Читать книгу The Muslim 100 - Muhammad Mojlum Khan - Страница 20

THE PRINCIPLES OF shari’ah (Islamic law) are derived from the Qur’an and the normative practice (sunnah) of the Prophet Muhammad. The early Muslims were fortunate enough to have lived during the lifetime of the Prophet, who guided them in their daily affairs. After the death of the Prophet, his leading companions, such as Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib, assumed the leadership of the Muslim community and ruled the expanding Islamic State in accordance with the teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophetic sunnah. Although Islamic principles and practices underpinned the affairs of the Islamic society established by the Prophet and his companions during the early days of Islam, the shari’ah was not codified in a systematic way at the time. After the period of the Prophet’s companions, as the Islamic dominion continued to expand rapidly and Muslims came into contact with other cultures and traditions, and more and more non-Muslims embraced the faith of their conquerors, new and unexpected social, political, cultural, legal and economic challenges confronted both the rulers and the scholars of Islam. At such a critical time in Islamic history, Abu Hanifah emerged to develop one of Islamic history’s most influential legal syntheses.

Numan ibn Thabit ibn Zuta ibn Mah, better known by his patronymic Abu Hanifah, was born in Kufah (in modern Iraq) during the reign of the great Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Of Persian origin, Abu Hanifah was brought up in a relatively wealthy Muslim family. His father, Thabit, was a noted businessman who had the honour of meeting Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam, who reportedly prayed for Thabit and his family. Like his father, Abu Hanifah grew up to be a successful merchant. Since Kufah at the time was a major centre of Islamic learning and intellectual activity, some of the most famous companions of the Prophet (such as Abdullah ibn Mas’ud) settled in this city in order to disseminate Islamic learning and wisdom. Abu Hanifah was very fortunate to have met a number of prominent companions, including Anas ibn Malik, Sahl ibn Sa’d, Abu al-Tufail Amir ibn Watihilah and Jabir ibn Abdullah. That was why he considered himself to be a successor (tabi) of the Prophet’s companions. However, some Muslim scholars have questioned whether Abu Hanifah did actually meet any companions of the Prophet, but according to luminaries such as Khatib al-Baghdadi, Yahya al-Nawawi, Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Zain al-Din al-Iraqi, he met between eight and ten companions of the Prophet.

Abu Hanifah spent his early years pursuing business and commercial interests. Since the tyrant Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ruled in at Kufah at the time, it appears that Abu Hanifah was only too happy to pursue his business affairs while Hajjaj was in charge. After the latter’s death in 713, political turmoil and social unrest began to subside in and around Kufah. The death of Caliph al-Walid a year later also helped to restore peace and order across the Islamic world. Caliph Sulaiman, al-Walid’s successor, was a relatively benevolent ruler who promoted learning and scholarship. The new, peaceful ambience created by Sulaiman’s accession to power probably encouraged Abu Hanifah to devote more time to the pursuit of learning and education. It is related that one day while he was passing by the house of al-Sha’bi (an eminent scholar of the time), the latter – mistaking him for one of his students – asked him where he was going. Abu Hanifah replied that he was on his way to meet a certain merchant. Whereupon al-Sha’bi told Abu Hanifah that he showed signs of intelligence and he ought to devote more time to his studies. These words of advice apparently fired Abu Hanifah’s imagination, and he began to dedicate all his time and energy to the pursuit of Islamic knowledge and wisdom.

By all accounts, Abu Hanifah was a late starter and most of his peers were way ahead of him when he began his studies. But, thanks to his indefatigable energy and intellectual brilliance, he soon became a prominent Islamic thinker and jurist. He may have embarked on the path of Islamic learning and education with some hesitation, but after he had started he was determined to reach the very summit of Islamic learning and scholarship. Hailed as al-imam al-azam (or ‘the great scholar of Islam’), Abu Hanifah went on to become one of the Muslim world’s greatest intellectuals and jurists. As a gifted and hardworking student, he rapidly made up for lost time by plunging himself deep into the ocean of Islamic learning and wisdom. He sat at the feet of great luminaries like al-Sha’bi, Salama ibn Kuhail, A’mash, Hammad and Amr ibn Murrah – all of whom were based in Kufah at the time – and received a thorough education and training in traditional Islamic sciences including Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir), Islamic theology (kalam) and jurisprudence (fiqh). In addition, Abu Hanifah gained proficiency in Arabic grammar, literature and aspects of history and genealogy before he proceeded to Basrah and attended the lectures of Qatada and Shu’ba, both of whom had learned hadith directly from the Prophet’s companions. Abu Hanifah’s sharp intellect, coupled with his unflinching dedication to his studies, enabled him to understand and assimilate Islamic knowledge very rapidly. So much so that his tutor Shu’ba once remarked, ‘Just as I know that the sun is bright, I know for certain that learning and Abu Hanifah are doubles of each other.’ Thus he not only became proficient in hadith, but Shu’ba also formally authorised him to impart knowledge of hadith to others.

Now increasingly recognised as an esteemed scholar in his own right, Abu Hanifah could have established his own school and begun to teach, but he decided to learn more. Thus he went to Makkah to perform the sacred hajj (pilgrimage) and during his stay there received advanced training in Islamic jurisprudence under the tutelage of the leading scholars of Makkah and Madinah. He enrolled at the school of Ata ibn Abu Rabah, who was considered to be one of the giants of Islamic learning and wisdom at the time. Referring to Ata, Abdullah ibn Umar, the distinguished companion of the Prophet, used to say, ‘Why do people come to me when Ata ibn Abu Rabah is there for them to go to?’ Such was his greatness as a scholar and repository of Islamic knowledge that Abu Hanifah attended his lectures regularly before refining his knowledge of hadith and jurisprudence under the guidance of Ikrima, who was an outstanding pupil of none other than Abdullah ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet.

