Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Ramadan 28th Late Night Majlis Kashf alMahjub The Imam of Imams Abu Hanifah Numan b Thabit 06232017
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So today, I wanted to read
from the,
an interesting hagiographical
entry.
By the way, don't ever get intimidated
by
fancy words.
Fancy words are exactly like the words that
you already know the meaning of. The only
difference is you don't know the meaning of
them yet.
And in addition, there are many people who
think they're smart by using them, and, they're
most of them really aren't,
this being no exception to that rule.
Hageography
just means the stories of the and the
saints.
The word is used in academia, I think,
pejoratively nowadays.
But, you know, if someone's a of Allah,
what does he care,
about the smug and arrogant snicker of
an atheist
college professor somewhere
When
entire nations will be thrown into the,
garbage can of the hellfire,
if Allah loves a man,
I don't think it's gonna
matter what some, you know, up up campus,
snooty people, used to say about them in
the dunya.
But, at any rate, this is an interesting
hydrographical
note.
Why? Because it is the
it is this the note regarding Imam Abu
Hanifa,
who is,
most widely known for his
position in the Ummah as a scholar, specifically
a scholar of fiqh.
And then after that,
second most widely known to be a scholar
of,
a scholar of
Aqidah,
and
his is actually an extension of his,
which is the original passion
that he had and the original mastery that
he had.
And very few people know about this.
And,
even less people
than those who know about his is his
deep knowledge of the Quran and his deep
knowledge of Hadith despite
the the the the
unfair
accusations to the contrary that some of his
opponents had.
Imam al Hanifa had a
a mastery of hadith, except for he used
to be very scrupulous in what he narrated.
So he didn't narrate,
too many of the hadith he knew, but
he he knew he knew a lot of
hadith.
But,
even less well known than his
position
in any of those things that we mentioned
is his position in Tasawuf,
that he is a great transmitter of the
tariqa.
And even though his name doesn't appear on
the, Shajara Mubarakah of
the, the different masha'if and their,
the reason it doesn't appear is because it's
one from the adab
of listing an or a chain or of
narration, a that
you list the shortest one possible,
because the point of the isnaab is to
show connection to Rasulullah
The point of is to show connection to
Rasile,
but if you read the
the the biographies of the Aliyah,
they go through they all go through, Imam
al Hanifa at some point or another.
So Fuday bin Raya, then Ibrahim bin Adham,
that we mentioned earlier, they were companions of
Imam Abu Hanifa.
Abdullah ibn Mubarak
is a companion of Imam Abu Hanifa. Malik
will meet with Imam Abu Hanifa, and Shafi'i
studies from Abu Hanifa's students.
You know, it's this nexus of all these
different things,
And it shows that that Tasawuf is just
another branch from the from the Mubarak tree
of Din,
and the Mubarak tree of Din, which is
transmitted through the tradition of the people, the
Ahl Hasan al Jamaa.
And one of the things that that irks
me and kinda scratches the chalkboard of my
soul
again and again is the neglect of the
Sunni identity, which is this entire package. It's
an entire methodology of how to deal with
the law, how to deal with interpretation of
the book of Allah Ta'ala and the Hadith
of the prophet
and an approach to Aqida, approach to fiqh,
and also approach to what? To tasawaf.
It's an approach to tasawaf that even many
of the people who don't follow tariqa or
who don't, you know, who don't,
promote
this kind of more formal
middle,
you know, middle Islamic history
form of Tassowof or medieval type of Tassowof.
Still, many of the concepts,
that you'll get from the the the turukh
and from Riald al Salihin,
which is a book of hadith. They're really
essentially, they're they're they're very they're very similar,
if not the same concepts regarding spirituality.
They're just packaged differently and in different languages,
and some are more, you know, more literary
literary, and some of them are in vernacular
languages, and some of them are in very,
very,
strictly transmitted,
wordings of hadith, of the prophet
or ayat of the book of Allah.
But really, a person who understands
the Sunni tradition, understands how the soul fits
into all of those things. So, you know,
at second glance, it shouldn't really be all
that surprising that Imam Abu Hanifa is a
great sheikh of the tariqah, even though you've
never seen his,
Mubarak name on any of the the Salasil
up on the wall.
But if you read who he's met and
who who met him and who he took
from and who he gave to,
you'll see that that the soul is in
fact,
something that that he's not only a master
of,
but, it it it flows from it flows
from him as well.
