiqh, all people are members of his family.

    His madhhab has spread across the world as his students have served as judges in various cities or other important sectors.  Today, billions of people around the world including Iraq, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh follow his Madhhab as a guide to Islam to solve their life problems.  Even in the Ottoman Empire, the Madhhab of Abu Hanifa (RA) was applied to all the territories under the Empire.

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Imam Abu Hanifa's Contribution to Hadith Collection

Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) concentrated on collecting hadiths after 100 AH. He heard hadiths from many respected scholars and traveled far and wide, yet the number of hadiths he narrated was small, probably because he was very strict about the transmission of hadiths. He did not like narrating hadiths for someone who had not memorized the hadiths.

  However, Imam Salehi (RA) mentions another reason behind it and Tahl, Imam Abu Hanifa (RA) could not narrate a significant amount of hadiths because he was busy inventing ijtihad i.e. Masayala from different evidences. As was the case with Abu Bakr and Umar. They too could not narrate more hadiths because they were busy with other work.

death

This great personality died in the prison of Abu Jafar Mansur in 150 AH at the age of 70.  He was killed by poisoning.

    The Ulema were deeply saddened by his death. Upon his death word spread that Fiqh had left Kufa. May Allah Rabbul Alamin grant his great servant Jannatul Ferdows as a guest. Amen