From Text To Tradition

Asalamualaikum WRWB… Inshallah I pray you are all exceedingly healthy and enfolded nicely in Allah’s mercy. Another month has soared by faster then one can comprehend but alhumdulilah we are in the most blessed month, rabi-ul-awwal, subhanallah; indeed the coming of our most treasured Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) was the biggest blessing ever and the greatest Mercy from Allah. So I want to start by wishing you all Mubarak/Congrats for the coming of our prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam); May we be totally inundated in his (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam)’s love. Ameen!

Asalatu-wasalamu-alayka-ya-sayyedi-ya-rasoolallah! 

The evening of the 8th of April was entirely outstanding for it was spent in the company of three great teachers: Shaykh Faizul Aqtab Siddiqui; Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam and our dear dear Shaykh Hamza Yusuf; May Allah increase them all inshallah!

The event was organised by Amal Press in launch of a new book called ‘Al-Hidayah,’ translated by Imran Ahsan Nyazee. The book is a book of fiqh of the school of our grand Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and the evening was in honour of this great Imam. I must say that the event was organised excellently for everything ran smoothly and the whole evening had a splendid aura about it. Alhumdulilah!

I’ll stop dawdling on now and press straight onto my notes, which unfortunately are not much, but still I thought I should share them with you. I would like to say that any shortcomings are from me and not the shayukh, so please do pardon me for them, and correct me if possible. JazakAllah Khair.

Shaykh Faizul Aqtab was the first speaker and he related some beautiful stories about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra):

·        Our dear Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said that ‘the scholars of my ummah are like the prophets of Bani-Israil;’ Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) is indeed one of the greatest scholars.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was born 80 years after the hijra and was classified as a ‘Tabi’in’ because as a little child he met (the Prophetic Companion) Hazrat Anas ibn Malik (ra) who was a Sahabi.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was taught by those ‘Tabi’in” that had been taught themselves by over 500 Sahabis.

·        A traveller once stopped at Imam Abu Hanifa’s (ra) masjid and saw him teach students from fajar to esha and spend the nights in ibadah; at first the traveller considered that this was merely to impress him, but soon realised that this was the Imam’s routine. Hence, he would teach and please people during the day, but during the nights he would please Allah (swt).

·        If ever Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was stuck in a matter or didn’t know the answer to something he would do wudu and read 2 nafl; the answer to what he was puzzled over would come to him upon finishing the nafl.

·        The Shaykh advised that in the day we should go find our answers on then internet and in the texts; but during the night, we should try to find our answers from Allah (swt). That is indeed Imam Abu Hanifa’s (ra) tradition.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was no simple intellect; he had a unique quality about him. Nowadays universities open anywhere and everywhere; however back then the university would be founded wherever the shaykh sat. [SubhanAllah].

·        The shaykh advised that we too should try and make ourselves intellectuals; we should continuously learn; we shouldn’t just do our degrees and leave it at that thinking our job is done; we need to have an appetite for learning that never gets full. This is the Imam’s tradition. Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had 100s of sheikhs/teachers; we usually get tired of the first one or two.

·        Islam does not rationalise science and technology but the reverse, science and technology rationalise Islam.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a man who never compromised with the duniya. He would come up against barriers and restrictions, i.e. kings of his time wanted him to compromise to them, to sell himself to them; but he never did. Sadly some scholars nowadays compromise for money.

·        Once, a king called Mansoor asked Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) to become his lord chief justice because though the king did not agree with the Imam’s views, he knew that the Imam was a great intellect. Nevertheless, Imam Abu Hanifa (ra)’s response to the king was that he thought he was not qualified for the job. The king, in his anger, called the Imam a liar, to which the Imam replied, ‘If you can call me a liar then indeed that tells you that I truly am not qualified for the job.’

[Shaykh Faizul Aqtab related a really nice account/story towards the end of his talk, but regrettably I never got that down as it was somewhat a lengthy account with much detail which my weak mind has forgotten. A stimulating talk; May Allah increase the Shaykh.]

There was a break for magrib salah before Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam came to the stage; he too talked beautifully about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), his tradition, his fiqh and about the book ‘Al-Hidayah.’  I didn’t get much down of this speech due to something that was troubling my mind but here is the few points I managed to note down:

·        ‘Al Hidayah’ is unquestionably the most important book on the fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), though there are many other great books too.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was known as ‘Hafiz.’ At the present time, a ‘Hafiz’ is regarded as someone who has memorised the Qur’an, however back in those days a ‘Hafiz’ was someone who memorised 100’000 hadith (and their chains of narration), understood them, derived from them and gathered rules out of them. Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was indeed a true ‘Hafiz,’ for to learn something is one thing, but to understand it completely is another.

·        ‘Al-Hidayah’ was originally a book that made up 80 volumes! But ‘Al-Hidayah’ is a summary of all those books, so it is to the point, concise and comprehensive, and through the centuries the importance of this book will increase.

·        A student scholar once had a trial in a court case for which he argued his own defence. His reasonings were so good that the people asked him where he obtained his law degree from, to which he replied that he had no law degree but was merely using points from the ‘Al-Hidayah.’ [Sweet! Alhumdulilah!]

