Al-Fiqh al-Akbar: Scholars who authenticated it as a work of Imam Abū Ḥanīfa and the Mu’tazila rejection
The attribution of Al-Fiqh al-Akbar to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nu’mān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī (d. 150 AH) represents one of the most significant theological works in Islamic intellectual history, yet its authorship has been subject to historical controversy that reveals important sectarian dynamics in earlier Islamic scholarship. The overwhelming majority of classical Islamic scholars across different schools of jurisprudence have affirmed the authentic attribution of this foundational text to the Great Imam through reliable chains of transmission [asānīd ṣaḥīḥa]. However, this was challenged primarily by members of the heretical Mu’tazila theological sect, whose objections appear to have been motivated not by scholarly concerns regarding textual authenticity, but rather by doctrinal opposition to the work’s content, as explicitly documented by some classical scholars.
In stark contrast to this isolated sectarian opposition, the authentic attribution of Al-Fiqh al-Akbar to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa was affirmed through authentic chains of transmission [asānīd ṣaḥīḥa] by a remarkable array of distinguished scholars spanning different centuries and geographical regions.
This study presents testimonies from scholars who documented that the rejection of Al-Fiqh al-Akbar’s attribution to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa originated primarily within the heretical Mu’tazila circles, who had certain adherents who nominally affiliated themselves with the Ḥanafī school of jurisprudence [madhhab]. The following compilation includes both the scholarly accounts identifying this sectarian opposition and the testimonies of authorities who authenticated the work’s transmission back to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa through authentic chains of transmission
- Imam Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Kardarī[1] (d. 827 AH) [2] said in his Manāqib al-Imām al-Aʿẓam (1/107-108):
قال الكردري: فإن قلت: ليس لأبي حنيفة كتاب مصنف، قلت: هذا كلام المعتزلة، ودعواهم أنه ليس له في علم الكلام تصنيف، وغرضهم بذلك نفي أن يكون «الفقه الأكبر»، وكتاب «العالم والمتعلم» له؛ لأنه صرح فيه بأكثر قواعد أهل السنة، ودعواهم أنه كان من المعتزلة، وذلك الكتاب لأبي حنيفة البخاري، وهذا غلط صريح، فإني رأيت بخط العلامة مولانا شمس الملة والدين الكردري البراتقيني العماري هذين الكتابين، وكتب فيهما أنهما لأبي حنيفة وقد تواطأ على ذلك جماعة كثيرة من المشايخ، انتهى.
“If you say: Abū Ḥanīfa has no authored book, I say: This is the speech of the Muʿtazila, and their claim that he has no composition in the science of theology, and their purpose in this is to deny that al-Fiqh al-Akbar and the book al-ʿĀlim wa-l-Mutaʿallim belong to him; because he explicitly stated in it most of the principles of the People of the Sunna, and their claim that he was from the Muʿtazila, and that the book belongs to Abū Ḥanīfa al-Bukhārī, and this is a clear error, for I saw in the handwriting of the greatly learned scholar, Mawlana Shams al-Milla wa-l-Dīn al-Kardarī al-Barātqīnī al-ʿImādī (d. 642 AH)[3] these two books, and he wrote in them that they both belong to Abū Ḥanīfa, and a large group of the Shaykhs have agreed upon this, [his words] end.”
- Imam Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī[4] (d. 891 AH) said the following in his Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (pp. 8):[5]
الحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي حَقَّقَ نَفَراً مِنْ عِبَادِهِ لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الأُمُورِ الدِّينِيَّةِ وَخَصَّصَهُم بِاسْتِنْبَاطِ العَقَائِدِ مِنَ الأَدِلَّةِ اليَقِينِيَّةِ وَالصَّلاةُ عَلَى مَنْ أَقَامَ مَتْنَ الإِسْلامِ بِشَرْحِهِ وَفَصْلِهِ وَأَظْهَرَ دِينَ الحَقِّ كُلَّهُ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ الَّذِينَ بِهِم أُقِيمَ شَعَائِرُ الشَّرْعِ بِحِفْظِ العَقَائِدِ وَعَلَى التَّابِعِينَ لَهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ فِي المَصَادِرِ وَالمَوَارِدِ.
“Praise be to Allah who has enabled a group of His servants to gain deep understanding in religious matters and has specially chosen them to derive beliefs from certain proofs, and prayers upon the one who established the foundation of Islam through his explanation and clarification, and manifested the entire true religion, and upon his family and companions through whom the rites of the Shari’a were established by preserving the beliefs, and upon those who followed them with excellence in sources and resources.
وَبَعْدُ فَيَقُولُ العَبْدُ الفَقِيرُ إِلْيَاسُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ السِّينُوبِيُّ عَصَمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى مِنَ الزَّيْغِ وَالتَّغَابِي:
After this, the poor servant Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī – may Allah Almighty protect him from deviation and foolishness – says:
لَمَّا كَانَ كِتَابُ الفِقْهِ الأَكْبَرِ مِمَّا ثَبَتَ بِالإِسْنَادِ الصَّحِيحِ الأَشْهَرِ أَنَّهُ مِنْ إِنْشَاءِ اللهِ الإِمَامِ المُقَدَّمِ وَالهُمَامِ المُكَرَّمِ سِرَاجِ الأُمَّةِ وَمُقْتَدَى الأَئِمَّةِ مَنْ عَظُمَ الوَسِيعَةِ السَّابِقِ فِي تَدْوِينِ عِلْمِ الشَّرِيعَةِ مُحْيِي سُنَّةِ رَسُولِ اللهِ الكَرِيمِ الوَفِيِّ أَبُو حَنِيفَةَ النُّعْمَانُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ الكُوفِيُّ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ وَعَمَّنْ دَخَلَ فِي طَرِيقَتِهِ وَانْتَحَلَ نِحْلَتَهُ وَمَا نُقِلَ عَنْ بَعْضِ سَفَلَةِ المُعْتَزِلَةِ وَجَهَلَةِ المُعْتَزِلَةِ
أَنَّ الإِمَامَ أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ لَيْسَ لَهُ كِتَابٌ فِيمَا يَتَعَلَّقُ بِمَعْرِفَةِ البَارِي وَأَنَّ هَذَا الكِتَابَ لِمُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يُوسُفَ المَعْرُوفِ بِأَبِي حَنِيفَةَ البُخَارِيِّ فَهُوَ غَلَطٌ صَرِيحٌ وَشَطَطٌ فَضِيحٌ.
