Was Imam Abu Hanifah Persian? A Research and Hadith-based Review
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah (Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 401
Was Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمه الله) Persian?
Some Hanafis present a Hadith as proof of his Persian origin. Clarification is required regarding this.
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
❀ The narration mentioning that a man from among the people of Persia will attain the heights of religion and knowledge (Thurayya) and still acquire it is absolutely authentic.
❀ This narration is recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Hadith no. 4897) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Hadith no. 2546).
❀ However, it is not conclusively established that Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمه الله) was Persian.
❀ The narration stating that Imam Abu Hanifah was Persian has a chain that is mawḍūʿ (fabricated).
❀ This narration includes Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh (or ʿAbd Allāh) ibn Shādhān, and his father is also unknown.
❀ Shādhān’s full name was Naḍr ibn Salamah, and he was not reliable.
❀ He used to steal aḥādīth and narrate them.
❀ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm declared him a liar.
❀ The last narrator of this chain, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād, is also a weak narrator.
❀ There is no credible authentication of this narrator.
❀ Contrary to this fabricated narration, it is authentically established from ʿUmar ibn Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah that Imam Abu Hanifah’s grandfather Zūṭī was a resident of Kabul.
❀ Imam Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn al-Kūfī (d. 218H) said:
أبو حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت بن زوطی، أصله من كابل
(Translation: Abu Hanifah al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭī — his origin is from Kabul)
❀ Persia belongs to the fourth climate.
❀ Kabul belongs to the third climate.
❀ To label Kabul as “Persian” is the work of those who seek to distort the truth.
❀ The meaning of the authentic Hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim may refer either to Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (رضي الله عنه) or another great muḥaddith from among the Persians — not necessarily to Imam Abu Hanifah’s being Persian.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah (Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 401
Question
Was Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمه الله) Persian?
Some Hanafis present a Hadith as proof of his Persian origin. Clarification is required regarding this.
Answer
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
Authenticity of the Hadith on Ahl al-Fāris
❀ The narration mentioning that a man from among the people of Persia will attain the heights of religion and knowledge (Thurayya) and still acquire it is absolutely authentic.
❀ This narration is recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Hadith no. 4897) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Hadith no. 2546).
Research on Imam Abu Hanifah’s Persian Origin
❀ However, it is not conclusively established that Imam Abu Hanifah (رحمه الله) was Persian.
❀ The narration stating that Imam Abu Hanifah was Persian has a chain that is mawḍūʿ (fabricated).
Details of the Chain
❀ This narration includes Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh (or ʿAbd Allāh) ibn Shādhān, and his father is also unknown.
❀ Shādhān’s full name was Naḍr ibn Salamah, and he was not reliable.
- Al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl, Vol. 8, p. 480
❀ He used to steal aḥādīth and narrate them.
❀ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm declared him a liar.
- Al-Majrūḥīn by Ibn Ḥibbān, Vol. 3, p. 80
❀ The last narrator of this chain, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād, is also a weak narrator.
- Al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī, Vol. 1, p. 308
❀ There is no credible authentication of this narrator.
Lineage of Imam Abu Hanifah According to Authentic Narrations
❀ Contrary to this fabricated narration, it is authentically established from ʿUmar ibn Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah that Imam Abu Hanifah’s grandfather Zūṭī was a resident of Kabul.
- Tārīkh Baghdād, Vol. 13, p. 324
- Chain is authentic up to ʿUmar ibn Ḥammād
- Akhbār Abī Ḥanīfah wa Aṣḥābih by al-Ṣaymarī, p. 1
❀ Imam Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn al-Kūfī (d. 218H) said:
أبو حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت بن زوطی، أصله من كابل
(Translation: Abu Hanifah al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭī — his origin is from Kabul)
- Tārīkh Baghdād, Vol. 13, pp. 324–325
- Chain is authentic
Geographical Clarification
❀ Persia belongs to the fourth climate.
- Muʿjam al-Buldān, Vol. 4, p. 226
❀ Kabul belongs to the third climate.
- Muʿjam al-Buldān, Vol. 3, p. 426
Historical Reality
❀ To label Kabul as “Persian” is the work of those who seek to distort the truth.
❀ The meaning of the authentic Hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim may refer either to Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (رضي الله عنه) or another great muḥaddith from among the Persians — not necessarily to Imam Abu Hanifah’s being Persian.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
