LIFE OF IMAM EBU HANĪFAH

Abstract

UDK: 28-725:929
           929 Ebu Hanifa

His full name is Nu’man ibn Thābit ibn Zūtā ibn Merzubān el-Kūfi. Throughout the history known as Abu Hanīfah or Imam e Azam- the greatest imām. Historians led long debates regarding his origin, place and time of his birth and death, however, most scholars agree that his ancestors were Persians, related to sahabi Salman Al-Farsi; that he was born in Kufa in the year 80 Hijri (699 AD). He was the only child of a rich and respectable merchant family of Thābit ibn Zūtā ibn Merzubān el-Kūfi. In his early childhood, he became a hafiz-ul-Qr’an, learning qira’at versions from imām Asim ibn Bahdal, and he mastered grammar, syntax, poetry and literature. At the age of twenty-two, encouraged by Esh-Shabi, a renowned scholar of the time who recognized Abu Hanifah’s sharpness of mind and intelligence, he joined the learning circles (halqah). His intellectual and scholarly growth and ripening were marked and determined by Hammad ibn Abi Suleyman from whom he studied for full eighteen years. The sources, however, report that the imam studied before around 4000 different teachers amongst whom were the most renowned scholars of the Tabeen generation in Kufa, Basra, Makah and Medina. His brilliant mind, eloquence, truthfulness and scholarship were accompanied by modesty, devotion, determination and dignity. It is reported that he was handsome and well-dressed and that he always used the best fragrances. Besides the brilliant mind and pleasant appeal, Abu Hanīfah was known for his good Islamic akhlaq and piety. He was a great scholar who did not live on his learning, but with his endeavours and heard-working as a successful merchant he supported learning, students and took care of his teachers. This article presents some fragments of Abu Hanīfah’s biography regarding his origin, birth, childhood, his departure to the better world, his physical characteristics as well as his path of spiritual and intellectual ripening.