Abū Ḥanīfa on Not Saying More than: The Qur’ān is Kalāmullāh

Reports from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah on Not Saying More than: "The Qur’ān is the Kalām of Allāh."

Ḥāfiẓ Abu l-Qāsim ‘Abdullāh ibn Muḥammad Ibn Abi l-‘Awwām al-Sa‘dī (d. 335), the Qāḍī of Egypt, writes in his Faḍā’il Abī Ḥanīfah:


Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād [1] narrated to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ [2] narrated to me, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik [3] say: I heard Abū Yūsuf say:

A man came to the masjid of Kūfah on Friday and circulated the circles [of learning], asking them about the Qur’ān [whether it is created or not], while Abū Ḥanīfah was away in Makkah. The people delved into this, and discussed. By Allāh, I thought him to be nothing besides a devil that had come in the form of man. He ended up at our circle and asked us. Each of us stopped the other from answering this, and we said: “Our shaykh is away and is not here, and we dislike going ahead of him in speaking, unless he initiates it.” So he turned away from us.

Abū Yūsuf said: When Abū Ḥanīfah arrived, we received him at Qādisiyyah, and we greeted him, and he asked us about the family and the city, so we answered him. Then we said to him after we were able: “Abū Ḥanīfah, a matter has occurred, what do you say about it?” It was as though he was in our hearts, and we did not recognise his face [i.e. there was displeasure visible in his face]. He realised it is a matter causing fitnah, and thought we had said something about it. He said: “What is it?” We said: “Such and such,” and we reported to him what the man asked. He became silent for some time and then said to us: “What was your answer to it?” We said: “We did not say anything about it, and we were afraid to say anything you would disapprove.” The [change in his face] left him and his face became bright. He said: “Allāh reward you with goodness, Allāh reward you with goodness. Preserve my bequest: Do not speak about it with a single word ever! And do not ask anyone about it ever. Stop at: ‘It is the Word of Allāh (Exalted and Majestic is He),’ without adding a single word. I don’t think this issue will stop until it will bring the people of Islām into an affair in which they are [unable] to stand or sit. May Allāh protect us and you from the accursed devil.” (Faḍā’il Abī Ḥanīfah, al-Maktaba al-Imdādiyyah, p. 116-7)


Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād narrated to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ narrated to me, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād al-Lu’lu’ī [4] say:

I came to Dāwūd al-Ṭā’ī, I and Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah, and the discussion of a certain thing occurred. Then Dāwūd al-Ṭā’ī said to Ḥammād: “Abū Ismā‘īl, whatever someone may say about it, hoping to be safe from it, one must avoid saying about the Qur’ān anything besides what Allāh (Exalted and Majestic is He) said about it. Indeed I heard your father (Abū Ḥanīfah) say: ‘Allāh has taught us that it is His speech, so whoever adopts what Allāh has taught, he has held on to the firm handle. Is there anything beyond holding onto the firm handle besides falling into destruction?’” Ḥammād then said to Dāwūd: “Allāh reward you with goodness as a brother, for how brilliant is what you have pointed out.”

Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ said: I mentioned this statement to Abū ‘Āṣim al-Nabīl [5] and he expressed approval of it, and said: “Who besides Allāh knows what is beyond this – that it is the Kalām of Allāh (Exalted and Majestic is He)?” Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ said: I mentioned it to Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik, and he said: “He spoke the truth. We were from the inner circle of Abū Yūsuf, and indeed he would say to us: ‘If I were able to distribute amongst you the knowledge that is in my heart, and what is with me, I would have done so.’ He was caring, Allāh have mercy on him, and I did not hear him give dispensation for any of this. He used to forbid this strongly.” (Faḍā’il Abī Ḥanīfah, al-Maktaba al-Imdādiyyah, p. 117-8)


Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ said: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād say, when a man asked him regarding a ruling he quoted from Zufar and Abū Yūsuf: “Would Zufar look into Kalām?” He said: “Subḥānallah! How feebleminded you are! You are saying of our companions and our teachers that they looked into Kalām?! These are the houses of learning and Fiqh. It is only said of one who has no mind that he looks into Kalām. They were more learned of Allāh (Exalted and Majestic is He) and the boundaries of Allāh than to have entered into the Kalām that you mean. I did not find our teachers, Abū Ḥanīfah and those before him, Zufar or Abū Yūsuf, being occupied by anything besides Fiqh and imitating those before them.” The man said: “Bishr al-Marīsī says that his view on the Qur’ān is the view of Abū Ḥanīfah and Zufar and Abū Yūsuf.” He said: “He has misspoken by Allāh! I did not hear a single one of them speaking about this at all, and nor has it reached me from them. Why did you not say to him: ‘You did not keep the company of Abū Ḥanīfah or Zufar, and although you kept the company of Abū Yūsuf, why did he expel you?’ Whose untruthfulness is clearer than this?” (Faḍā’il Abī Ḥanīfah, al-Maktaba al-Imdādiyyah, p. 118)

Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī reported with an authentic chain to the reliable narrator, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Shādhān al-Jawharī (193 – 286):


I heard Abu Sulaymān al-Jūzajānī and Mu‘allā ibn Manṣūr al-Rāzī (150 – 211) [amongst the prominent & reliable students of Imām Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad] say: “Neither Abū Ḥanīfah, nor Abū Yūsuf, nor Zufar, nor Muḥammad, nor any of their companions spoke on the subject of the Qur’ān [i.e. on whether it is created or not].” (Tārīkh Baghdād, 15:518)

Some useful points we learn from these accounts:

- The disciples (aṣḥāb) of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah treated him with great respect

- In their discussions, they would remember the words of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah for guidance

- Within the inner circle of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah were such prominent individuals as Dāwūd al-Ṭā’ī and Abū ‘Āṣim al-Nabīl

- Imām Abū Ḥanīfah did not approve of speaking on unnecessary issues that had the potential of creating misunderstanding and discord

- Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and his close students did not engage in the study of Kalām as a serious endeavour. Their preoccupation was Fiqh and following the earlier imāms. It is reported from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah that he said: “Engaging in Kalām is detested unless a doubt occurs: when it occurs, it must be removed.”

- Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and his close students felt one should say no more than: “The Qur’ān is the Kalām of Allāh.” One should not enter into the unnecessary discussion of whether it is created or not. In fact, we find that Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and Imām Abū Yūsuf strongly discouraged such discussions.

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[1] Abū Bishr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dūlābī (224 - 310) was an imam in ḥadīth, in particular in the field of the biographies and reliability of narrators. He was initially based in ‘Irāq, from where he travelled in search of knowledge. He eventually settled in Egypt around 260 H, where he took from Hārūn ibn Sa‘īd al-Aylī, Bakkār ibn Qutaybah, Yūnus ibn ‘Abd al-A‘lā and others. He had many teachers. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn ‘Adī, al-Ṭabarānī, Ibn Ḥibbān and others narrated from him. Al-Dāraquṭnī said of him: “Nothing but good is evident from his affair.” (Su’ālāt Ḥamza al-Sahmī) Maslamah ibn al-Qāsim said: “He excelled in learning, transmission and knowledge of reports.” (Lisān al-Mīzān, 6:506) Ibn Khallikān said: “He was a scholar of ḥadīth, reports and history.” He also said: “He has beneficial books on history, the births and deaths of the scholars, on which the scholars of this field relied. They report from him in their famous books and compilations. In brief, he was from the outstanding personalities of this field, and of those referred to.” Two of his published works are: al-Kunā wa l-Asmā’ and al-Dhurriyyah al-Ṭāhirah.

[2] Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ al-Thaljī (181 – 266 H) was amongst the most prominent students of al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād al-Lu’lu’ī. He also took from other imāms of the early Ḥanafi school, including Mu‘allā ibn Manṣūr, Ismā‘īl ibn Ḥammād and al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik. He took ḥadīth from Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāḥ, Yaḥyā ibn Ādam, Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Ulayyah, ‘Alī ibn al-Madīnī, al-Wāqidī and others. He authored a number of works, including al-Radd ‘ala l-Mushabbihah, al-Nawādir, Taṣḥīḥ al-Āthār, al-Sunan and al-Manāsik. He died while in prostration in the ‘Aṣr ṣalāh. Ibn Abī ‘Imrān, the shaykh of al-Taḥāwī, Abū Bishr al-Dūlābī, and others were amongst his students. He was described as being pious and devout, having completed the recitation of Qur’ān many times.

Al-Ḥākim (d. 405), the famous imām of ḥadīth, said: “Regarding Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ al-Thaljī, he had many ḥadīths and many works. I saw in the possession of Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Mūṣā al-Qummī, the treasurer of the sultan, from his father, from Muḥammad ibn Shujā‘ the Kitāb al-Manāsik, in approximately sixty large volumes with small writing.” (Ma‘rifatu ‘Ulūm al-Hadīth, p. 597)

Qadi Ṣaymarī (351 – 436) said: “Amongst the disciples of al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād was Muḥammad ibn Shujā al-Thaljī who was foremost in Fiqh, ḥadīth and the recitation of the Qur’ān, along with scrupulousness and worship.” (Akhbār Abī Hanīfah, p. 164)

Ibn al-Nadīm (d. 438) said in al-Fihrist about him: “He gained prominence over his peers from amongst the people of his time. He was a jurist, firm on his position. He is the one that gave way to the Fiqh of Abū Ḥanīfah, and argued for it and made its rationales clear, and he strengthened it with ḥadīth, and adorned it in the hearts.”

Regarding al-Thaljī and al-Wāqidī, al-‘Aynī said: “Had they not been reliable (thiqah) according to Ṭaḥāwī, he would not have narrated from them in a context of presenting proof.” (al-Bināyah, 1:377)

Some accused him of fabrication and holding heretical Jahmi/Mu‘tazili beliefs. These accusations are unfounded. (See: footnotes to Tadrīb al-Rāwī, Dārul Yusr, 3:444-449; al-Imtā‘, 57-69)

[3] Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik (d. 204) was amongst the prominent students of Imām Abū Yūsuf. Qāḍī Ṣaymarī said: “From amongst the disciples of Abū Yūsuf specifically was al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Mālik. He was trustworthy in his transmission, of immense knowledge and with breadth in transmission.” (Akhbār Abī Ḥanīfah, p. 162)

[4] Al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād al-Lu’lu’ī (d. 204) was an imām amongst the foremost students of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, on par with Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad and Zufar, and is regarded as one of the pillars of the Ḥanafī school. He was Qāḍī of Kufah after Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth. A detailed biography of him can be found in al-Imtā‘ of al-Kawtharī.

[5] Abū ‘Āṣim al-Nabīl, al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad (122 – 212 H), was the most senior teacher of Imām al-Bukhārī, through whom he narrated some of his shortest chains. Apart from Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, his narrations are found in all famous ḥadīth collections. Abū Ya‘lā al-Khalīlī described him as “an agreed-upon personality in abstinence, knowledge, religion and precision.” (Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, 9:482) ‘Umar ibn Shabbah (173 – 262), the author of Tārīkh al-Madīnah, said: “Abū ‘Āṣim al-Nabīl narrated to us, and by Allāh, I had not seen the like of him.” He was amongst those who took from Abū Ḥanīfah, and is said to have been a long-time companion of Zufar ibn al-Hudhayl. (Alqāb al-Ṣaḥābah wa l-Tābi‘īn, p 95)