Since the book al-Fiqh al-Akbar has been established by the most famous authentic [ṣaḥīḥ] chain of transmission that it is from the composition of the foremost Imam and honoured leader, lamp of the community and exemplar of the Imams, one of great bounty, the forerunner in the codification of the science of Islamic law, reviver of the Sunna of the noble and faithful Messenger of Allah, Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī – may Allah be pleased with him and with those who entered into his way and adopted his creed – and what has been transmitted from some of the lowly ones among the Muʿtazila and the ignorant ones among the Muʿtazila that Imam Abū Ḥanīfa has no book regarding knowledge of the Creator, and that this book belongs to Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf known as Abū Ḥanīfa al-Bukhārī, this is a clear error and shameful deviation.
اخْتَلَقُوهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَنَّ هَذَا الكِتَابَ فِيهِ إِبْطَالُ قَوَاعِدِهِم وَإِهْمَالُ عَقَائِدِهِم، وَزَعْمُهُم أَنَّ الإِمَامَ مِنْ جُمْلَتِهِم وَمُنْخَرِطٌ مَعَهُم فِي زُمْرَتِهِم
وَكَفَاكَ شَاهِداً عَلَى ذَلِكَ أَنْ قَالَ العَلاَّمَةُ الفَقِيهُ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الكَرْدَرِيُّ الشَّهِيرُ بِابْنِ البَزَّازِيِّ وَإِنِّي رَأَيْتُ بِخَطِّ العَلاَّمَةِ مَوْلانَا شَمْسِ الأَئِمَّةِ وَالدِّينِ الكَرْدَرِيِّ البَرَازِيقِينِيِّ العِمَادِيِّ أَنَّ هَذَا الكِتَابَ لِلإِمَامِ أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ بَلَّغَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى إِلَى الدَّرَجَاتِ المُنِيفَةِ وَقَدْ شَهِدَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ جَمَاعَةٌ كَثِيرَةٌ مِنَ المَشَايِخِ
They fabricated it [this claim] because this book contains the invalidation of their principles and the dismissal of their beliefs, and their claim that the Imam is among their number and enrolled with them in their group. Sufficient witness to this is what the greatly leaned scholar and jurist Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Kardarī (d. 827 AH) famous as Ibn al-Bazzāzī said, and I have seen in the handwriting of the greatly leaned scholar, Mawlana Shams al-A’imma wa al-Dīn al-Kardarī al-Barāzīqīnī al-ʿImādī that this book belongs to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa – may Allah elevate him to the highest degrees – and many groups of scholars have testified to this.
- Imam Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafā Ṭāsh Kubrī Zādah (d. 968 AH) said the following in his Miftāḥ al-Sa’āda wa Miṣbāḥ al-Siyāda (2/141):
قال المولى أحمد بن مصطفى المعروف بطاش كبرى زاده في مفتاح السعادة جزء 2، ص 141: إن أبا حنيفة رحمه الله تعالى تكلم في علم الكلام مثل كتاب «الفقه الأكبر» و «كتاب العالم والمتعلم» إذ صرح فيهما بأكثر مباحث علم الكلام، وما قيل إنهما ليسا له بل لأبى حنيفة البخاري – فمن اختراعات المعتزلة زعما منهم أن أبا حنيفة رحمه الله على مذهبهم، وقد قال العلامة حافظ الدين البزازى في كتابه في مناقب أبي حنيفة رحمه الله: إنى رأيت بخط العلامة مولانا شمس الدين الكردري البراتقينى العمادى هذين الكتابين، وكتب فيهما أنهما لأبى حنيفة، وقد تواطأ على ذلك جماعة كثيرة من المشايخ؛ مثل فخر الإسلام البزدوي ذكرهما في أصوله، ومثل الشيخ عبد العزيز البخاري ذكرهما في [شرحه لأصول فخر الإسلام].
“Abū Ḥanīfa, may Allah the Exalted have mercy upon him, spoke in the science of theology [kalām] such as in the book al-Fiqh al-Akbar and ‘The Book of the Scholar and the Student’ [Kitāb al-‘Ālim wa-l-Muta’allim], where he explicitly addressed most of the topics of the science of theology [kalām]. What has been said that these two [books] are not his but belong to Abū Ḥanīfa al-Bukhārī – this is an invention of the Mu’tazila based on their claim that Abū Ḥanīfa, may Allah have mercy upon him, was upon their school of thought. The scholar Ḥāfiẓ al-Dīn al-Bazzāzī said in his book on the virtues of Abū Ḥanīfa, may Allah have mercy upon him: ‘I saw in the handwriting of the scholar our master Shams al-Dīn al-Kardarī al-Barātqīnī al-‘Imādī these two books, and he wrote in them that they belong to Abū Ḥanīfa, and a large group of shaykhs have agreed upon this; such as Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī who mentioned them in his Principles [Uṣūl], and such as Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Bukhārī who mentioned them in [his commentary on the Principles of Fakhr al-Islām].'”
- Al-Qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bayāḍī Zādah al-Busnawī (d. 1098 AH) said in his Ishārāt al-Marām min ‘Ibārāt al-Imām (Indications of the Intent from the Expressions of the Imam, pp. 21-23):
جمعتها من نصوص كتبه التي أملاها على أصحابه من الفقه الأكبر، والرسالة، والفقه الأبسط، وكتاب العالم، والوصية، برواية الإمام حماد بن أبي حنيفة، وأبي يوسف الأنصاري، وأبي مطيع الحكم بن عبد الله البلخي، وأبي مقاتل حفص بن سلم السمرقندي.
