Lamp of the Ummah; Leader of the Jurists – Haafiz e-Hadees, was a prestigious Muhaddis, authoritative person, truthfully spoken, abstinent, wise, and pious. He was an imam, pious, knowledgeable, someone who practiced, someone who indulged in great worship and a man of great ranking; he would not accept the sultan’s gifts but would trade and earn a living.

Thousands of literary works have been compiled by Hazrat Imaam e Azam Abuu Haneefah

[Rahmatul Laahi Alaieh]

Early Life and Education

He was born in 699 in the Iraqi city of Kufa, to a family of Persian origin. His father, was a successful businessman in Kufa and thus the young Hazrat Abu Haneefah  [Rahmatul Laahi Alaieh] intended to follow in his father’s footsteps. Living under the oppressive reign of the governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Hazrat Abu Haneefah stayed focused on running the family silk-making business and generally steered clear of scholarship. With the death of al-Hajjaj in 713 came the removal of oppressive policies regarding scholars, and Islaamic scholarship soared in Kufa, especially during the reign of Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (717-720).

Thus, by his teenage years, Hazrat Abu Haneefah began to study under some of the resident scholars of Kufa. He even got the opportunity to meet many companions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, among them Hazrat Anas ibn Maalik, Hazrat Sahl ibn Saa’d, and Jaabir ibn Abdul laah.[Radiyal Laahu Anhum Ajam’een].

After learning from some of the greatest scholars of Kufa, he went on to study in Makaah and Madeenaah under numerous teachers,who were known as one of the greatest scholars of Makaah at the time.

He soon became an expert in the sciences of Fiqh (jurisprudence), Tafseer (exegesis of the Quraan), and Kalaam (seeking theological knowledge through debate and reason).