In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The best of generations in their conduct and example,
Following the Messenger when he strove or spoke.
Mawaddah Association
Presents:
Portraits from the Life of the Tabi'un
By Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
May Allah have mercy upon him.
Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man,
May Allah have mercy upon him.
Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man once visited Imam Malik,
While a group of his students were with him.
When he left,
Malik turned to those sitting with him and said,
"Do you know who this is?"
They replied, "No."
He said, "This is al-Nu'man ibn Thabit.
This is a man who, if he were to claim about this pillar
that it was made of gold, he would provide proof for his claim,
and it would turn out to be exactly as he said."
Imam Malik was not exaggerating in his description of Abu Hanifah’s strength of argument,
his quick-wittedness,
and his sharp, brilliant mind.
History and biographical books are filled with accounts of his debates with his opponents in legal opinion,
and his adversaries in creed.
All of these are testimonies to the truth of what Imam Malik described him with:
that if he were to claim to you that the dust before you was gold,
you would have no choice but to yield to his argument and accept his claim.
So how much more so when he is defending the truth
and arguing for its sake?
Among these instances is that a man from the people of Kufa, whom Allah had led astray,
held a position of status in the eyes of some people,
and his word carried weight among them.
This man used to claim to the people, among the things he asserted,
that Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) was Jewish by origin,
and that he remained upon his Judaism even after Islam.
When Abu Hanifah heard this statement of his,
he went to him and said,
"I have come to you to propose marriage to your daughter, so-and-so, on behalf of one of my companions."
The man replied, "Welcome and greetings!
A request from someone like you, O Abu Hanifah, cannot be refused.
But who is the suitor?"
He said, "A man known among his people for honor and wealth,
generous and open-handed,
a memorizer of the Book of Allah (the Almighty and Majestic),
who spends the entire night in a single rak'ah,
and weeps profusely out of fear of Allah (the Exalted)."
The man exclaimed, "Excellent, excellent! That is enough, O Abu Hanifah.
Some of the qualities you have mentioned regarding the suitor
make him a match for the daughter of the Commander of the Faithful."
Abu Hanifah then said,
"However, he has one trait that you must be aware of."
He asked, "And what is that?"
He replied, "He is a Jew."
The man recoiled and said, "A Jew?
Do you want me to marry my daughter to a Jew, O Abu Hanifah?
By Allah, I will not marry her to him,
even if he possessed all the virtues of the first and the last generations!"
Abu Hanifah then said,
"You refuse to marry your daughter to a Jew,
and you reject that with the utmost vehemence,
yet you claim to the people
that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
married both of his daughters to a Jew?"
The man began to tremble and said,
"I seek Allah’s forgiveness for the evil words I have spoken,
and I repent to Him for the falsehood I have fabricated."
Another instance is
that one of the Khawarij,
namely al-Dahhak al-Shari,
came to Abu Hanifah one day and said,
"Repent, O Abu Hanifah!"
He asked, "From what should I repent?"
The Khariji replied,
"From your view permitting the arbitration
that took place between Ali and Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with them)."
Abu Hanifah said to him,
"Will you not agree to debate me on this matter?"
The Khariji replied, "Yes."
Abu Hanifah said,
"If we disagree on something in what we are debating,
then who shall judge between us?"
The Khariji said,
"Appoint whomever you wish."
Abu Hanifah turned to a man from the Khariji's companions
who was with him and said,
"Judge between us regarding what we disagree upon."
Then he said to the Khariji,
"I am satisfied with your companion;
are you satisfied with him?"
The Khariji was pleased and said, "Yes."
Abu Hanifah then said,
"Woe to you!
You permit arbitration regarding what occurs between me and you,
yet you deny it to two of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)?"
The Khariji was stunned,
and could not utter a response.
Another instance is
that Jahm ibn Safwan,
the head of the misguided and heretical Jahmiyyah sect,
and the sower of evil in the land of Islam,
once came to Abu Hanifah and said,
"I have come to you to speak with you about things I have prepared for you."
Abu Hanifah replied,
"Speaking with you is a disgrace,
and delving into what you follow is like a blazing fire."
Jahm said,
"How did you judge me as you did,
when you have not met me before,
nor heard my speech?"
Abu Hanifah replied,
"Reports have reached me about you that do not come from a person of the Qiblah."
Jahm said,
"Do you judge me based on the unseen?"
Abu Hanifah replied,
"That has become famous about you and widespread,
and both the common and the elite have known it.
So it became permissible for me to confirm it against you by what has been transmitted about you."
Jahm said,
"I do not want to ask you about anything except faith."
Abu Hanifah replied,
"Have you not known faith until this hour, that you must ask me about it?"
Jahm said,
"Yes, but I have doubted a type of it."
Abu Hanifah replied,
"Doubt in faith is disbelief."
Jahm said,
"It is not permissible for you to brand me with disbelief
unless you hear from me what constitutes disbelief."
Abu Hanifah said,
"Speak."