“I have gathered these from the texts of his books which he dictated to his companions: al-Fiqh al-Akbar, al-Risāla [The Epistle], al-Fiqh al-Absat, Kitāb al-‘Ālim [The Book of the Scholar], and al-Waṣiyya [The Testament], according to the narration of Imam Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfa, Abū Yūsuf al-Anṣārī, Abū Muṭī‘ al-Ḥakam ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Balkhī, and Abū Muqātil Ḥafṣ ibn Salam al-Samarqandī.
وروى عنهم من الأئمة إسماعيل بن حماد، ومحمد بن مقاتل الرازي، ومحمد بن سماعة التميمي، ونصير بن يحيى البلخي، وشداد ابن الحكيم البلخي وغيرهم.
Among the Imams who narrated from them were Ismā’īl ibn Ḥammād, Muḥammad ibn Muqātil al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn Samā’a al-Tamīmī, Nuṣayr ibn Yaḥyā al-Balkhī, Shaddād ibn al-Ḥakīm al-Balkhī, and others.
وذكر الإمام فخر الإسلام علي بن محمد البزدوي في أول أصوله جملة من الفقه الأكبر، وكتاب العالم، والرسالة، وذكر بعض مسائل الكتب المذكورة في شروحه من الكافى لحسام الدين السغناقي، والشامل لقوام الدين الاتقاني، والشافي لجلال الدين الكرلاني، وبيان الأصول لقوام الدين الكاكي، والبرهان للبخارى، والكشف لعلاء الدين البخاري، والتقرير لأكمل الدين البابرتي، وذكر الرسالة بتمامها في أواخر خزانة الأكمل للهمذاني، وذكرها الإمام الناطفى في الأجناس.
Imam Fakhr al-Islām ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Bazdawī mentioned in the beginning of his Principles [Uṣūl] portions from al-Fiqh al-Akbar, Kitāb al-‘Ālim, and al-Risāla, and some issues from the mentioned books were cited in their commentaries: al-Kāfī by Ḥusām al-Dīn al-Sighnāqī, al-Shāmil by Qiwām al-Dīn al-Itqānī, al-Shāfī by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Karlānī[6], Bayān al-Uṣūl by Qiwām al-Dīn al-Kākī, al-Burhān by al-Bukhārī, al-Kashf by ‘Alā‘ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī, and al-Taqrīr by Akmal al-Dīn al-Bābartī. The complete Epistle [al-Risāla] was mentioned at the end of Khizānat al-Akmal by al-Hamadhānī, and it was mentioned by Imam al-Nāṭifī in al-Ajnās.
وذكر كثير من مسائل كتاب العالم في المناقب للإمام العالم العلامة نجم الدين عمر النسفي، والمناقب الخوارزمية والكردرية، والكشف للإمام أبي محمد الحارثي السّبذموني، وبعضها في باب نكاح أهل الكتاب من المحيط البرهانى، وذكر بعض مسائل الفقه الأكبر شيخ الإسلام الشيخ محمد بن إلياس في فتاواه والإمام ابن الهمام في المسايرة.
Many issues from Kitāb al-‘Ālim were mentioned in al-Manāqib by the learned scholar Najm al-Dīn ‘Umar al-Nasafī, al-Manāqib al-Khwārizmiyya wal-Kardariyya, and al-Kashf by Imam Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥārithī al-Sabdhamūnī, and some of them in the chapter on marriage to People of the Book from al-Muḥīṭ al-Burhānī. Some issues from al-Fiqh al-Akbar were mentioned by Shaykh al-Islām Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ilyās in his legal opinions [fatāwā] and Imam Ibn al-Humām in al-Musāyara.
وذكر بعض مسائل الفقه الأبسط الإمام أبو المعين النسفي في التبصرة في فصل التقليد وغيره، ونور الدين البخاري في الكفاية في فصل التنزيه وغيره، وحافظ الدين النسفي في الاعتماد شرح العمدة وكشف المنار، وأبو العباس الناطفى في الأجناس، والقاضي أبو العلاء الصاعدي في كتاب الاعتقاد، وأبو شجاع الناصرى في البرهان الساطع شرح عقائد الطّحاوي، وأبو المحاسن محمود بن السراج القنوى في شرحها أيضا وشرحه الفقيه عطاء بن علي الجوزجاني.
Some issues from al-Fiqh al-Absat were mentioned by Imam Abū al-Mu’īn al-Nasafī in al-Tabṣira in the chapter on following [taqlīd] and others, Nūr al-Dīn al-Bukhārī in al-Kifāya in the chapter on transcendence [tanzīh] and others, Ḥāfiẓ al-Dīn al-Nasafī in al-I’timād Sharḥ al-‘Umda and Kashf al-Manār, Abū al-‘Abbās al-Nāṭifī in al-Ajnās, al-Qāḍī Abū al-‘Alā‘ al-Ṣā‘idī in Kitāb al-I’tiqād, Abū Shujā‘ al-Nāṣirī in al-Burhān al-Sāṭi’ Sharḥ ‘Aqā‘id al-Ṭaḥāwī, Abū al-Maḥāsin Maḥmūd ibn al-Sirāj al-Qunawī in his commentary on it as well, and its commentary by the jurist ‘Aṭā‘ ibn ‘Alī al-Juzjānī.
وذكر الوصية بتمامها الإمام صارم المصري في نظم الجمان، والقاضي تقي الدين المصري في الطبقات السنية، والقاضي أبو الفضل محمد بن الشحنة الحلبي في أوائل شرح الهداية، وذكر بعض مسائلها الإمام ابن الهمام في المسايرة، وشرحها الشيخ أكمل الدين البابرتي فقدّم ذكر جمل من مسائل الكتب الخمسة منقولا عنها في ثلاثين كتابا من كتب الأئمة رحمهم الله تعالى.