And this is not something that's just a
conjecture I make, nor is it a a
theory solely propounded by
in this book, but it's something that I've
heard from many of the masha'if of the
tariqah
that that I I I met, including my
own sheikh
So the entry in the Kashel Mahjub,
translated by Nicholson, lists his name as Abu
Hanifa Noorman Ben Thabit.
He writes Al Haraz.
I think it's a a typo. It should
probably be Al Khazaz
because, khaz was a type of,
a type of,
cloth.
I think it it was made out of
a blend of wool and
silk, and it was very in in very
high demand. And Abu Hanifa was
on top of
being a master of the law and of
the hadith, tafsir, tasolef, all of these other
things. He was also a very wealthy merchant
and a very wealthy businessman and the best,
if not the only
in in all of Baghdad or all of
Kufa used to come through his,
come through his stores. And people used to
have to buy from him because he had
the best merchandise in town and the best
prices in town.
So I I I don't know why,
I don't know why Nicholson writes here. I
I I suspect that it's it's
it's it's some sort of error. It should
be Al Khazaz.
Datasab
writes,
he is the imam of imams
and the exemplar of the Sunnis.
He was firmly grounded in the works of
mortification and devotion,
meaning Mujahada,
and in thikr.
He was a great authority on the principles
of Sufism.
At first, he wished to go into seclusion
and abandon the society of mankind,
for he has made he had made his
heart free from every thought of human power
and pump.
One night, however, he dreamed that he was
collecting the bones of,
from the noble grave.
He was keeping some and throwing others out.
He awoke in terror
and asked one of the pupils of Mohammed
bin Sirin. Mohammed bin Sirin is one of
the of the from the time of the
Tabireen,
and he's a a great Muhandith, and he
was also renowned to be the master interpreter
of the dreams of his age. He was
the Yusuf alayhis salam of his age.
He awoke in terror and asked one of
the pupils of Mohammed bin Seerin to interpret
the dream.
This man said, you will attain a high
rank in the knowledge of Rasulullah,
preserving his sunnah so that you'll sift through
that which is genuine and throw out that
which is spurious.
And this is very this is very,
I mean, this is a very deep dream
that he saw himself,
in the grave of Rasulullah
looking through bones and keeping
some and throwing others out. And, it was
interpreted to him meaning what? That you will
be the one who sifts through all these
things that people think of as deen and
the thing that's in accordance to the sunnah
of Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you'll keep it. And the
thing that's not, you'll you'll throw it out.
So I want you to think about this
which is,
which is that
the work he did wasn't simply academic.
There was a spiritual element to it. He
was a man on a mission, and he
was guided by,
he was guided by Allah
Obviously, we don't consider that guidance to be
a wahi or revelation,
and that we don't consider him to be
infallible because nobody's infallible in the Ummah after
But that doesn't mean that the providential hand
of destiny doesn't guide,
certain people to do works that are superior
and above those of others. If someone else
was able to sit in a room and
read and study and become smart,
and,
through smartness,
understand and expound the law,
in in in such a three dimensionally,
such a three dimensionally,
cohesive
and cogent, way as he he did,
then they would have done it. But no
one was able to. He's the Imam Adam
for a reason and that has to do
with his spiritual power and how,
how how strongly it was tuned with the
higher realm.
Another time, Abu Hanifa dreamed that Rasulullah,
said to him, you have been created for
the purpose of receiving my ordinances.
He was the master of many sheikhs.
For example, Ibrahim bin Adham,
both of who whom appear on the
the Shajar Amu Baraka of the Tariqah Chishtiya
and
Bishrul Hafi, both of whom
appear on the Shajar Amu Baraka of the
Tarikha Qadiriyyah amongst others,
And and all of whom are are universally,
accepted to being the
of Teshof and spirituality in the early age,
by the people of
and the people of
alike.
In the reign of the Khalifa Mansur, a
plan was formed
to appoint to the office of Qadhi or
chief justice one of the following persons,
Abu Hanifa, Sufyan Thori, miss Arben Kidam,
and Shurei.
While they were journeying together to visit, Abu
Jafar al Mansur,
who was, who was the
the conniving
and, at times ruthless,
first re effective caliph of, of Banu Abbas,
when they're journeying together to visit Abu Jafar
al Mansur who had summoned them to his
presence, Abu Hanifa said to his companions,
I will reject this office by means of
a certain trick.
