ABU HANIFAH: HIS LIFE LEGAL METHOD AND LEGACY pdf

Abu Hanifah: His Life, Legal Method and Legacy by Mohammad Akram Nadwi

ABU HANIFAH: HIS LIFE LEGAL METHOD AND LEGACY

Aba Hanifah Numan ibn Thabit (d. 150 AH) is a towering figure in the early history of Islamic law. He was among the first to employ the recognized methods of legal reasoning in a consistent way, and to gather the legal dicta of his time into an organized corpus.

The doctrine (madhhab) that developed in line with his style of reasoning became the most widely practised school of law in the Islamic world.

This was due in part to its being favoured by the ruling dynasties of the most extensive, populous and enduring of the Muslim empires — the ‘Abbasids, the Ottomans and the Mughals.

But in part also it was due to the excellence of the students whom he inspired and trained to carry on his work. Abu Hanifah was a genius, supremely proficient alike in analysis of detail and reflection on general principles.

He combined his passion for knowledge of the religion (and for organizing that knowl- edge) with an ability to nurture the same passion in others.

He was both a researcher and a teacher, a theoretician and a practitioner of the law. Building on the achievement of his predecessors, he schooled his students in particular thoughts and a way of thinking them so that,