The complete Testament [al-Waṣiyya] was mentioned by Imam Ṣārim al-Miṣrī in Naẓm al-Jumān, al-Qāḍī Taqī al-Dīn al-Miṣrī in al-Ṭabaqāt al-Saniyya, and al-Qāḍī Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn al-Shiḥna al-Ḥalabī in the beginning of his commentary on al-Hidāya. Some of its issues were mentioned by Imam Ibn al-Humām in al-Musāyara, and it was commented upon by Shaykh Akmal al-Dīn al-Bābartī. Thus, I have presented portions of the issues from the five books as transmitted from them in thirty books by the Imams, may Allah the Exalted have mercy upon them.
وإنما أنكرها المعتزلة ونسبوها إلى محمد بن يوسف البخاري المعروف بأبى حنيفة لما فيها من إبطال أصولهم الزائفة، وادعائهم كون الإمام منهم كما في المناقب الكردرية، وقد رواها الإمام أبو منصور محمد بن محمد بن محمود الماتريدي الأنصاري عن الإمامين أبي بكر أحمد بن إسحاق الجوزجاني وأبي نصر أحمد بن العياضى عن أبي سليمان موسى الجوزجاني عن الإمامين أبي يوسف ومحمد.
The Mu’tazila denied these [works] and attributed them to Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Bukhārī, known as Abū Ḥanīfa, because they contain the refutation of their false principles and their claim that the Imam was one of them, as mentioned in al-Manāqib al-Kardariyya. Imam Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Māturīdī al-Anṣārī narrated them from the two Imams Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Juzjānī and Abū Naṣr Aḥmad ibn al-‘Iyāḍī, from Abū Sulaymān Mūsā al-Juzjānī, from the two Imams Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad.
- Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Faḍl Muhammad Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī[7] (1145-1205 AH/ 1732-1791 CE) said in his magnum opus known as Itḥāf al-sāda al-muttaqīn(2/13-14):
هذه المسائل التى تلقاها الامامان الاشعرى والماتريدى وهى اصول الائمة رحمهم الله تعالى فالاشعرى بنى كتبه على مسائل من مذهب الامامين مالك والشافعى اخذ ذلك بوسائط فايدها وهذبها والماتريدى كذلك اخذها من نصوص الامام ابى حنيفة وهى فى خمسة كتب الفقه الاكبر والرسالة والفقه الابسط وكتاب العلم والمتعلم والوصية نسبت الى الامام واختلف فى ذلك كثيرا فمنهم من ينكر عزوها الى الامام مطلق وانها ليست من عمله ومنهم من ينسبها الى محمد بن يوسف النجارى المكنى بابى حنيفة وهذا قول المعتزلة لما فيها من ابطال نصوصهم الزائغة وادعائهم كون الامام منهم كما فى المناقب الكردرية وهذا كذب منهم على الامام فانه رضى الله عنه وصاحباه اول من تكلم فى اصول الدين واتقنها بقواطع البراهين على رأس المائة الاولى
“These are the issues that the two Imams al-Ash’arī and al-Māturīdī received, and they are the principles of the Imams—may Allah have mercy upon them. Al-Ash’arī built his books upon issues from the school of the two Imams Mālik and al-Shāfi’ī, taking this through intermediaries, which he supported and refined. Al-Māturīdī likewise took them from the texts of Imam Abū Ḥanīfa, and they are in five books: al-Fiqh al-Akbar, al-Risāla, al-Fiqh al-Absaṭ, Kitāb al-‘Ālim wa’l-Muta’allim, and al-Waṣiyya, attributed to the Imam. There has been much disagreement about this—some deny their attribution to the Imam absolutely and that they are not his work, while others attribute them to Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Najjārī, nicknamed Abū Ḥanīfa. This is the statement of the Mu’tazila because of what they contain in invalidating their deviant texts and their claim that the Imam was among them, as in the Manāqib al-Kardariyya. This is a lie from them about the Imam, for he—may Allah be pleased with him—and his two companions were the first to speak on the fundamentals of religion and master them with decisive proofs at the head of the first century.
Scholars who declared al-Fiqh al-Akbar to have been authentically transmitted back to Imam Abu Hanifa
- The Shāfi’ī scholar known as Imam Abū al-Muẓaffar Ṭāhir ibn Muḥammad al-Isfarāʾīnī (d. 471 AH), stated in al-Tabṣīr fī al-Dīn wa-Tamyīz al-Firqa al-Nājiya ʿan al-Firaq al-Hālikīn (pp. 182–184):
وَأعلم أَن جَمِيع مَا ذَكرْنَاهُ من اعْتِقَاد أهل السّنة وَالْجَمَاعَة فَلَا خلاف فِي شَيْء مِنْهُ بَين الشَّافِعِي وَأبي حنيفَة رحمهمَا الله وَجَمِيع أهل الرَّأْي والْحَدِيث مثل مَالك وَالْأَوْزَاعِيّ وَدَاوُد وَالزهْرِيّ وَاللَّيْث بن سعد وَأحمد بن حَنْبَل وسُفْيَان الثَّوْريّ وسُفْيَان بن عُيَيْنَة وَيحيى بن معِين وَإِسْحَاق بن رَاهْوَيْةِ وَمُحَمّد بن إِسْحَق الْحَنْظَلِي وَمُحَمّد بن أسلم الطوسي وَيحيى بن يحيى وَالْحُسَيْن بن الْفضل البَجلِيّ وَأبي يُوسُف وَمُحَمّد وَزفر وَأبي ثَوْر وَغَيرهم من أَئِمَّة الْحجاز وَالشَّام وَالْعراق وأئمة خُرَاسَان وَمَا وَرَاء النَّهر وَمن تقدمهم من الصَّحَابَة وَالتَّابِعِينَ وَأَتْبَاع التَّابِعين
“Know that all that we have mentioned of the creed of Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jamā’a—there is no disagreement in any of it between al-Shāfi’ī and Abū Ḥanīfa—may Allah have mercy upon them both—and all the people of juridical opinion [ra’y] and hadith, such as Mālik, al-Awzā’ī, Dāwūd, al-Zuhrī, al-Layth ibn Sa’d, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyayna, Yaḥyā ibn Ma’īn, Isḥāq ibn Rāhaway, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ḥanẓalī, Muḥammad ibn Aslam al-Ṭūsī, Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā, al-Ḥussain ibn al-Faḍl al-Bajlī, Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad, Zufar, Abū Thawr, and others from the Imams of the Ḥijāz, Syria, Iraq, and the Imams of Khurāsān and and [the lands] beyond the (Oxus) river[8], and those who preceded them from the Companions, the Successors [tābi’īn], and the followers of the Successors [atbā’ al-tābi’īn].