Miss Ara will feign to be mad, Sufyan
will run away, and Shuleih Be will be
made Khadi. He will be made judge.
And this is something very interesting. They considered
they considered
positions of government power
like being a Qadi to be a corruption
of the dunya,
because a person would come under the influence
of power,
and and even the slightest they were they're
very,
painfully aware that even the slightest
deviation from the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam in that early time of Islam
would have essentially ruined the, ruined the entire
deal for the rest of the ummah that
comes for centuries
millennia afterward.
So,
Imam Abu Hanifa and, Abul Qasim Junaid and
and,
Imam Ahmed bin Hambal and peep the people
of that nature, they they steadfastly refused to,
take the judgeship,
and they considered it to be, they considered
it to be
just a stain on a person's dean. Now
later on, Abu Hanifa's student, Abu Yusuf, will
take the judgeship for other reasons,
and those are probably best left for,
a a a a a regarding the origins
of the Hanafi Madhab rather than Tasawaf.
But there are reasons for that as well.
But
for the point, the point for this story
is that that Abu Hanifa himself steadfastly refused
until his last breath to take the position
of chief judge
even though, he eventually will, he'll be persecuted
by the government and even, according to some,
assassinated by
by the government for it.
While they're journeying together
to visit Abu Jafar Mansur, who had summoned
them to his presence. Abu Hanifa said to
his companions, I will reject this office by
means of a certain trick. Miss Ara will
feign to be mad, Sufyan will run away,
and Sureiha will be made judge.
Sufyan fled and embarked in a ship, imploring
the captain to conceal him and save him
from execution.
The others were ushered into the presence of
the Khalifa.
Mansur said to Abu Hanifa first, you must
act as Qadi as chief judge. Abu Hanifa
replied, oh, Amiral Mumineen,
commander of the faithful, I am not an
Arab, but one of their clients, and the
chiefs of the Arabs will not accept my
decisions.
Mansur said, this matter has nothing to do
with lineage. It demands learning and you are
the most eminent doctor of the law in
this day.
Abu Hanifa persisted that he was unfit to
hold the office.
What I have just said shows it, he
exclaimed. For if I have spoken the truth,
I am disqualified.
And if I had told a falsehood, then
it is not right that a liar should
be made judge over the Muslims, and that
you should entrust him with the lives, property,
and honor of your subjects.
He escaped in this way.
Then miss Ar came forward and seized the
caliph's hand and said, how are you, and
how are your children, and how are your
animals?
Away with him, cried Mansur. He's mad. He's
out of his mind.
Finally, Shurayi was told that he must fill
the vacant office.
I'm melancholic,
he,
he protested.
Melancholic meaning what? Meaning that I'm
my disposition is extremely heavy and slow and
lethargic.
And I'm light witted.
Whereupon Mansur advised him to drink
various concoctions and potions in order to
restore his intellect until his intellect was fully
restored. So Shureh was made Qadhi, and Abu
Hanifa after that day never spoke a word
to him again.
This story illustrates not only the sagacity of
Abu Hanifa, but also his adherence to the
path of righteousness and salvation, and his determination
not to let himself be deluded by seeking
popularity and worldly renowned.
It shows moreover the soundness of blame since
all of these 3, venerable men resorted to
some trick in order to avoid popularity.
Very different are the doctors of the present
age. Datta Saab says this in, like, you
know, this is a time before Ghazali and
the time before.
It is very different are the doctors of
this age who make the palaces of princes
their and
the houses of evildoers their temple.
Allah
protect us.
The age we live in is is is
is,
you know, so many times more worse
that we have literally defined
success,
not amongst,
singers and dancers, but amongst ulama,
in in YouTube hits and in Twitter followers
and in Facebook followers,
even though that's just, like, the biggest baqwas
ever. There's nobody who's going to, you know,
Facebook is gonna swoop down and grab them
and and save them from falling into the
hellfire
and carry them over the It just doesn't
work that way. There's no Twitter that's gonna
that's gonna have its own hold that you
drink from such a drink that you'll the
one who drinks from it never thirsts again.
And so that the Saab then kind of
goes on a slight tangent. He says once
a doctor of Ghazna, who claimed to be
a learned divine and a religious leader, declared,
it is heresy to wear a patch frock,
a muraqah.
The patch frock was the the sign of,
of of being a sheikh in the tariqa
in the days of the author.