·        A great Kashmiri scholar once said, ‘if I was to compile a book, I could imitate any other book except four; the Qur’an, the Sahih Hadith, the Masnavi by Rumi and ‘Al Hidayah’.

·        An amazing book worth reading but preferably with a qualified teacher.

[Mufti Sahib’s talk was longer, but like I said before, I wasn’t able to get much down. This was the first time I was hearing Mufti Sahib and was quite taken by his very clear and elucidated manner. May Allah increase him inshallah!]

And so Shaykh Hamza came, lighting up the room and all our hearts with his splendid presence and inspiring speech; I said a silent salaam and thanked Allah for him, and for this chance of sitting in his attendance again, [Alhumdulilah!]

·        Some people get upset over people visiting graves however in every single hadith that has described the reward for visiting a brother or sister for the sake of Allah, there is no differentiation of whether they are living or dead. Imam Shafi (ra), if he ever had a difficult day, would read two nafl and visit Imam Abu Hanifa (ra)’s grave.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) stated a hadith in which he said ‘if you are to put saddles on a camel and travel it should be to three places; Masjid al-Haram, my Masjid (masjid al-Nabi) and Masjid al-Aqsa.’ But the great scholars in the ummah say that the hadith applies specifically for going to do ibadah, not in general for you couldn’t apply that to everything as otherwise we could not do anything, [We couldn’t be here today for this lecture.] When you visit someone (living or not) you don’t go to worship them, you go for the blessing in it, you go to say salaam to someone who has served the deen all their life, and you make dua for them.

·        When you speak about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), you are really speaking about the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). Anything you could say about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), you could say the same about the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) (revelation being an exception). This is because, as the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said, ‘the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets’.

·        An inheritor has a relationship with whom he inherits, which is the basis of inheritance. In the Arabic language, a blood relative is referred to as a ‘karibi’, a close one, someone who shares the connection of the womb with you (at some level). However, Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and all the Ulema have a ‘karaba’ with the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam), which is a spiritual and conscious heritage, a spiritual relationship.

·        All humans have the physical as well as a spiritual component in them. The first makes you an animal and the second makes you a human, ‘the rational animal,’ the ability to be rational, to reason, to think, to reflect, and to understand. Hence this is what the men and women who inherit the knowledge of the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) share with him; they have prophetic consciousness; a spiritual DNA; an intellectual DNA that they all share.

·        When you praise Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) or Imam Malik (ra) or Imam Shafi (ra) or Ahmad ibn Hanbal or any other Ulema/Shaykh, you are praising the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) because the difference between these people and everyone else is that they follow the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) in every aspect of their life.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) encompassed all good; none of us can encompass all of that good so the good that we do encompass is from the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam).

·        All the sahabis are unique, yet they are all reflections of the (Light of the) Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). All the Ulema are unique, yet they are all reflections of the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). This is the secret of our ummah.

·        Imam Shafi (ra) had a great gift, he could read his lesson one time and memorise it. Once he studied with Imam Malik (ra); he would look up and then quickly write on his hand (he would lick his finger and “write” using his finger on the palm of his hand - he was only 15 at this time). Imam Malik (ra) noticed this and enquired after the lesson about this “foolish” behaviour. Imam Shafi (ra) replied that he was merely writing the hadith down on his palm. Imam Malik (ra) asked whether he actually remembered anything, to which he replied he did and related the whole of the dars to Imam Malik (ra) word for word. [SubhanAllah]

·        Imam Shafi (ra) was once out and about when the wind blew a ladies jilbab up revealing her leg, and he did not quickly avert his gaze. When he got back to his lesson he could not remember anything. So he went to his teacher, and he asked him about it; the teacher knew what had happened and told him that this is from the sin that you have committed. Imam Shafi (ra) complained that it was his memory that had faded, to which the teacher said, ‘knowledge is a light from God, and God’s light is not put in the hearts of those who disobey Allah (swt)’.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), anytime he would not understand something, he would say that it was because of a wrong action that he had committed. So this light that these great men and women have, this is the secret of this ummah. It’s the gift of knowledge, the light of guidance.

·        The Shaykh said that you have to have the right understanding to have the right action; you have to have the right understanding of the world if you want to live in it correctly. This is what Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) did, he studied so that he could show people the right way; he said, ‘wallahi this is the right knowledge, the knowledge that is able to guide people about their actions,’ (what they should and should not do).

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a man of great humility; he said, ‘anyone who seeks leadership in this world before his time will have a life of humiliation.’

·        One of the things Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) is most noted for is his Adab, (his courtesy).

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) met a Sahabi when he was a child and heard the Sahabi say, ‘whoever learns fiqh in this world will have no concerns, and he’ll have provision from where he does not expect it’.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had about 30 scholars he was close with and he would discuss matters with them until they came to a resolution. In the difficult situations these days most people are not able to deal with them as individuals, but collectively, when people get together, they are able to do things they were not normally be able to do.

