Did Imam Abu Hanifa trust only 16 hadiths of Imam Bukhari?
Author: Dr. Farid Yunus, retired professor of Middle Eastern cultural anthropology and Islamic philosophy, founder and innovator of Islamic Democracy (California, USA), member of the Sangar Advisory Council
My dear friend Behzad Azad from the Kingdom of Denmark and from the Juma Mubarak group asked: "What do you think about the fact that Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa considered more than 7 Hadiths reliable of all the Hadiths of the Prophet?"
ANSWER:
The first issue that we should know well is that among the five famous Imams of the Islamic world, namely Imam Jafar Sadiq, Imam Shafi’i, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, and Imam Hanbal, Imam Abu Hanifa is the most famous and has more followers in the Islamic world. No other Imam has as many followers as Imam Abu Hanifa. He has been given the title of “Imam of the World” in the famous and exquisite book “Tazkirat ul-Awliya” by Sheikh Faridaddin Attar Nishapuri.
The second issue that we should know about Imam Abu Hanifa is that the Imam did not leave any books from himself and everything that we know about him was collected by his students, especially Imam Abu Yusuf, who is one of the famous Sunni Imams. If you are told somewhere about the book of Imam Abu Hanifa, know that this is incorrect, because the Imam does not have his book.
Imam Abu Hanifa gave fatwas more in comparison (qiyas) and relied on reason, and the conditions of time and place were very important to him. Among the above-mentioned imams, he is considered the most freedom-loving imam. Although we have a book by Imam Shafi'i called "Easy Fiqh (Jurisprudence)", the jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifa is the simplest, most complete, and most respected.
Regarding the fact that he accepted only seven hadiths, there is too much talk, but two things are recorded.
First, he did not reject all the hadiths, even if he accepted fewer of them, and second, he believed in the originality of reason so much that he was able to issue a fatwa without referring to hadiths. In any case, in the book “Political History of Islam” by the famous doctor Hasan Ibrahim Hasan, translated by the famous Iranian scholar Abulqasim Payandeh, published in 1376 AH, page 284, we read the following:
“Bukhari has provided 7275 (seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five) hadiths, most of which are repeated, and the non-repeated hadiths are not more than four thousand. It is said that Bukhari selected the hadiths from three hundred thousand, and despite this, Abu Hanifa trusted only sixteen of these hadiths, and from this, we can say how far the falsifications and distortions have gone in the work of hadith.”
I, Farid Yunus, have been working on hadiths for thirty years, which are the second source in the Sharia after the Quran, and so far I have published three collections of hadiths, two of which are available on Amazon.
Not only does Hadith take second place in Sharia, but it has also created Islamic culture. That is, if someone cannot access authentic Hadith, he cannot have Islamic culture.
The problem with Hadith from the point of view of today's and modern studies is threefold:
First, false Hadiths have entered our religious texts, and no one dares to purify them today.
Second, the content of the Israeliyats has been included in Hadith.
Third, the original Arab culture has entered into the texts of Hadith.
So, to determine the authentic Hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we must ensure that the Hadith complies with the following four principles:
First, compliance with the Quran.
Second, compliance with the great personality of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), since the Quran calls the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) the Mercy of the All-Knowing.
Thirdly, it is in accordance with justice, because the Quran is the book of justice for Muslims. The Quran says, “And if you judge between people, then judge with justice. "
Fourthly, the hadith must be in accordance with knowledge, because the Quran clearly says that “God knows everything.”
Those who rely only on the Quran and ignore the hadith should know that the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is the main interpreter of the Quran. Some call themselves Hanafi Sunnis but are under the Wahhabi propaganda and do not use either reason or the conditions of time and place.
Please get the book “Hadith of the Week” from Amazon, which is one hundred hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Persian and translated into French, or the book “Maxims of the Prophet” written in English for young people.
