بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الكريم
Imam Abi Hanifa (rahimahullah) was a great jurist and
pious saint of our Umma. Sadly, the majority of those who attribute themselves
to him have deviated in their theology and creed. Several misguided sects like
the Mu’tazila, Karramiyya, Maturidiyya, and in our time, the Deobandis and
Barelawis, ascribe themselves to the Hanafi madhhab. They may be Hanafi in
jurisprudence, but they have greatly opposed the Islamic creed and theology of Imam
Abi Hanifa. Only a small group among the Ahnaf, including yours truly, remain
faithful to the Athari or Salafi creed which was adhered to by Imam Abi Hanifa
and his original students.
The text al-Fiqh
al-Akbar, which is generally ascribed to Imam Abi Hanifa, either his own work
or else faithfully representing his beliefs, summarizes the creed of the Imam.
In it is stated:
وله يد ووجه ونفس كما ذكره الله تعالى في القرآن، فما ذكره الله تعالى في القرآن
من ذكر الوجه، واليد، والنفس فهو له صفات بلا كيف، ولا يقال: إن يده قدرته، أو نعمته،
لأن فيه إبطال الصفة، هو قول أهل القدر والاعتزال، ولكن يده صفة بلا كيف، وغضبه، ورضاه
صفتان من صفاته تعالى بلا كيف
“He (Allah)
has a Hand, Face and Self as Allah Most High has mentioned in the Quran. And
what Allah Most High mentioned in the Quran regard the Face, the Hand, and the
Self, they are His Attributes without modality. And it cannot be said: ‘His
Hand is His Power or His Favor’, for that is negation of the Attribute, and is
the saying of the Qadariyya and the Mu’tazila. Rather, His Hand is an Attribute
without modality, and His Anger and His Happiness are two Attributes from among
His exalted Attributes without modality.” (al-Fiqh al-Akbar #11):
This quote is highly
significant in refuting the Maturidis, Barelawis and Deobandis who claim to be
followers of Imam Abi Hanifa but have apparently adapted a theology that was
diametrically opposed to his own. Many of the Maturidis, Barelawis and
Deobandis make ta’wil of Allah’s Attributes such as His Hand. They interpret ‘Yad’
to mean Allah’s Power or Favor rather than the orthodox creed, which is that
Yad means Hand and is one of Allah’s Essential, Personal Attributes. We believe
in all of Allah’s Attributes, both attributes of essence and attributes of
action, but without explaining their modality or reality. Furthermore, many of
today’s misguided Maturidis, including both Barelawis and Deobandis, do not
affirm the attributes of Anger and Happiness for Allah, instead interpreting,
for example, Happiness to mean Allah’s Mercy. This too is an apparent
opposition to the creed of Imam Abi Hanifa (rahimahullah). Instead, as the Imam
has stated, the Maturidis, Barelawis and Deobandis who either interpret the
meaning of Allah’s Essential Attributes like His Hand to mean something else
like power or favor, are following the way of the deviant Qadariyya and Mu’tazila,
and are not upon the way of Ahl us-Sunnati wal-Jama’a.
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A certain Dr. Abdur Rahim Ashraf Baloch has translated and explained the text of al-Fiqh al-Akbar in Urdu. He has interpolated the translation of the text by writing "jism" (body) as one of the attributes being affirmed by Imam Abi Hanifa (rahimahullah). This is either a grave error or a blatant slander of the Imam by this careless translator, who happens to be a faculty member of the International Islamic University, a government run institution in Islamabad, Pakistan. This is yet another example of the dismal quality of religious scholarship being produced by state institutions.
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