And it was,
again, following the
the tradition of the Rasul
and say,
and
and and not throwing away the clothes when
they rip, but in patching them up.
This is a certain doctor
who claimed to be a learned divine and
a religious leader declared it heresy kufr to
wear a patched frock, a.
I said to him, you do not call
it heretical to wear robes of brocade which
are made entirely of silk, and besides,
being in themselves unlawful for men to wear,
have been begged with importunity,
which is unlawful from evildoers whose property is
absolutely unlawful.
Why then is it kufr or heretical to
wear a lawful garment procured from a lawful
place purchased with lawful money If you were
not ruled by inborn conceit and by the
error of your soul, you would express a
more judicious opinion.
Women may wear a dress of silk lawfully,
but it's unlawful for men,
and only permissible,
for lunatics.
If you acknowledge the truth of both of
these statements,
then you are excused.
God save us from a lack of fairness.
Razi,
who is another great sheikh of the tariqa,
from the old times relates as follows. I
dreamed that I said to Rasulullah
O Messenger of Allah, where will I find
you?
And he answered me, in the science of
Abu Hanifa.
The author says, once when I was in
Syria,
I fell asleep at the tomb of Sayidam
Bilal, the of the messenger of Allah
may be pleased with him. And dreamed that
I was in Mecca
and that the Rasul
came into the,
sacred mosque through the gate of Banusheba.
By the way,
the is the the gate that is the
sunnah to enter into the Masjid of the
prophet
through. The
came in through the gate of Banushaiba,
tenderly clasping an old man to his chest
in the same fashion as people are want
to carry children,
and that I ran to him and kissed
the back of his foot.
And stood marveling who the old man might
be.
And that the messenger of Allah
was miraculously
aware of my secret thought and said to
me,
this is your imam and the imam of
your countrymen,
meaning Abu
Hanifa.
Lata Saab
is from from Ghazni,
from from Ghazni, which is in Afghanistan.
I think, almost entirely peopled by Patans now,
if if I'm not mistaken.
In consequence of this dream, I have great
hopes for myself and also for the people
of my country.
It has convinced me moreover that Abu Hanifa
was one of those who having annihilated their
natural qualities continued to perform the ordinances of
the sacred law as it appears from the
fact that he was carried by the Rasul
in the dream. If he had walked by
himself, his attributes must have been subsistent,
and such a one may either miss or
hit the mark. But in as much as
he was carried by Rasulullah
in the dream, his attributes must have been
nonexistent
while he was sustained by the living attributes
of
and this is, by the way, part of
the that
the
that the the prophets
are alive in their graves, and they worship
Allah
and this is why when Rasulullah
said when someone sees me in a dream,
they've seen me,
because shaitan cannot take my form, it means
that you haven't just seen a form of
him
you've actually seen him. It's actually a communion
with him through the spirit realm.
Vouchsafe,
the vision of Rasulullah
to us. As undeserving as we may be
in this world and in the next. Rasulullah
cannot errant. It is equally impossible
that one who is sustained by the messenger
of Allah
should fall into error.
When Dawud
had acquired learning and become famous,
a famous authority, he went to Abu Hanifa
and said to him, what shall I do
now?
Abu Hanifa
replied,
practice what you have learned for theory without
practice is like a body without spirit.
He who is content with learning alone is
not learned,
and the truly learned man is not content
with learning alone.
Similarly,
Hidayat
or divine guidance involves,
or or struggling against the self, without which
contemplation
or mushahada
is unattainable.
That you're not going to be able to
contemplate the divine without,
without guidance,
and without struggling against yourself.
There is no knowledge without action since knowledge
is the product of action and is brought
forth and developed and made profitable profitable by
the blessings of action.
The two things cannot be divorced in any
way just as the light of the sun
cannot be separated by the sun itself.
Allah,
connect us with this
beautiful and Mubarak, tradition,
and give us a respecting
respecting the transmitters, the canonical transmitters of our
tradition.
For they really were the not just of
and of Hadith and of tafsir,
and of,
but they were also people who had a
living spiritual
connection with Allah and His Rasul
and,
through their and
through their sacrifices and their struggles against themselves,
annihilated their own souls, which found new and
everlasting life
in the emulation
and the service of
the the knowledge of Rasool Allah
give us the tawfiq of of of of
learning that knowledge and respecting that knowledge and
giving it as do right both inside of
our hearts and on our limbs with our,
even though it's not an easy thing to
do.