وَمن أَرَادَ أَن يتَحَقَّق أَن لَا خلاف بَين الْفَرِيقَيْنِ فِي هَذِه الْجُمْلَة فَلْينْظر فِيمَا صنفه أَبُو حنيفَة رحمه الله فِي الْكَلَام وَهُوَ كتاب الْعلم وَفِيه الْحجَج الْقَاهِرَة على أهل الْإِلْحَاد والبدعة وَقد تكلم فِي شرح اعْتِقَاد الْمُتَكَلِّمين وَقرر أحسن طَريقَة فِي الرَّد على الْمُخَالفين وَكتاب الْفِقْه الْأَكْبَر الَّذِي أخبرنَا بِهِ الثِّقَة بطرِيق مُعْتَمد وَإسْنَاد صَحِيح عَن نصير بن يحيى عَن أبي مُطِيع عَن أبي حنيفَة
Whoever wants to verify that there is no disagreement between the two groups in this matter, let him look at what Abū Ḥanīfa—may Allah have mercy upon him—composed in theology [kalām], which is Kitāb al-‘Ilm, and in it are overwhelming proofs against the people of heresy and innovation. He spoke in explaining the creed of the theologians and established the best method in refuting the opponents, and Kitāb al-Fiqh al-Akbar, which the trustworthy one informed us of through a reliable route and authentic (Sahih) chain of transmission from Nusayr ibn Yaḥyā from Abū Muṭī’ from Abū Ḥanīfa.
- Imam ‘Aṭā‘ ibn ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Jūzjānī[9] (d. before 565 AH) said in his introduction to Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar[10]:
قال الشيخ الإمام الأجل الفقيه عطاء بن علي بن محمد الجوزجاني رحمه الله : الحمد لله مستحق الحمد قبل عباده وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وآله.
“The Shaykh, the illustrious Imam, the jurist [faqīh] ‘Aṭā’ ibn ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Jūzjānī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Praise be to Allah who deserves praise before His servants, and may Allah bless our master Muḥammad and his family.
أما بعد، فقد سألتموني أكرمكم الله بالتقوى، أن أشرح لكم الفقه الأكبر الذي ينسب إلى الإمام الأعظم سراج الأمة أبي حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت بن هرمز بن المرزبان الكوفي رضي الله عنه بأسانيد صحيحة. فأجبت إلى ملتمسكم بعون الله وحسن توفيقه وشرحته شرحا مختصرا ولم أتعرض لبيان ما كان منه ظاهرا ليسهل درسه ويعم نفعه ، والله المعين والموفق لذلك.
As for what follows, you have asked me – may Allah honour you with piety [taqwā] – to explain to you al-Fiqh al-Akbar which is attributed to the Greatest Imam [al-Imām al-A’ẓam], the lamp of the community [sirāj al-umma], Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nu’mān ibn Thābit ibn Hurmuz ibn al-Marzbān al-Kūfī, may Allah be pleased with him, through authentic [ṣaḥīḥa] chains of transmission [asānīd]. I have responded to your request with Allah’s help and His good guidance [tawfīq], and I have explained it with a concise explanation. I did not undertake to clarify what was already apparent from it, so that its study might be easy and its benefit general. Allah is the Helper and the One who grants success for that.
- Imam Abū Ibrāhīm Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq al-Khaṭīrī al-Ḥanafī (lived before 761 AH) said in the opening lines of his Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar[11]:
الحمد لله مستحق الحمد قبل عباده وصلى الله على محمد وآله أجمعين أما بعد، فقد سألتموني أكرمكم الله بالتقوى، أن أشرح لكم الفقه الأكبر الذي ينسب إلى أبي حنيفة رضي الله عنه بأسانيد صحيحة. فأجبت إلى ملتمسكم بعون الله وحسن توفيقه المعين والموفق لذلك
“Praise be to Allah, who deserves praise before His servants, and may Allah send prayers upon Muḥammad and his family all of them. As for what follows, you have asked me – may Allah honour you with piety – to explain to you al-Fiqh al-Akbar which is attributed to Abū Ḥanīfa, may Allah be pleased with him, through authentic (sahiha) chains of transmission [asānīd]. I have responded to your request with Allah’s help and His good guidance, the Helper and the One who grants success for that.”
- Imam Abū al-Muntahā al-Maghnīsāwī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1000 AH) said in his Kitāb Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (p. 1):
بسم الله الرّحمن الرّحيم
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
الحمد لله الذي هدانا إلى طريق أهل السنة والجماعة بفضله العظيم، والصلاة والسلام على رسوله وحبيبه محمد الذي كان على خلق عظيم، وعلى آله وأصحابه الداعين إلى صراط مستقيم.
Praise be to Allah who guided us to the path of the People of the Sunna and the Community [Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jamā’a] by His great favour, and prayers and peace be upon His messenger and beloved Muḥammad who was of great character, and upon his family and companions who call to a straight path.
أما بعد! فيقول العبد الضعيف المذنب أبو المنتهى – عصمه الله الكبير الكريم عن الخطايا والمعاصي ومن الاعتقاد الفاسد العقيم: إن كتاب الفقه الأكبر الذي صنفه الإمام الأعظم كتاب صحيح مقبول،:
As for what follows! The weak sinful servant Abū al-Muntahā says – may Allah the Great and Generous protect him from sins and transgressions and from corrupt and barren belief: The book al-Fiqh al-Akbar which the Greatest Imam (al-Imām al-A’ẓam) compiled is an authentic [ṣaḥīḥ] and accepted book.
