What
happened in 699 ad.
Map of
the Muslim world. Hanafi (grass green) is the Sunni school
predominant in Turkey, the Northern Middle East, many parts of Egypt,
Central Asia and most of the Indian subcontinent
Abu
Hanifa is regarded as one of the greatest jurists of Arab
civilization and one of the major legal philosophers of the entire
human community.[15]
He attained a very high status in the various fields of sacred
knowledge and because of his brilliant intellect influenced the
development of Muslim theology.[16]
During
his lifetime, he was acknowledged as a jurist of the highest
calibre.[17]
The
honorific title "al-Imam al-A'zam" or the greatest leader,
granted to him[18]
both in communities where his legal theory is followed and elsewhere,
attests to the amount of respect he has been accorded. According to
some, Abu Hanifa’s followers make up more than 1/3 of the world’s
Muslim population.[19]
Others hold the true figure to be over 1/2 of the Muslim
population.[20]
Despite,
the overall positive views held regarding Abu Hanifa, he also had
some critics. The Zahiri
scholar Ibn Hazm
refers to Sufyan
ibn `Uyaynah, who is reported to have said that “the affairs
of men were in harmony until they were changed by Abù Hanìfa in
Kùfa, al-Batti in Basra and Màlik in Medina”.[21]
Early Muslim jurist Hammad
ibn Salamah once related a story about a highway robber who posed
as an old man to hide his identity, remarking that were the robber
still alive he would have been a follower of Abu Hanifa.[22]
Outside
of his scholarly achievements Abu Hanifa was recognised as a man of
the highest personal qualities: learned, a performer of good works,
remarkable for his self-denial, humble sprit, devotion and pious awe
of God.[23]
His
tomb, surmounted by a dome erected by admirers in 1066 is still a
shrine for pilgrims.[24]
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