Imam Abu Hanifa and hadeeth
As salamu aleykum,
1: Does someone know what actully the amount of hadeeth is which Imam Abu Hanifa has recorded in his books?
2: Does he actually have a own written hadeeth complication?
In my country a certain scholar stated that only had 17 hadeeth some others said he had about 300 hadeeth of which 290 where very weak.
Why no one of the sahih sitta has narrated hadeeth from him?
Was salaam
I think there is one single hadith in the Sihah from Imam Abu hanifah Rahimahullah. However there are many narrations of his in other compilations. See http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1651
Maulana Omar's (Canada) Ustaad had commented once regarding Imam Abu Hanifa (rah) knowing 17 hadith only. He said: "If Imam Abu Hanifa (rah) left behind such massive work of fiqh by knowing only 17 ahadith, then imagine what he would have done if he knew 18."
Read Here
Does he have some musnad's?
There is a Musnad Abi Hanifah, I'm not sure how widely available it is to find today though.
Ibn Khaldun in his "Tarikh" refuted those who said such things about Abu Hanifah (like he only knew a few hadith etc.) and said that although the amount of ahadith he narrated is few (but certainly much much more than 17!) this is only because he was very strict in his standards regarding accepting the authenticity of the hadith.
Many 'ulama' - past and present - have responded to the spurious claims and accusations of Abu Hanifah's detractors. Most of them are baseless or outright forgeries, or have come from people known for their extreme enmity towards Abu Hanifah. Actually Abu Hanifah had many critics and detractors both during his time and afterwards, but that is of no concern as the majority of 'ulama' have always held him in the highest respect.
And logically speaking, to suggest that Abu Hanifah knew only 17 hadith smacks of compounded ignorance and extreme fanaticism ('asabiyyah). How is it possible that a man with only 17 hadith could be agreed upon by the vast majority of the Ummah with the title "al-Imam al-A'dham" and the father of the fuqaha'???!!!
As salamu aleykum,
I have asked a Shayk and he told me that Abu Hanifa has not have a own written hadeeth collection, however he told me that there are at least 15 musnads attributed to him with his own chain of narration which Imam Abu al Muayyad al Khawarzami has collected together in his Jami al Masaneed.
Does somebody maybe now the number of hadeeth in this Jami al Masaneed?
Or can someone name those 15 or more musnads with their authors?
Also i did read on sunnipath that Imam Abu Hanifa's musnad was more than the musnad of Imam Shafi is this right and can give somebody the excact numbers?
Beside i have also Musnad of Imam Abu Hanifa on my harddrive (turkish translation) it is the one where Ali ul Qari has made Sharh i dont know if this is the Jami al Masaneed? But in this musnad every thing is from Abu Hanifa with his own chain. There are about 520 hadeeths according to he numbering of this copy i have.
A nice article on the subject from Munawwar Ateeq RizviOriginally Posted by Abu 'Abdillah al-Maliki
Answers to Ibn Khaldun's Account of Imam Abu Hanifah's Hadiths
This a Quintessence of Imam Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi’s remarks in Umdat al-Ria’ayah, a chapter from my forthcomming research on Imam Abu Hanifah & his School.
Ibn Khaldun’s statement that Imam Abu Hanifah’s narrations are only seventeen is a categorical misstep and blunder based on the following directives
. Even if we accept that it is not a misstep by Ibn Khaldun, or a mistake in his book or by those who published it, this statement is contradictory to those reliable scholars who mention the multiplicity of Imam Abu Hanifah’s narrations.
. In spite of his skilfulness in history, Ibn Khaldun was lacking expertise in religious sciences as Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi has recorded in his al-Daw al-Lami’. Hence, how may the statement of a person who has no proficiency in Islamic sciences be qualified to a degree of acceptance whereas he does not understand the ranks of the famous imams in relation to the conveyed issues about them especially if it contradicts some other imam’s statement?