In the year 720, when Abu Hanifah was twenty-one, he left Makkah for Madinah where he learned hadith from Sulaiman and Salim ibn Abdullah. Sulaiman was an aide of ummul mu’minin (the ‘mother of the believers’) Maimuna, the wife of the Prophet, and Salim was a grandson of Umar, the second Caliph of Islam. They were considered to be two of the most learned scholars of Madinah at the time. Having travelled to some of the leading centres of Islamic learning and acquired thorough training in all the branches of Islamic knowledge under the guidance of some of the most eminent Islamic scholars of his time, Abu Hanifah became a great repository of Islamic knowledge. His mastery of Islamic thought elevated him to a new level within the firmament of Islamic learning and scholarship. Thanks to his vast knowledge, he became a very famous scholar, even during his own lifetime. As his reputation spread far and wide, certain unscrupulous people began to circulate misinformation and falsehoods about him; perhaps they were jealous of his personal standing and immense learning. Once, during his stay in Madinah, Abu Hanifah was introduced to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir by one of his colleagues. When the great Imam asked Abu Hanifah why he contradicted the hadith of the Prophet through qiyas (or analogical deduction), he retorted that he would never dare do such a thing. He then asked Imam al-Baqir to take a seat and he would explain his position. The following conversation ensured:

Abu Hanifah: ‘Who is the weaker, man or woman?’

Imam al-Baqir: ‘Woman.’

Abu Hanifah: ‘Which of them is entitled to larger share in inheritance?’

Imam al-Baqir: ‘The man.’

Abu Hanifah: ‘If I had been making deductions by analogy, I should have said that the woman should get the larger share, since on the face of it the weaker one is entitled to more consideration. But I have not said so. To take up another subject, which do you think is the higher duty, prayer or fasting?’

Imam al-Baqir: ‘Prayer.’

Abu Hanifah: ‘In that case, it should be permissible for a woman during menstruation to postpone her prayers and not her fasts. But the ruling I give is that she can postpone her fasting and not her prayers.’

Hearing this Imam al-Baqir stood up, smiled and kissed Abu Hanifah on his forehead and acknowledged that he was no ordinary scholar; rather he was one of Islam’s greatest legal minds.

As an Islamic thinker and pioneer of Islamic legal thought, Abu Hanifah was way ahead of his time. His grasp of Islam was as rigorous, comprehensive and authentic as it could ever be, but he knew more than anyone else that the law was meant to be followed and adhered to by the people, rather than kept in books. As such, he argued, law and legal principles had to be directly relevant to people’s daily lives. Since people are mobile, society is constantly in flux. Thus a legal framework which remained static for too long could easily become irrelevant over time, unless it was constantly renewed in the light of new social, political, economic and technological developments. Abu Hanifah understood this process of socio-political change and historical evolution better than any other scholar of his generation, and he set about interpreting the Islamic scriptural sources [namely the Qur’an and the authentic sunnah (normative practice of the Prophet)] in direct response to the needs of his time. That is to say, he pioneered a new legal interpretative methodology based on the two fundamental sources of Islam and used this fresh, innovative and dynamic legal methodology to formulate Islamic answers to the problems and challenges which confronted the Muslims of his time.

Although the answers formulated by Abu Hanifah were based on a literalist understanding of the Qur’an and sunnah of the Prophet, he did not hesitate to use his intellectual discretion (ijtihad) where he felt this was appropriate. As an undisputed master of Islamic legal theory and jurisprudence, he was able to bridge gaps which others struggled even to see. Not surprisingly, even some of the most eminent Islamic scholars of his time initially misunderstood his ideas and thoughts. Thus, some people accused him of being a wilful innovator in religion, while others suggested he was misguided. Even a great scholar like Imam Abu Amr Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Awza’i failed to understand his legal thought and methodology. Once Abdullah ibn Mubarak, who was a prominent student of Abu Hanifah, visited Imam al-Awza’i in Beirut to complete his study of hadith under the latter, but on his arrival there al-Awza’i asked him, ‘Who is this man Abu Hanifah who has appeared at Kufah? I hear he makes all sorts of new points about religion.’ Abdullah did not respond to his query and returned home to collect a manuscript authored by Abu Hanifah, and handed it over to al-Awza’i. After reading the entire text, al-Awza’i remarked, ‘Who is this worthy, Numan?’ Abdullah replied that he was a great scholar of Kufah under whom he had studied. ‘A great man.’ responded Awza’i. ‘This is the same Abu Hanifah whom you called an innovator.’ countered Abdullah. Al-Awza’i regretted his error.

All great pioneers have obstacles placed in their way by their detractors at one time or another, and Abu Hanifah was no different. He was an outstanding genius and a great visionary who not only acquired a thorough understanding of the Islamic sources, but also developed an unusual insight into human nature and its frailties. The vast corpus of juristic pronouncements (fatawa) developed by Abu Hanifah and his trusted disciples became so large that, over time, a school of Islamic legal thought emerged named after him. Known as the hanafi madhhab, this school of Islamic legal thought is today the Muslim world’s most widely followed madhhab. Pioneered by Abu Hanifah and his distinguished pupils such as Zu’far ibn al-Hudhail, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ibrahim and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, this school of legal thought is most prevalent in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. Towards the end of his life, Abu Hanifah was imprisoned by the Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur for refusing to take up the post of qadi (Judge) of the Abbasid Empire. But, according to another account, he was imprisoned for allegedly supporting the Zaydis (a Shi’a faction) who were bitterly opposed to the Abbasids. Either way, Abu Hanifah died in prison at the age of around sixty-seven and was buried in Baghdad, where a mausoleum was later built in his memory by Mimar Sinan, the famous Ottoman builder and architect.