fiqh_scholars

Scholars of Fiqh

Imam Abu Hanifa

First of the four great imams of fiqh, Nu`man ibn Thabit, Imam Abu Hanifa was born in 80 A.H. in Kufa, 69 years after the demise of the Holy Prophet (saw). He travelled extensively and was of a Persian origin He is known as imâm al-a`zam (the greatest imam) and called “The Imam” by Abu Daud. He was the only tâbi`i (who met with the companions of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) out of the four luminaries. Abu Hanifah's father, Thabit, had met in Kufa, `Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ra) who made dua for him and his progeny, and some say that Abu Hanifah was a result of this dua.

Kufa at the time of the Imam's birth was a great center of knowledge and learning, with many of the noble Prophet's (saw) Companions (ra) having taken residence there.

Imam Abu Hanifa spent 20 years working in the market as a silk trader. He acquired customer service skills and interacted with all sorts of people because the market was the centre point of society. Once Imam Abu Hanifa was walking through the Market place and was stopped by Amir As Shabi (one of the teachers of Hammad). Amir As Shabi asked Imam Abu Hanifa “Where do you go?” Imam Abu Hanifa misunderstood what Amir As Shabi meant and told him “I go to the market” Amir As Shabi told him that he had meant “Who is your Shiekh?” Imam Abu Hanifa told him that he has no Sheikh. Amir As Shabi told Imam Abu Hanifa “Do not be heedless, I see potential/alertness in you-Seek knowledge”.

At the age of 20, Imam Abu Hanifah turned his attention towards the pursuit of advancing his Islamic knowledge, but didn’t know where to begin. He went through a period of uncertainty and considered being a Mufassir (teach Quran), a Muhadith (teach Hadith) but finally decided to take up Fiqh because it involved solving the problems of people.

Imam Abu Hanifah benefited from nearly 4,000 Sheikhs. Among his 1st and the most important tutors was Imam Hammad (Died 120 A.H.) whose educational lineage is linked with Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood (R.A.).

Imam Abu Hanifah was also keenly interested in education. He established a school at Kufa, which later became a famous College of Theology. Here he delivered lectures on Islamic Law and related subjects.

His most important work is the Kitab-ul-Aasaar which was compiled by his students – Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad. Imam Abu Hanifah was the first to analyze Islamic jurisprudence, divide it into subjects, distinguish its issues and determine the range and criteria for analytical reasoning (qiyas)." One of the biggest contributions of Imam Abu Hanifa is that he organized fiqh into functional sub categories starting with tahara (purification).

The Great Imam died in Baghdad in 150 A.H at the age of seventy. May Allah (swt) be pleased with him.

Imam Malik Bin Anas

Imam Malik ibn Anas was the second of the four great imams of fiqh. He was born in 93 A.H. in Madinah.

Born into a well-to-do family, Maalik did not need to work for a living. He was highly attracted to the study of Islam, and ended up devoting his entire life to the study of Fiqh. He is the author of al-Muwatta’ (“The Approved”), formed of the sound narration’s from the Prophet together with the sayings of the companions, their followers, and those after them. Maalik said, “I showed my book to seventy scholars of Madinah, and every single one of them approved it for me (kulluhum wata-ani alayh), so I named it ‘The Approved.’” His chain of narration (from Malik from Nafi’ from Ibn Umar) was called “the golden chain of narrators” by Imam Bukhari.

After a brief illness he passed away on the 11th of Rabi-ul-Awwal in the year 179 A.H. and was buried in Janatul Baqi in Madinah.

Imam Shafi`i

Imaam Muhammad bin Idris Shafi`i was one of the greatest imams of fiqh. He was born in 150 A.H. in Palestine, the same year as Imam Abu Hanifa died. He shared the lineage with Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Al-Shafi'i belonged to the Qurayshi clan Banu Muttalib which was the sister clan of the Banu Hashim to which Muhammad and the Abbasid caliphs belonged. Hence he had connections in the highest social circles, but he grew up in poverty.When he was two year old his mother took him to a tribe in al-Hijaz who were dwellers of the country of Yemen. His mother kept him there until he reached the age of ten years. A time came when she felt that the family was in jeopardy of being forgotten and wasted so she took her son (Imam Shafi’i) to Makkah. He was a skillful archer, then he took to learning language and poetry until he gave himself to fiqh, beginning with hadith. He memorized the Qur’an at age seven, then Malik’s Muwatta’ at age ten, at which time his teacher would deputize him to teach in his absence. At age thirteen he went to see Malik, who was impressed by his memory and intelligence.

Malik ibn Anas and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani were among his most prominent teachers and he took position against both of them in fiqh

The Imam became very sick at the end of his life and passed away in Egypt on the last day of Rajab. He was buried in cairo,Egypt.

He authored more than 100 books.

• Al-Risala — The best known book by al-Shafi'i in which he examined usul al-fiqh (sources of jurisprudence): the Qur'an, the Sunnah, qiyas(analogy), and ijma' (scholarly consensus). There is a good modern translation.
• Kitab al-Umm - his main surviving text on Shafi'i fiqh
• Musnad ash-Shafi'i (on hadith) - it is available with arrangement, Arabic 'Tartib', by Ahmad ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Banna.

He is known for his mastery of the Arabic language, eloquence, humility, and knowledge of hadith.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also referred as “Sheikh ul-Islam” was born in Baghdad in 164 A.H.

He started his career by learning jurisprudence (Fiqh) under the celebrated Hanafi judge, Abu Yusuf, the renowned student and companion of Imam Abu Hanifah. He then discontinued his studies with Abu Yusuf, in the pursuit of Hadith, travelling around the Islamic Khilafa, at the tender age of 16.

The Imam spent 40 years of his life in the pursuit of knowledge, and only thereafter did he assume the position of a Mufti. By this time, Imam Ahmad had become a leading authority in six or seven Islamic disciplines, according to al-Shafi'i.

Among Imam ibn Hanbal’s works is the great encyclopedia of Traditions called Musnad, collected by his son from his lectures and amplified by supplements - containing over twenty eight thousand traditions. Other works include Kitab-us-Salat, on the Discipline of Prayer and Kitab-us-Sunnah, on the Traditions of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Imam Ahmad became a principal specialist in jurisprudence, since he had the advantage of benefiting from some of the famous early jurists and their heritage, such as Abu Hanifah, Malik, al-Shafi'i and many others.

After Imam Ahmad turned 77, he was struck with severe illness and fever, and became very weak, yet never complaining about his infirmity and pain until he died. On Friday, the 12 of Rabi' al-Awwal 241 AH, the legendary Imam breathed his last in Baghdad. Over 800,000 people attended his funeral.