Taqleed and Imam Azam

These Muhaddithin (Hadith experts) are the students of Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa (May Allah Ta’ala be well pleased with him) and the teachers of Imam Bukhari (May Allah Ta’ala shower His mercy on him).  If these teachers of Imam Bukhari (May Allah Ta’ala shower His mercy on him) are not considered, then he will have only 2 Hadith of only 3 links with the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

Once during the lecture of Hadhrat Makki bin Ibrahim (May Allah shower His Mercy on him), he was teaching Hadith from Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa (May Allah shower His mercy on him).  A person got up and said: Teach us the Hadith got from Ibn Juraij instead of the Hadith of Abu Hanifa.  Hadhrat Makki bin Ibrahim got angry and said: We do not teach the fools and the disrespectful.  Leave my class at this very moment!  You do not have permission to write down the Hadith which I have taught.  When that person went away, he resumed teaching the Hadith taught from Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa.

One of Imam A’adham’s students is the great Muhaddith Abdur Razzaq, about whom the world of knowledge knows that he is a master extraordinaire in the sciences of Hadith.  This one student has narrated 2496 Hadith, which are recorded in the books of Hadith- Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Sunan Nasai, Jame Tirmidhi, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan Darmi and Musnad Ahmed bin Hambal.  He praises Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa (May Allah Ta’ala be well pleased with him) and narrates Hadith from him in his Musannaf.  Hadhrat Yahya bin Ma’een, holds such a great place in the sciences of Hadith that Imam Ahmed bin Hambal (May Allah Ta’ala be well pleased with him) used to say: If Yahya has not heard a Hadith, then that Hadith does not exist.  This great Muhaddith used to give the Islamic legal rulings (fatwa) on the Hanafi Madhhab.  Reliable and authentic Fiqh is the Fiqh of Abu Hanifa.  I have seen the Muhaddithin of my age following it.  Of special note is that Yahya bin Ma’in is one of those Muhaddithin to whom Imam Bukhari (May Allah Ta’ala shower His Mercy on him) showed his book, Sahih Bukhari, after completing it.  When Yahya bin Ma’in endorsed it, only then he presented it to the world.  If the followers of Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa (May Allah Ta’ala be well pleased with him) are called misguided and innovators (bid’ati) then the status of Sahih Bukhari, which has been endorsed by the students of Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa will also be affected.  Imam Bukhari (May Allah Ta’ala shower His mercy on him) has also taken Hadith from 21 Hanafi Muhaddithin.

Hadhrat Abdul Azeez bin Maimoon (May Allah shower His mercy on him), whose narrations are recorded in the Sihah Sittah, Muhaddith Abdur Razzaq, Wak‘ee bin Jarrah are his students.  He says that the person who loves Imam A’adham Abu Hanifa is a Sunni and the one who hates him is a Bida’ati (innovator in religion).

That is why for your good we advise you not to fall prey to sectarianism, but to trust the elders of the religion and benefit from their research.  If anyone wants to carve out a new path for himself, then it’s their wish, but they have no right to taunt those who follow the guidelines laid down by the elders.

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