- Imam Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī[12] (d. 891 AH) said the following in his Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (pp. 8):[13]
الحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي حَقَّقَ نَفَراً مِنْ عِبَادِهِ لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الأُمُورِ الدِّينِيَّةِ وَخَصَّصَهُم بِاسْتِنْبَاطِ العَقَائِدِ مِنَ الأَدِلَّةِ اليَقِينِيَّةِ وَالصَّلاةُ عَلَى مَنْ أَقَامَ مَتْنَ الإِسْلامِ بِشَرْحِهِ وَفَصْلِهِ وَأَظْهَرَ دِينَ الحَقِّ كُلَّهُ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ الَّذِينَ بِهِم أُقِيمَ شَعَائِرُ الشَّرْعِ بِحِفْظِ العَقَائِدِ وَعَلَى التَّابِعِينَ لَهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ فِي المَصَادِرِ وَالمَوَارِدِ.
“Praise be to Allah who has enabled a group of His servants to gain deep understanding in religious matters and has specially chosen them to derive beliefs from certain proofs, and prayers upon the one who established the foundation of Islam through his explanation and clarification, and manifested the entire true religion, and upon his family and companions through whom the rites of the Shari’a were established by preserving the beliefs, and upon those who followed them with excellence in sources and resources.
وَبَعْدُ فَيَقُولُ العَبْدُ الفَقِيرُ إِلْيَاسُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ السِّينُوبِيُّ عَصَمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى مِنَ الزَّيْغِ وَالتَّغَابِي:
After this, the poor servant Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī – may Allah Almighty protect him from deviation and foolishness – says:
لَمَّا كَانَ كِتَابُ الفِقْهِ الأَكْبَرِ مِمَّا ثَبَتَ بِالإِسْنَادِ الصَّحِيحِ الأَشْهَرِ أَنَّهُ مِنْ إِنْشَاءِ اللهِ الإِمَامِ المُقَدَّمِ وَالهُمَامِ المُكَرَّمِ سِرَاجِ الأُمَّةِ وَمُقْتَدَى الأَئِمَّةِ مَنْ عَظُمَ الوَسِيعَةِ السَّابِقِ فِي تَدْوِينِ عِلْمِ الشَّرِيعَةِ مُحْيِي سُنَّةِ رَسُولِ اللهِ الكَرِيمِ الوَفِيِّ أَبُو حَنِيفَةَ النُّعْمَانُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ الكُوفِيُّ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ وَعَمَّنْ دَخَلَ فِي طَرِيقَتِهِ وَانْتَحَلَ نِحْلَتَهُ وَمَا نُقِلَ عَنْ بَعْضِ سَفَلَةِ المُعْتَزِلَةِ وَجَهَلَةِ المُعْتَزِلَةِ
أَنَّ الإِمَامَ أَبَا حَنِيفَةَ لَيْسَ لَهُ كِتَابٌ فِيمَا يَتَعَلَّقُ بِمَعْرِفَةِ البَارِي وَأَنَّ هَذَا الكِتَابَ لِمُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يُوسُفَ المَعْرُوفِ بِأَبِي حَنِيفَةَ البُخَارِيِّ فَهُوَ غَلَطٌ صَرِيحٌ وَشَطَطٌ فَضِيحٌ.
Since the book al-Fiqh al-Akbar has been established by the most famous authentic [ṣaḥīḥ] chain of transmission that it is from the composition of the foremost Imam and honoured leader, lamp of the community and exemplar of the Imams, one of great bounty, the forerunner in the codification of the science of Islamic law, reviver of the Sunna of the noble and faithful Messenger of Allah, Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī – may Allah be pleased with him and with those who entered into his way and adopted his creed – and what has been transmitted from some of the lowly ones among the Muʿtazila and the ignorant ones among the Muʿtazila that Imam Abū Ḥanīfa has no book regarding knowledge of the Creator, and that this book belongs to Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf known as Abū Ḥanīfa al-Bukhārī, this is a clear error and shameful deviation.
- Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Rashīd Nuʿmānī[14] (d. 1999) said in the footnotes to Muqaddima Kitāb al-Taʿlīm of Masʿūd ibn Shayba al-Sindī (pp. 181-182):
قلت : والذي رد عليه شيخنا هو الشيخ وكيل أحمد سكندر بورى فإنه الذي أخرج تلك النسخة وحققها وترجمها وعلق عليها وكتب عليها مقدمة نفيسة بالأردوية ، وما قال شيخنا رحمه الله هو الصحيحإن شاء الله تعالى فإن كلتا النسختين مرويتان بإسناد صحيح عن الإمام ؛
“I say: The one whom our teacher[15] responded to is Shaykh Wakīl Aḥmad Sikandar Pūrī, for he is the one who published that manuscript, verified it, translated it, commented upon it, and wrote a valuable introduction to it in Urdu. What our teacher—may Allah have mercy on him—said is correct, Allah willing, for both manuscripts are transmitted with authentic chains of transmission [isnād ṣaḥīḥ] from the Imam (Abū Ḥanīfa).
- Dr. Sā’id Bakdāsh said the following in his Al-Fiqh al-Akbar fī ‘Ilm al-Tawḥīd wa’l-‘Aqā’id li’l-Imām al-A’ẓam Abī Ḥanīfa (pp. 7-8):
ومن ألطف وأنفع وأروع وأَبْدَعِ ما أَلفَ فيه: كتاب: الفقه الأكبر، للإمام الأعظم، سلطان العلماء، التابعي الشهير: أبي حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت الكوفي ( ت ١٥٠ هـ ) ، بدون شك في صحة نسبته له، كما سيأتي بيان ذلك.