·        In the Maliki madhab, a great Maliki scholar said, ‘in an absence of a judge, if you bring 12 people together then they could make a sound judgment’ – some have said that this is the basis of the modern day jury system.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was free of hasad. What was beautiful about all these Imams is that they were free of hasad, they respected each other. They deferred to each other. Imam Shafi, (ra) when he visited the tomb of Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), he left the ‘qunut’ out of his (fajr) salah though he had strong opinions of the ‘qunut.’ When they were leaving, the people asked him whether he had left his opinion on the ‘qunut,’ he said no but out of respect for the Imam I left it out because it wasn’t his opinion. (That is respect!)

·        One of his students said that he had never seen Imam Malik (ra) sweat, but he had beads of sweat on his forehead after a talk with Imam Abu Hanifa (ra). Imam Malik (ra) smiled and said, ‘wallahi, he is a man of knowledge, if he wanted to prove that this pillar was made out of gold, he could do it’. 

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a great debater; he would sit and talk to those who challenged. The shaykh said that that is what was so beautiful about those times, the fact that people used to talk rather then bite one another’s heads of.

·        Just as you can use logic to prove the existence of Allah, you can also use logic to disprove it.

·        There are two types of people in the world, the first are the people who see meaning and purpose in the world, and second are the people who don’t. Is the world meaningful or meaningless for you? Is there purpose for your existence or is there not? Suppose you have an accident, is there a purpose behind it, or is it a happening that has no meaning or purpose?

·        Looking at the world it is very hard to believe that it came out of nothing; the fact that we are flying 30,000 feet above the earth, protected by belts from solar rays, given oxygen so that we don’t pass out, etc. There is indeed intelligence behind this creation.

·        My choice is to disbelief that there isn’t a God, and that’s what separates me from those who have chosen to disbelief that there is a God. So in that way we are both disbelievers. It’s a choice; whoever wants to believe, let him believe, whoever wants to disbelief, let him disbelief.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had a debate about this with an atheist but was late for the debate. When he did arrive the agitated atheist asked Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) what happened, to which he replied, ‘we came to a river but there was no boat, but fortunately a tree fell into the river, the bark came of, snapped into half and all the insides came out and a boat was made for us.’ The atheist said, ‘I hear that you are a great scholar, do you really expect me to believe that stupid excuse?’  And Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) said, ‘I find it quite odd that you can believe that these skies and there is order, this earth and its order, all of this could have just magically appeared without somebody to build it, like the boat builder has to build the boat.’ [I wrote this story mostly from memory so forgive me if it’s not fully accurate].

·        This was the way the early Muslims worked, they talked, they debated; they were indeed great people. We need to revive that tradition and come to an understanding of fiqh. All of us should really study a book of fiqh with a qualified teacher. We have to go back to our tradition and part of that tradition is to honour these great people.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said that, ‘a sign of the end of time is that the last portion of this community will curse the first portion.’ This is happening as people are slandering Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) because they think they are defending the Sunnah. And this of a man who recited the Qur’an in one rukuh every single day for 30 years! This of a man who prayed fajar with the wudu of esha for 40 years! This of a man who refused to be what we would call today, ‘scholars for dollars’ (somebody who sells his religion to the government). He would advice and give opinions to the government but never take anything form them. He did not want the greatness of the deen to be tainted by the government.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) said, ‘because my deen is so exalted, I have been exalted. Because I serve the exalted, I’m exalted.’ (If you are in the service of the great, you become the great).

·        1200 years later we are here honouring this man in Briton. He is in Baghdad and if people were following him there today, Baghdad would be a very different place right now, because everything that happens to us is form our own sins. That is what our Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) taught us and that’s what the Qur’an teaches us.

·        We need to go back to tradition. The Shaykh said that he was riding with a student in Mauritania and asked him what the response of Mauritania had been to Denmark. He said all of the Ulema gathered with poems that they had written about what had happened in Denmark, and before going on their demonstration (which was led by great Ulema) they handed out leaflets of Adab. Amongst the things that they said on the leaflet was, ‘don’t use any destructive behaviour’, ‘don’t harm anyone,’ ‘don’t say anything unbecoming of a believer’, etc. This was the response of our traditional Ulema and this is what we are lacking in our time today.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had no rancour in his heart; he had plentiful forbearance; he was a thin man; he was muscular without being fat; and when he was buried people said that they had never seen more crying.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was indeed ‘Imam al-Azam’, and all the Hanafis will be in his scales on the day of judgement!

[SubhanAllah! What a talk! May Allah increase Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and help us learn about him and his fiqh! May Allah bless Shaykh Hamza for being the wonderful man he is and accept all his efforts in trying to make us more humane, more like our dear Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). May Allah give Shaykh Hamza and all our shayukh health and preserve them. May we learn to follow these ‘lights of guidance’ Allah has provided for us through His mercy. Ameen]

A huge JazakAllah Khair to all at Amal Press for making this inspirational night possible for us and giving us the chance to sit in the presence of our most loved Shayukh. JazakAllah Khair to all the organisers and volunteers for the directions, the smiles and all the hard work that we don’t really notice. God bless you! Wishing you all the best now and always, in the here and the hereafter, and the best of deen and duniya! Ameen!

I ask you all to remember this sinner in your duas. Walaikumasalaam.