The Scholars who affirmed al-Fiqh al-Akbar was by Imam Abū Ḥanīfa
There are two separate transmissions [riwāya] of the treatise called al-Fiqh al-Akbar. One of these transmissions belongs to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa’s son Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfa, and the other to his student Abū Muṭī’ al-Balkhī. The contents of these two transmissions, both called al-Fiqh al-Akbar, differ from each other. Later, Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfa’s transmission became famous as al-Fiqh al-Akbar, while Abū Muṭī’ al-Balkhī’s transmission became famous as al-Fiqh al-Abṣaṭ.
In response to the minority scholarly position questioning the authentic attribution of both recensions of al-Fiqh al-Akbar to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa, the following list demonstrates that the mainstream and majority academic position throughout the centuries has consistently affirmed the work’s genuine authorship by the Imam. This bibliographic survey encompasses testimonial evidence spanning over a millennium of Islamic scholarship, representing diverse geographical regions and methodological approaches within the tradition.
The substantive quotations and detailed analysis supporting these attributions are available in the comprehensive academic study entitled The Scholarly Attribution of al-Fiqh al-Akbar to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa (approximately 120 pages), which provides extensive documentation of the historical and textual evidence undergirding the scholarly positions on this matter. Readers will be able to read the named work on this very website [www.darultahqiq.com] – bi-idhnillah.
Names and titles:
1. Abū al-Faraj ibn Abī Ya’qūb al-Nadīm (d. 438 AH) in his al-Fihrist (p. 251)
2. Imam ‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī (d. 429 AH) in his Uṣūl al-Dīn (p. 308)
3. Imam Ṣāʿid ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ustawāʾī al-Naysābūrī (d. 432 AH) in his Kitāb al-Iʿtiqād (p. 125)
4. Imam Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Nāṭifī (d. 446 AH) in his al-Ajnās fī furūʿ al-fiqh al-Ḥanafī (1/445)
5. Imam Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Isfarāʾīnī (d. 471 AH) in his al-Tabṣīr fī al-Dīn wa-Tamyīz al-Firqa al-Nājiya ʿan al-Firaq al-Hālikīn (pp. 182–184)
6. Imam Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī (d. 482 AH) in his Uṣūl al-Bazdawī (p. 3)
7. Imam Abū al-Yusr Muhammad al-Bazdawī (d. 493 AH) in his Uṣūl al-Dīn (p. 15)
8. Imam Abū al-Mu’īn al-Nasafī (d. 508 AH) in his Tabṣira al-Adilla fī Uṣūl al-Dīn (p. 27)
9. Imam Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣaffār (d. 534 AH) in his Talkhīṣ al-adilla li-qawāʾid al-Tawḥīd (2/575-576)
10. Imam ‘Aṭā’ al-Jūzjānī (d. before 565 AH) in his Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar (p. 1)
11. Imam Mankūbars al-Nāṣirī (d. 652 AH) in his al-Nūr al-Lāmiʿ wa-l-Burhān al-Sāṭiʿ (folio 95b of a manuscript)
12. Imam ‘Abd al-‘Aẓīm al-Mundhirī (d. 656 AH) in his al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb min al-Hadīth al-Sharīf (p. 13)
13. Imam Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Rāmushī (d. 667 AH) in his Fawāʾid al-Bazdawī (1/126)
14. Imam Masʿūd ibn Shayba al-Sindī (c. 7th century AH) in his al-Taʿlīm (p. 164)
15. Imam Ḥāfiẓ al-Dīn al-Nasafī (d. 710 AH) in his Kashf al-Asrār Sharḥ al-Muṣannif ʿalā al-Manār (1/ 7)
16. Imam Ḥuṣām al-Dīn al-Sighnāqī (d. 714 AH) in his al-Kāfī Sharḥ al-Bazdawī (1/157)
17. Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH) in his Dar’ Ta’āruḍ al-‘Aql wa-l-Naql (6/263), also in his Minhāj al-Sunna al-Nabawiyya fī Naqḍ Kalām al-Shīʿa al-Qadariyya (3/138-139) and in his al-‘Aqida al-Ḥamawiyya al-Kubrā (p. 28)
18. Imam Alāʾ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī (d. 730 AH) in his Kashf al-Asrār ʿan Uṣūl Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī (1/8)
19. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH) in his al-Mushtabih fī al-Rijāl (p. 137)
20. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751 AH) in his Ijtimā’ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmiyya (p. 138)
21. Imām ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Qurashī (d. 775 AH) in his al-Jawāhir al-Muḍiyya fī Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (1/332) and (2/471)
22. Imam Akmal al-Dīn al-Bābartī (d. 786 AH) in his al-Taqrīr (1/97-98)
23. Ṣadr al-Dīn ibn Abī al-ʿIzz (d. 792 AH) in his Sharḥ al-ʿAqida al-Ṭaḥāwiyya (p. 1)
24. Imam Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794 AH) in his Tashnīf al-Masāmi’ bi Jam’ al-Jawāmi’ li Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī (4/844-845) and in his al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh (1/37-38)
25. Imam Muḥammad al-Kardarī (d. 827 AH) in his Manāqib al-Imām al-Aʿẓam (1/107-108)
26. Imam Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Sattār al-Kardarī al-Barātqīnī (d. 642 AH) – as quoted by no. 25.
27. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Dimashqī (d. 842 AH) in his Tawḍīḥ al-Mushtabih (2/207)
28. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH) in his Tabṣīr al-Muntabih bi-Taḥrīr al-Mushtabih (1/298)
29. Imam Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī (d. 855 AH) in his ʿUmdat al-Qārī (1/107)
30. Imam Qāsim ibn Quṭlūbughā (802 – 879 AH) in his Tāj al-Tarājim (1/332) and in his gloss on al-Musāyara (p. 86)
31. Imam Ilyās ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sīnūbī (d. 891 AH) in his Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (pp. 8)
32. Imam Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq al-Khaṭīrī (lived before 761 AH) in his Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar (folio 162 of a manuscript)
33. Imam Isḥāq al-Ḥakīm al-Rūmī (d. 950 AH) in his Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar al-Musammā Mukhtaṣar al-Ḥikma al-Nabawiyya (p. 175)
34. Imam Muḥammad ibn Bahāʾ al-Dīn (d. 956 AH) in his al-Qawl al-Faṣl Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar li’l-Imām al-Aʿẓam (p. 10)
35. Imam Aḥmad Ṭāsh Kubrī Zāda (d. 968 AH) in his Miftāḥ al-Sa’āda wa Miṣbāḥ al-Siyāda (2/141)
36. Imam Abū al-Muntahā al-Maghnīsāwī (d. 1000 AH) in his Kitāb Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (p. 1)
37. Imam ‘Alī al-Qārī (d. 1014 AH) in his Minaḥ al-Rawḍ al-Azhar fī Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (p. 43)
38. Imam Mar’ī al-Karmī al-Ḥanbalī (d. 1033 AH) in his Aqāwīl al-Thiqāt fī Ta’wīl al-Asmā’ wa al-Ṣifāt wa al-Āyāt al-Muḥkamāt wa al-Mutashābihāt (p. 63)
39. Ḥajjī Khalīfa (d. 1067 AH) in his Kashf al-Ẓunūn ‘an Asāmī al-Kutub wa al-Funūn (2/1287)
40. Al-Qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bayāḍī Zādah (d. 1098 AH) in his Ishārāt al-Marām min ‘Ibārāt al-Imām (pp. 21-23) and in his Al-Uṣūl al-Munīfa li’l-Imām Abī Ḥanīfa (p. 1)
41. Imam Abū Saʿīd al-Khādimī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1156 AH) in his Barīqa Maḥmūdiyya fī Sharḥ Ṭarīqa Muḥammadiyya wa Sharīʿa Nabawiyya fī Sīra Aḥmadiyya (3/134)
42. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Faḍl Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (1145-1205 AH) in his Itḥāf al-sāda al-muttaqīn (2/13-14)
43. Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAlī al-Laknawī (d. 1225 AH) in his Fawātiḥ al-Raḥamūt bi-Sharḥ Musallam al-thubūt (3/9)
44. Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Sylhetī (d. 1297 AH) in his al-Durr al-Azhar fī Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar (p. 1)
45. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī (d. 1304 AH) in his al-Raf’ wa al-Takmīl fī al-Jarḥ wa al-Ta’dīl (pp. 376-377)
46. Shaykh Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī (d. 1951) in his introduction to al-‘Ālim wa-l-Muta’allim (pp. 6-7) and in his introduction to Ishārāt al-Marām min ‘Ibārāt al-Imām (pp. 5-7)
47. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rashīd Nuʿmānī (d. 1999) in his footnotes to Muqaddima Kitāb al-Taʿlīm of Masʿūd ibn Shayba al-Sindī (pp. 181-182)
48. Shaykh Wahbī Sulaymān Ghāwjī al-Albānī (d. 2013) in his introduction (p. 8 and p. 22) to Īḍāḥ al-Dalīl fī Qaṭ’ Ḥujaj Ahl al-Ta’ṭīl of Imam Badr al-Dīn ibn Jamā’a (d. 733 AH)
49. Shaykh Ināyatullāh Iblāgh (d. 2019) in the introduction to al-Imām al-A’ẓam Abū Ḥanīfa wa-ārā’uhu fī al-‘Aqida (pp. 3-14), prepared by Muhammad Nur ibn Abd al-Hafiz Suwayd
50. Shaykh Sā’id Bakdāsh 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) and (pp. 15-16)
Compiled by:
Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed
20th of July 2025/ 26 Muharram 1447 AH
Updates on Telegram: https://t.me/Darul_Tahqiq
Shaykh, two more additions:
1) While this list mentions Imam Alāʾ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī (d. 730 AH) and his Kashf al-Asrār ʿan Uṣūl Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī. There was another Imam too by the same name who died in 841 AH. This “other Imam” i.e. Alāʾ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī was the student of Sad al-Din al-Taftazani (d. 792 AH) and is famous for his fatwas against both Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Arabi (the sufi). He has authored other well-known books too however recently his Sharh of Fiqh al Akbar was published in Jordan. The publisher has strictly warned against circulating PDFs of this book. Despite that, one may find PDFs of this book on the internet. I have not obtained this book, however a friend of mine who read it has very high praise for it. One interesting point he mentions is that in this book, it is clear that Imam Ala al Din al Bukhari is inclined towards the Maturidi school, whereas if you were to look at his other books, you would find that while he stays within the overall domain of the Ash’ari and Maturidi schools, its hard to pinpoint his preference for one over the other. (notwithstanding the fact that both are schools of Ahlus Sunnah and it is totally acceptable to choose one over the other or even follow both instead of sticking to just one).
Note: In one of your previous articles where you had listed 80 Hanafi books on creed, you had mentioned this Sharh Fiqh al Akbar of Imam Alāʾ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī (d. 841 AH) and that a copy of it is held in the Khuda Baksh manuscript library (10/486) in India. Well, now we have the published version too Alhamdulillah.
2) Imam Abu Layth al Samarqandi, a notable Hanafi scholar from the fourth century Hijri. Has a commentary on Fiqh al Akbar too. The published version is incorrectly attributed to Imam Abu Mansur al Maturidi however I believe there is a manuscript version with the correct attribution.