“Among the most gracious, beneficial, magnificent, and innovative works composed on the subject is the book: Al-Fiqh al-Akbar (The Greater Jurisprudence), by the Greatest Imam [al-Imām al-A’ẓam], the Sultan of Scholars, the famous Successor: Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nu’mān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī (d. 150 AH), without doubt regarding the authenticity of its attribution to him, as will be explained.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The given Arabic quote from Imam Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Kardarī is found in his Manāqib al-Imām al-Aʿẓam, Dā’irat al-Ma’ārif al-Niẓāmiyya. Hyderabad Deccan: Editorial Board Press, 1321 AH, (1: 107–8).
[2] Quoted by Imam ʿAlī ibn Sulṭān al-Qārī (d. 1014 AH) in his al-Athmār al-Janiyya fī Asmāʾ al-Ḥanafiyya (1/151-152). It is also mentioned in al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (2/461) by Ibn Abī al-Wafā’ (d. 775 AH). Abū al-Ḥasanāt Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī (d. 1304 AH) said in his Al-Fawā’id al-Bahiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (pp. 187-188):
محمد بن محمد بن شهاب بن يوسف الكردري البريقيني الخوارزمي الشهير بالبززي صاحب الفتاوي المسماة بالوجيز المعروفة بالبزازية كان من إفراد الدهر في الفروع والأصول وحاز قصبات السبق في العلوم أخذ عن أبيه ومهر واشتهر في بلاده وكان في بلدة سراي قريب نهر آثل ثم رحل إلى بلدة قريم بلدة خارج ترخان في ساحل النهر المذكور وقام بها سنين وناظر فيها الأئمة الأعلام ودارس الفقهاء ثم رجع إلى بلاده ثم رحل إلى بلاد الروم وتباحث فيها مع شمس الدين الفنارى وجمع الوجيز قبل دخوله في الروم قال في آخر كتاب الإجارة تم وقد مضي جزء من الليل في أول ربيع الأول سنة ست وثمانمائة وله كتاب في مناقب الإمام الأعظم نافع في الغاية يشتمل على المطالب العالية ومات في أواسط رمضان سنة سبع وعشرين وثمانمائة.(قال الجامع) طالعت الفناري البزازية فوجدته مشتملا على مسائل يحتاج إليها مما يستمد عليها.
“Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Shihāb ibn Yūsuf al-Kardārī al-Barīqīnī al-Khawārizmī known as al-Bazzāzī, author of the legal opinions called al-Wajīz, known as al-Bazzāziyya. He was among the unique individuals of his time in jurisprudential branches and principles, and he gained the lead in the sciences. He learned from his father, became skilled, and became famous in his lands. He was in the city of Sarāy near the Āthil river, then he travelled to the city of Qarīm, a city outside Tarkhān on the shore of the aforementioned river, and he stayed there for years, debating with the leading scholars and studying with the jurists. Then he returned to his lands, then travelled to the lands of Rūm and discussed there with Shams al-Dīn al-Fanārī. He compiled al-Wajīz before entering Rūm. He said at the end of the book of leasing: “It is completed, and part of the night has passed on the first of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year eight hundred and six.” He has a book on the virtues of the Greatest Imam (Abū Ḥanīfa) that is extremely beneficial and contains lofty subjects. He died in the middle of Ramadan in the year eight hundred and twenty-seven (AH). (The compiler said): Al-Fanārī examined al-Bazzāziyya and found it containing issues that are needed from what is derived from it.”
[3] Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī (d. 764 AH) said in his al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt (3/209):
البراتقيني مُحَمَّد بن عبد الستار بن مُحَمَّد الْعِمَادِيّ الكردري البراتقيني بِالْبَاء الْمُوَحدَة وَبعد الرَّاء ألف بعْدهَا تَاء مثناة ثَالِثَة الْحُرُوف وقاف بعْدهَا يَاء آخر الْحُرُوف وَنون وبراتقين قَصَبَة من قصبات كردر من أَعمال ججانية خوارزم الإِمَام الْعَلامَة شمس الدّين أَبُو الْوحدَة كَانَ أستاذ الأيمة على الأطلاق برع فِي الْمَذْهَب وأصوله توفّي سنة اثْنَتَيْنِ وَأَرْبَعين وست ماية
“Al-Barātqīnī: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Sattār ibn Muḥammad al-ʿImādī al-Kardarī al-Barātqīnī – with the bāʾ with a single dot, and after the rāʾ an alif followed by a tāʾ with two dots above as the third letter, and a qāf followed by a yāʾ as the last letter and a nūn. Barātqīn is a township among the townships of Kardar from the districts of Jurjāniyya of Khwārazm. The Imam, the scholar, Shams al-Dīn Abū al-Waḥda. He was the teacher of the Imams absolutely. He excelled in the (Hanafi) madhhab and its principles. He died in the year six hundred and forty-two.”
[4] Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasanāt Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī (d. 1304 AH) said in his Al-Fawā’id al-Bahiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (p. 49):
[إلياس بن إبراهيم] كان فاضلا حديد الطبع شديد الذكاء سريع الكتابة كتب مختصر القدوري في يوم واحد وحواشي شرح الشمسية للسيد في ليلة واحدة خفيف الروح كثير المزاح حصَّل أشتات العلوم وبرز في المعقول والمفهوم صار مدرساً ببروسا في عهد السلطان مراد خان ومات بها ومن تصانيفه شرح الفقه الأكبر في الكلام للإمام الأعظم أبي حنيفة.
“[Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm] was virtuous, sharp-tempered, extremely intelligent, and quick in writing. He wrote the Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī in one day and the marginal notes on the commentary of al-Shamsiyya by al-Sayyid in one night. He was light-spirited and much given to joking. He mastered the scattered sciences and excelled in the rational and the comprehensible. He became a teacher in Bursa during the reign of Sultan Murād Khān and died there. Among his works is a commentary on al-Fiqh al-Akbar on theology by the Greatest Imam Abū Ḥanīfa.