. Ibn Khaldun himself marks this statement with the word ‘Yuqalu’ which denotes flaw. [M: We will later see that all of the variant wordings in the different editions to al-Muqaddimah commence with this expression][22]
. The basis of historical information and transmitted events cited in chronicles must be weighed by rationality and punctilious scrutiny thus whatever opposes the explicitly definitive proof is rejected. Ibn Khaldun declares this in the opening of his Tareekh since many missteps have occurred by historians who fell into misconceptions in matters that oppose the equilibrium of wisdom and reality.
Consequently, the assertion of only seventeen narrations contradicts much of the rational and transmitted proof about Imam Abu Hanifah’s mastery in Hadith on the following grounds
. The collections of Imam Abu Hanifah’s students such as the Muwatta, Kitab al-Hajj, Kitab al-Athaar, al-Siyar al-Kabeer by Imam Muhammad and Qadhi Abu Yusuf’s Kitab al-Khiraaj and other works alone have more than two hundred hadith narrations to the Messenger of Allah through Imam Abu Hanifah.
. Other hadith collections such as Musannaf Ibn Abi Shyabah, Musannaf Abdur Razzaq, Imam DaraQutni’s works, Hakim’s works, Baiyhaqi’s works, Tahawi’s works such as Sharh Ma’ani al-Athaar and Mushkil al-Athaar etc consist of numerous sound narrations that pass through Imam Abu Hanifah.
. Everyone knows that the era of Abu Hanifah, the era of the predecessors (tabi’een), was the peak time of knowledge and hadith proliferation. Even the minor predecessors (Asaghir) acquired hadith in large numbers hence it is not logical to say Abu Hanifah received only seventeen hadiths!
. All jurists (fuqaha), hadith masters, historians and trustworthy sages have upheld that Imam Abu Hanifah was a mujtahid hence a unanimous agreement amongst the scholars. The import of this agreement is that Imam Abu Hanifah received many Haidths since how may one possibly exercise ijtihad and deduce legal rulings without having knowledge of the source?
. Major Imams in fiqh accepted Imam Abu Hanifah as their leader. Imam Shafi’i, as a prime example, is noted to have referred to Abu Hanifah’s pioneering in fiqh saying: ‘‘all people are dependants of Abu Hanifah in fiqh’’. None amongst the hadith masters and historians mention Abu Hanifah except that they refer to him as the ‘‘faqih of Iraq’’. And whosoever is a faqih must have the capability to infer legal rulings from the sources directly. Thus, Imam Abu Hanifah was a master of hadith source too as well as the Qur’an.
. And if we gather Imam Abu Hanifa’s inferred issues on worship and transactions cited in the six books of Imam Muhammad, Abu Yusuf’s Kitab al-Khiraj, al-Amaali, and Ibn Ziyad’s al-Mujarrad, which are uncountable, we find most of them are not explicitly taken from the Qur’an, neither most of them taken from consensus nor analogical reasoning (Qiyas). So how is it possible that he inferred so many rulings without having hadith?
. Imam Abu Hanifah is noted to have studied with four thousand teachers as recorded by Ibn Hajar and others. Some Biographies of men such as Tahdheeb al-Kamal mention seventy of them. Even if Imam Abu Hanifah took one hadith from each teacher it amounts to seventy or four thousand hadiths based on the different accounts.
. He who narrates only seventeen hadiths is not qualified to be a hadith scholar regardless of him being classified amongst hadith huffaz. Whereas many Biographies mention Imam Abu Hanifah amongst the huffaz as does Tadhkirat al-Huffaz.
. The following passage of Ibn Khaldun evidently represents that he did not make this assertion or it is a mistake since Ibn Khaldun himself acknowledges Imam Abu Hanifa’s rank in Ijtihad,
‘‘The narrations of Imam Abu Hanifah are minimal [compared to other imams] since he had a stringent criterion in the pre-requisites of narration and tahammul, and he weakened the decisive hadith whence contradicted by explicit action, not that he intentionally desisted from hadiths far be it from him. And from what indicates that he is amongst the major mujtahids in hadith is that he relies on hadith in his madhab and refers to them either by rejecting them or accepting them [based on his methodology]. On the other hand, other hadith scholars, who make up the majority, were not as stringent in their criteria hence they narrated more than him. However, the later colleagues from his school widened the scope of acceptance thus increased their narrations’’.