Jahm said,
"Tell me about a man who knew Allah in his heart,
and knew that He is One, with no partner and no equal,
and knew Him by His attributes,
and that there is nothing like unto Him,
then he died without declaring faith with his tongue.
Does he die a believer or a disbeliever?"
Abu Hanifah replied,
"He dies a disbeliever,
and he is among the people of the Fire,
if he did not declare with his tongue what he knew in his heart,
provided there was no obstacle preventing him from declaring it with his tongue."
Jahm said,
"How can he not be a believer,
when he has known Allah with true knowledge?"
Abu Hanifah replied,
"If you believe in the Qur'an
and take it as an argument,
I will speak to you with it.
And if you do not believe in the Qur'an
and do not see it as an argument,
I will speak to you with what we speak to those who oppose Islam."
Jahm said,
"Rather, I believe in the Qur'an
and I take it as an argument."
Abu Hanifah said,
"Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)
has made faith dependent on two faculties:
the heart and the tongue,
not just one of them.
The Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
are overflowing with the confirmation of this."
He said (the Exalted):
"They knew the truth in their hearts,
and they spoke it with their tongues.
So Allah admitted them, because of what they said,
into Gardens beneath which rivers flow."
And He (the Exalted) said:
"Say..."
He commanded them to speak,
and did not suffice with knowledge and understanding from them.
And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
"Say 'La ilaha illa Allah' and you will succeed."
He did not make success dependent on knowledge alone,
but rather joined speech to it.
And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
"He who says 'La ilaha illa Allah' will be brought out of the Fire."
He did not say, "He who knows Allah will be brought out of the Fire."
If speech were not needed,
and knowledge were sufficient without it,
then Iblis would be a believer,
because he is knowledgeable of his Lord.
He knows that He is the One who created him,
and He is the One who will cause him to die,
and He is the One who will resurrect him,
and He is the One who led him astray.
Allah (the Exalted) said, quoting him:
"You created me from fire and created him from clay."
And he said: "My Lord, respite me until the day they are resurrected."
“He said: Now, because Thou hast sent me astray, verily I shall lurk in ambush for them on Thy Right Path.” (7:16)
If what you claim were true,
then many of the disbelievers would be believers
due to their knowledge of their Lord,
despite their denial of Him with their tongues.
Allah (the Exalted) said:
“And they denied them, though their souls acknowledged them, for spite and arrogance. Then see the nature of the consequence for the wrong-doers!” (27:14)
He did not make them believers by their certainty,
but rather counted them as disbelievers due to the rejection of their tongues.
Abu Hanifah continued to flow in this manner,
Sometimes by way of the Qur'an, and other times by way of the hadith.
Until signs of bewilderment and defeat appeared on the face of Jahm.
He slipped away from the presence of Abu Hanifah, saying:
"You have reminded me of something I had forgotten, and I shall return to you."
Then he departed, never to return.
Another instance of this is
that Abu Hanifah once encountered a group of atheists
who denied the existence of the Creator, Majestic and Exalted is He.
He said to them:
"What do you say about a ship laden with heavy cargo,
filled with goods and supplies,
surrounded in the depths of the sea by crashing waves,
and buffeted by fierce winds,
yet it continues to sail calmly along its charted course,
proceeding securely toward its known destination,
without any disturbance, flaw, or deviation,
while there is no sailor on board to steer its path,
or navigator to regulate its movement?
Is such a thing logically possible?"
They replied, "No, this is something the intellect cannot accept,
nor can the imagination conceive, O Shaykh."
He said, "Glory be to Allah!
You deny that a ship can sail the sea in a precise manner
without a captain to oversee it,
yet you affirm that this universe exists—
with its surging seas, its orbiting celestial bodies,
its soaring birds, and its roaming beasts—
without a Maker to perfect its creation,
or a Disposer of affairs to perfect its management?
Woe to you and to what you fabricate!"
Having spent his entire life’s journey
defending the religion of Allah,
with the profound proof the Creator had bestowed upon him,
and arguing for His law with the unique logic Allah had granted him,
when death came to him,
they found in his will that he had charged his family
to bury him in pure land,
and to keep him away from any place involving the suspicion of usurpation.
When his will reached al-Mansur,
he said, "Who will excuse us from Abu Hanifah,
both in life and in death?"
Abu Hanifah had requested that
al-Hasan ibn 'Umarah perform his ritual washing.
When he washed him, he said:
"May Allah have mercy on you, O Abu Hanifah,
and forgive you for what you have offered.
You have not broken your fast for thirty years,
and you have not rested your head on your right side at night for forty years.
You have truly exhausted the jurists who came after you."
Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man was
a staunch defender of the sanctities of Allah,
long in his silence,
and constant in his reflection.
Imam Abu Yusuf
says, when he strives or speaks:
"They were here, watering our lives like rain clouds;
though they have passed, their memory remains exalted among us.
They departed, leaving a question in the conscience:
Is there any like them, a star that has risen and shone?
They filled life with glories through their deeds,
and the world of the self flourished because of them."