Imam Abu Hanifah: Intellectual Biography of the Scholar of Fiqh

 

Imam Abu Hanifah: Intellectual Biography of the Scholar of Fiqh

Imam Abu Hanifah, is one of the most important fiqh scholars in the Islamic world. He became part of al-imam al-arba'ah (the four priests of the madhhab) who became the authority of Islamic law for the civilization of Muslim citizens around the world. Imam Abu Hanifah's background and historical basis, as a scientist, jurist and businessman, made him master the details of mu'amalah fiqh and fiqhul buyu' (fiqh of buying and selling). This is different from other Imams, such as Imam Shafi'i, Maliki and Ahmad bin Hambal.

The book “Biography of Imam Abu Hanifah; The story of the journey and life lessons of the bearer of freedom of thought” by Dr. Tariq Suwaidan is an important part to see the background and traces of Imam Abu Hanifah's scholarship, as well as its impact on the Islamic world at large.

According to Tariq Suwaidan, Imam Abu Hanifah was a merchant as well as a scholar, a scholar as well as a merchant. His dominance over the world of commerce has been recorded in history. He is able to use property as a tool to spread knowledge. Thought gets the main place because his life is far from lack, far from lack and hardship (p. 164). As a merchant, Abu Hanifah reflects the character of a person worthy of emulation. He is honest and heroic, following the example of Abu Bakar as a faithful merchant, caring for the poor, enjoying halal wealth and good time management (pp. 170-4).

Historical context 

At the time of Abu Hanifah, there were two types of scholars. First , people who only study jurisprudence and do not take other sciences. If it is reliable, then it masters takhrij (narration of hadith) and presents a rational opinion. Second , people who study religious knowledge and use philosophy to understand it.

The philosophy he uses without knowledge on the basis of religion sometimes actually makes his thoughts deviate from the meaning and purpose of religion itself. Then, Abu Hanifah appeared who was looking for a middle way from this condition, he took knowledge from every available source of knowledge. Walk on every path of knowledge, and lead to every goal of knowledge. He did it with a straight mind, a strong religion, a mature soul and thirst for knowledge (p. 84). In this context, the privilege of Imam Abu Hanifah is very clear, as a scholar who combines syara' law with logic, between system and substance. In the context of power diplomacy, Imam Abu Hanifah is also an example. He can still hold the principle with rationality, logic and legal propositions, even when in conflict with the authorities.

In al-Manaqibnya al-Bazazi, it is stated that, 'Abu Ja'far al-Mansur imprisoned Abu Hanifah in order to hold a position in the state court as qadhi qudhah (supreme judge). However, he refused and had to receive 110 lashes. After his release, al-Mansur asked him to give a fatwa on issues that the existing judges had not resolved. However, he still refused because according to him all lines of the Abbasid government were built on injustice. Finally, al-Mansur issued an order that he be imprisoned and tortured even more severely (p. 212). When Abu Hanifah contradicted the Caliph al-Mansur, he also firmly defended the truths he contemplated from the Qur'an, and used high-level diplomacy when defending his principles.

Islamic legal authority

As a mufti (scholar who has the authority to give fatwas and ijtihad), Abu Hanifah holds firmly to the methodology of excavating jurisprudence that is in accordance with its principles. Abu Hanifah's jurisprudence; (1) al-Qur'an, (2) Sunnah, (3) Opinion among companions, (4) Ijma', (5) Qiyas, (6) Istihsan, (7) al-Urf.

In this context, Imam Abu Hanifah accepted Ijma', Qiyas, Istihsan and al-Urf as part of the istinbath al-hukm (legal excavation) project. Ijma' is an agreement—without distinction—all mujtahids at one time about the law of a case. Qiyas, which is an effort to find equivalence between the arguments and texts, based on the cause (illat occurrence of the law). Meanwhile, istihsan can be interpreted as an effort to seek goodness from the concept of fiqh methodology. And, al-urf is a strategy of fiqh by accepting customs in a certain space and time, as long as it does not conflict with the texts of the Qur'an and sunnah.

Abu Hanifah's ijtihad and his methodology in understanding hadith—in addition to the environment in which he lived—influenced him to take a qiyas approach and compare furu' issues to the main issue. Because, in his ijtihad, Abu Hanifah not only studied the laws of various fiqh issues that were happening, but also studied the laws of various fiqh issues that had not yet occurred and were likely to occur (p. 232).

As a jurisprudence scholar, Abu Hanifah is known as the person who formulated the book of inheritance and the chapter on conditions. He was also the first scholar to classify jurisprudence in certain chapters. He has many disciples, and the Hanafi school is spread all over the world, as part of the concept of Ahlussunnah wal-Jama'ah. The principles of jurisprudence of Abu Hanifah, then continued by his students, among them; Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim ibn Hubaib al-Anshari (Abu Yusuf al-Anshari), Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Syaibani (Abu Abdillah), Zufr ibn Hudail