Is Hanafi Fiqh Derived from the Rightly Guided Caliphs?
After you, the Ahl-e-Hadith repeatedly quote the questioners who ask how it was determined that the actions of the Companions (Sahaba) can distinguish between abrogating and abrogated rulings? Then they answer:
“The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ‘After me, there will be many differences.’ You must firmly hold onto my Sunnah and the Sunnah of my Rightly Guided Caliphs. When the Prophet ﷺ himself said to hold onto my Sunnah and the Sunnah of my Caliphs, then obviously no one else can have as much knowledge of abrogating and abrogated rulings as the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Therefore, their actions will be considered the final actions of the Prophet ﷺ for us, and this is the principle adopted by the Imam Sahib. For this reason, we take issues from the Imam Sahib.”
Answer:-
Firstly:-
We have quoted that Imam Abu Hanifa did not derive issues from the Prophetic hadiths or the practices of the noble companions, but rather extracted issues through analogy and inference based on the principles of Ibrahim an-Nakha’i. In the presence of these evidences, your statement that he followed in the footsteps of the Rightly Guided Caliphs seems like the words of a madman. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to prove from a sound chain of narration that Imam Abu Hanifa derived issues from the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. However, it is remembered that you cannot present any substantial evidence, let alone any weak or flimsy one.
Secondly:
By following Imam Abu Hanifa, how can you mention the name of the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs? Their method was always to follow the example of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. Hazrat Maymoon bin Mehran narrates that
(كان أبوبكراذا ورد عليه الخصم نظر في كتاب الله فان وجد فيه ما يقضى بينهم قضى به ، و ان لم يكن فى الكتاب وعلم من رسول الله صلى الله عليہ وسلم في ذلك الأمر سنة قضى به فان اعياه خرج فسأل المسلمين وقال اثاني كذا وكذا فهل علمتم ان رسول الله لك قضى في ذلك بقضاء ؟ فربما اجتمع اليه النفر كلهم يذكر من رسول الله لك فيه قضا فيقول ابوبكر الحمد لله الذي جعل فينا من يحفظ على نبينا فان إعياء ان يجد فيه سنة من رسول الله به جمع رؤوس الناس وخيارهم فاستشار هم فاذا اجتمع رابهم على امرقضى به)
meaning when a case came to Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه, he first sought its solution from the Book of Allah. If the solution was found in the Book of Allah, he would decide accordingly. Otherwise, he would refer to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. If he himself did not have knowledge about it, he would come out and ask the Muslims, “Such and such a case has come to me; if you know what the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم decided about it?” Sometimes a group would gather around him, and they would all mention the decision of the Messenger ﷺ regarding that matter, upon which Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه would say, “Thanks be to Allah who has created among us such people who are the protectors of His religion.” And if knowledge of the Sunnah was not available, he would gather the Companions and decide according to what they agreed upon.
This was also the method of the other Rightly Guided Caliphs, the details of which Imam Ibn Qayyim رحمه الله recorded in “اعلام الموقعین“. Now tell me, is the method of a follower like this? The answer will certainly be negative. Then think carefully and use your intellect and ask your heart whether Imam Abu Hanifa’s method was like this. Certainly not. He used to deduce issues without cause based on the principles of Ibrahim Nakha’i, whereas the Rightly Guided Caliphs considered deliberation on unprecedented issues a sin. Imam Zaid Al-Munqari says that a person came to Ibn Umar رضي الله عنه and asked a question, to which Ibn Umar said, “Do not ask about an issue that has not yet arisen. I heard from my father that
( يلعن من سال عما لم يكن)
he used to curse the questioner who asked about an unprecedented issue.
In short, the method of the Rightly Guided Caliphs was to refer to the Qur’an and Sunnah, and when they could not resolve an issue, they would decide it through mutual consultation. But in Taqlid (imitation), neither is there reference to the Qur’an and Sunnah, nor are the solutions to new issues decided through mutual consultation. At most, the issue is deduced by applying analogies to analogies based on the principles of one’s Imam. What relation does this have to the method of the Caliphs?
Thirdly:-
If any ruling or action of the Rightly Guided Caliphs contradicts the Quran and Sunnah, it will not be accepted; for example, Hazrat Uthman Ghani رضي الله عنه performed the entire prayer in Makkah during the pilgrimage journey.
Since Hazrat Uthman’s action opposes the Sunnah of the Best of Mankind ﷺ and the leaders of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه and Umar Farooq اعظم رضي الله عنه, his ruling and action are not acceptable. This is also the stance of the Hanafis. From this reasoning, it is also established that the actions of the Caliphs are considered Sunnah only if they conform to the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم; no action of the Caliphs deviates from the Sunnah of the Best of Mankind. Another point established from this hadith is that the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs is only that on which they agree, and from this agreed Sunnah, you cannot present a single example where the Hanafis rejected a correct, explicit, connected Marfu‘ hadith because it contradicted the practice of the Four Caliphs.
What Abu Bilal cannot do, even if the entire Deobandi lineage gathers and tries hard, is to provide such an example proving that a Hanafi issue is against hadith because it contradicts the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs with an authentic chain. If they cannot prove this—and certainly they cannot—then brothers! know that Abu Bilal has only used the name of the Rightly Guided Caliphs so that the public blindly trusts the useless, worthless, and sometimes weak fatwas of Hanafi fiqh.