In short, this assertion is erroneous as made clear by the aforementioned statement of Ibn Khaldun and endorsed by the unanimous agreement of all hadith scholars and historians. A thorough reading of Imam Abu Hanifah’s works and the works of his excellent students as well as the declaration of other mujtahid imams about his knowledge emphatically substantiates the contrary.
However, none other than the extravagantly low person does affirm this and the sane-minded perspicacious one has no faith in it.
It is as equal as to say Imam Bukhari who was the head of Hadith scholars received only three or twenty hadiths and that he was not amongst the fuqaha and neither amongst the mujtahids! Without an iota of doubt, scholarly consensus as well as rational and transmitted proof confirms its
falsity.
Keep hold of this indispensable information for it shall benefit you in this world and in the hereafter.
[Imam Al-Lakhnawi’s critique finishes here].
Al-Muqaddimah Manuscripts and Interpretations
Is it correct to attribute this statement to Ibn Khaldun? Well, to scrupulously check this is the job of a meticulous researcher who has access to the Muqaddimah manuscripts. And by Allah’s grace, Ustadh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah (d.1417h), an excellent researcher came to the following conclusion
The Muqaddimah manuscript in Aastanah, Turkey, is established and corrected by the author himself in his handwriting in which it clearly states:
‘‘it is said that his narrations add up to seventeen or somewhat up to fifty hadiths’’. [yuqalu innahu innama balagat riwayatuhu ila sab’ata ashara hadeethan aw nahwiha ila khamseen].
Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah in Egypt has a zerox of the abovementioned manuscript.
However, the Bauwlaq edition to the Muqaddimah and other editions have the following wording:
‘‘and it is said: his narrations add upto seventeen hadiths or something of
that kind’’. [wa yuqalu: balaghat riwayatuhu ila sab’ata ashara hadeethan aw nahwiha].[23]
After a close examination in this subject I am obliged to uphold that the former statement of al-Muqadimmah is the authentic one from the two different wordings since Ibn Khaldun himself has confirmed its wordings and thus he did make such a statement in his Muqaddimah. After having established its attribution to Ibn Khaldun, I believe that this was not his personal opinion about Abu Hanifah and this is evident by two things; firstly his praise of Abu Hanifah in his Muqaddimah and secondly his reference to the statement by an expression which denotes its flaw thus an anomalous opinion, or even rejected. And Allah knows best.
Scholars have upheld different views on the account of Ibn Khaldun. Here are two interesting approaches
. There are seventeen famous Masaneed of Abu Hanifah and perhaps the author referred to this and it there was an interpolation in what was mentioned.
. Perhaps Ibn Khaldun was referring to the fact that Muhammad bin al-Hassan narrated the Muwatta of Malik in which he added thirteen hadiths from Abu Hanifah and four from Abu Yusuf and those without knowledge took this statement to say that all that which Abu Hanifah narrates is seventeen hadiths, and Allah knows best.
Imam Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi has a similar rebuttal in his Tadhkirat al-Rashid p223-228 and al-Shaykh al-Imam Zahid al-Kawthari has excellent remarks to this in his notes on al-Hazimi’s Shurut al-A’immah al-Khamsah p50. [24]
Our contemporary Al-Shaykh Dr Tahir al-Qadri has asserted that ‘the seventeen narrations’ was a mistake or a deliberate alteration by the transcribers and believes that Ibn Khaldun could not have made this statement since he was a major historian.
I, however, differ with him here and believe that many others will too.
Notwithstanding his strenuous research in the issue, Dr Tahir must take note of the following indices
.The basis of historical information and transmitted events cited in chronicles must be weighed by rationality and punctilious scrutiny thus whatever opposes the explicitly definitive proof is rejected. Ibn Khaldun himself declares this in the opening of his Tareekh since many missteps have occurred by historians who fell into misconceptions in matters that oppose the equilibrium of wisdom and reality. None among the scholars disagree with this.
. It is not necessary that everything that Ibn Khaldun mentions in his al-Muqaddimah is his personal view.