(قال الجامع) ذكر صاحب الكشف عند ذكر شراح الفقه الأكبر واليأس بن إبراهيم السينوبي شرحه شرحاً مفيداً.
(The compiler said) The author of al-Kashf mentioned, when discussing the commentators of al-Fiqh al-Akbar, that Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī commented on it with a beneficial commentary.”
[5] Critical edition by Fatḥī Karīm Qāzānj (Erzurum, 1991). [5] I also consulted the following manuscript copy since one word in the printed edition had an error in its copying from other manuscripts: Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī, Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (d. 891/1486), MS Konya Regional Manuscripts Directorate [Konya Yazma Eserler Bölge Müdürlüğü], Regional Manuscripts Collection, BY0000004946, copied Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 1116 AH, 40 folios, 21 lines, folio 2a.
[6] This seems to be a typographical error in the Arabic originally as Imam Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī has given it as al-Kawlānī. See under his entry later on (no. 42).
[7] He was a major Indian Hadith scholar who later settled in Cairo, Egypt. See the earlier footnote for his biography from Fahras al-Fahāris wa-al-Athbāt by al-Kattānī. One may refer to the following work in English for his background: Reichmuth, Stefan. The World of Murtada al-Zabidi. Cambridge: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2009. See here – https://archive.org/details/worldofmurtadaal0000reic/mode/2up
[8] Meaning the land known as Transoxiana. According to Britannica: Transoxania, (“That Which Lies Beyond the River”), historical region of Turkistan in Central Asia east of the Amu Darya (Oxus River) and west of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes River), roughly corresponding to present-day Uzbekistan and parts of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. A great centre of Muslim civilization during the European Middle Ages, Transoxania was the centre of the Timurid empire in the 15th century, and its cities (e.g., Bukhara and Samarkand) were known worldwide. The region came under Russian occupation in the 19th century. Also spelled: Transoxiana; Arabic: Mā Warāʾ al-Nahr; Key People: Qarakhanid dynasty, Chagatai (see – https://www.britannica.com/place/Transoxania).
[9] There is not much known about him. The manuscript of Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar registered at number 1190 in the Yeni Cami Section of the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul has the following written by the scribe known as ‘Umar Ibn al-Nāṣirī on the end at folio 286a:
نقلته من نسخة صحيحة كتبت بمدينة بغداد سنة خمس وستين وخمسمائة وكانت تلك النسخة ممزوجة بالمتن ثم قابلته بثلث من النسخ وأكثرها غير ممزوجة بالمتن
“I copied it from an authentic [ṣaḥīḥa] copy that was written in the city of Baghdad in the year five hundred and sixty-five, and that copy was mixed with the text. Then I collated it with three manuscripts, most of which were not mixed with the text.”
[10] The Arabic text was published by Züleyha Birinci in the Turkish thesis: “Ata b. Ali el-Cuzcani’ye Göre Ebu Hanife’nin Kelami Görüşleri” (Marmara University, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Kelam), p. 28.
[11] There is a manuscript in the Hacı Salim Ağa collection (no. 587, between folios 162-175) in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi (library) and it is dated 761 AH on the last folio.
There is also a copy in the King Saʿūd University Library. http://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/, Manuscript no. 6452, 28 folios, 13 lines, 18×14 cm. The title page mentioned it was scribed in 912 AH.
[12] Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasanāt Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī (d. 1304 AH) said in his Al-Fawā’id al-Bahiyya fī Tarājim al-Ḥanafiyya (p. 49):
[إلياس بن إبراهيم] كان فاضلا حديد الطبع شديد الذكاء سريع الكتابة كتب مختصر القدوري في يوم واحد وحواشي شرح الشمسية للسيد في ليلة واحدة خفيف الروح كثير المزاح حصَّل أشتات العلوم وبرز في المعقول والمفهوم صار مدرساً ببروسا في عهد السلطان مراد خان ومات بها ومن تصانيفه شرح الفقه الأكبر في الكلام للإمام الأعظم أبي حنيفة.
“[Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm] was virtuous, sharp-tempered, extremely intelligent, and quick in writing. He wrote the Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī in one day and the marginal notes on the commentary of al-Shamsiyya by al-Sayyid in one night. He was light-spirited and much given to joking. He mastered the scattered sciences and excelled in the rational and the comprehensible. He became a teacher in Bursa during the reign of Sultan Murād Khān and died there. Among his works is a commentary on al-Fiqh al-Akbar on theology by the Greatest Imam Abū Ḥanīfa.
(قال الجامع) ذكر صاحب الكشف عند ذكر شراح الفقه الأكبر واليأس بن إبراهيم السينوبي شرحه شرحاً مفيداً.
(The compiler said) The author of al-Kashf mentioned, when discussing the commentators of al-Fiqh al-Akbar, that Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī commented on it with a beneficial commentary.”
[13] Critical edition by Fatḥī Karīm Qāzānj (Erzurum, 1991). [13] I also consulted the following manuscript copy since one word in the printed edition had an error in its copying from other manuscripts: Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī, Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (d. 891/1486), MS Konya Regional Manuscripts Directorate [Konya Yazma Eserler Bölge Müdürlüğü], Regional Manuscripts Collection, BY0000004946, copied Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 1116 AH, 40 folios, 21 lines, folio 2a.
[14] See his background here: https://www.alukah.net/culture/0/78734/%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A/
[15] This seems to be referring to his Shaykh known as Mahmud Hasan Khan (d. 1366 AH) from Tonk in India.
For further information the reader may refer to the following work:
Imām Abū Ḥanīfa’s Autograph Copy of al-Fiqh al-Akbar: The 6th Century Manuscript Discovery and Fifty Attestations of his Authorship
Available here:
Compiled by: Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed
Date: 4th of September 2025/12th of Rabi Al Awwal 1447 AH
Website: www.darultahqiq.com
Telegram: https://t.me/Darul_Tahqiq
One may download the above as a PDF file – HERE