. The popular statement commences by the expression ‘yuqalu’ which connotes two things; this is not his opinion, and secondly it is weak, as I have mentioned before.
. The original manuscript of al-Muqaddimah, which is authenticated by Ibn Khaldun himself, confirms that Ibn Khaldun did include this statement and there is no harm to his opinion of Abu Hanifah by this.
Among the other intriguing interpretations is Dr Tahir al-Qadri’s view that Ibn Khaldun mentioned seventeen hundred and not seventeen. The transcriber must have taken the word hundred ‘mi’ah’ out by accident or for some other reason. [25]
He based this on the fact that one of Imam Abu Hanifah’s Masaneed consists of seventeen hundred hadiths.
Yet however, I have established that there is no need for all 0f these interpretations since Ibn Khaldun authenticated his work and established this statement.
Incomplete
Munawwar Ateeq Rizvi
©Aqsa Publications 2005
[22] Personal statement in brackets
[23] Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda’s footnotes on al-Raf’ wa al-Takmeel, p73, Dar al-Basha’ir al-Islamiyah, Beirut, ed.six, yr 2000.
[24] Al-Hazimi’s Shurut al-A’immah al-Khamsah ed.Maktabah al-Madasi 1375h. Abd al-Hayy’s Tadhkirat al-Rashid ed. Anwar-e-Muhammadi, HaiderAbad Dakkan 1301h.
[25] Dr Tahir’s lecture on Imam Abu Hanifah at Ghamkol Mosque, August 2004
Imam al-Zarqani said in his book Manahil al-Irfan: 'Our Scholars agreed that if a word carries 99 aspects of disbelief and one aspect of faith, it must be interpreted according to the best of meanings, which is faith'.
Visit www.asharis.wordpress.com and the Marifah website
Assalamualikum brother the musnad you have on your hard drive the one with Mullah Ali's sharh is the jamiul masasnid collected by khawarzami.
Also it should be understood that Imam Abu Hanifa as a profession was not a hadith narrator (this in no way implies that he did not know hadith), he was a faqih and it was his job to analyse hadiths narrated by other people and extract legal rulings from them, he did not busy himself with narrating hadiths. Same goes for imam Shafi. imam shafi does not have a musnad written by him it is a later compilation, also other than few hadiths the kutub sitta don't even narrate from imam shafi.
Also as one of the brothers mentioned imam Abu hanifa stipulated many stringent conditions for accepting a hadith. You see Imam abu hanifa was living in an country and time period where iraq was a hot bed of fitna, narrators had to be extremely cautious when narrating hadith and students had to be extra careful when hearing these hadith lest they be a fabricated hadith depicting a particular doctrinal view and retrojected back to the prophet for higher authority. Therefore imam abu hanifa built for himself a set of stringent criteria for accepting hadith ( as has been mentioned by one of the brothers above) such as a narrator has to know a hadith verbatim word to word (from memory) from the time of its audition to the time narration without resorting to his notes.
The great hanafi muhaddith Imam Zabidi (author of tajridus sarih mukhtasar bukhari) has compiled all those hadith of Imam Abu hanifa which have been included in the kutub sitta but with a different chain which does not go through Imam Abu hanifa, I think the the of the book is uqud al-jawahir (need to confirm that)
To see the magnitude of hadiths used to build the hanafi madhab, one just needs to take a look at the huge collection of i'lasus sunan by maulana zafar ahmad uthmani
For more information on Imam Abu hanifa and hadith then the book makanatu abi hanifa baynal muhaddithin by maulana abdur rashid numani should be consulted, unfortunately the book is still in arabic. And Allah knows best
wassalam
کي محمد سے وفا تو نے تو ہم تيرے ہيں
يہ جہاں چيز ہے کيا، لوح و قلم تيرے ہيں
If you are loyal to Muhammad (peace be upon him) we are yours
This universe is nothing the Tablet and the Pen are yours
(Allama Iqbal, Bang-e-Dara: Jawab-e-Shikwa)
http://mansys.blogspot.com/
So how many narrations are in the sahih sitta through imam abu hanifa? and imam shafi?
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