, or Aboanifa, surnamed Alfqqman, was the son of Thabet, and born at Cousa, in the year
, or Aboanifa, surnamed Alfqqman, was
the son of Thabet, and born at Cousa, in
the year of the Hegira 80, and of the vulgar sera 700. He
is the most famous of all the doctors of the orthodox musSuimans, concerning the matters of their law; for he held
the first place among the four chiefs of particular sects,
who may be followed implicitly in their decisions on points
of right. He was not, however, in high estimation during
his life, as the calif Almanzor had him put into prison
at Bagdat, for refusing to subscribe to the opinion of absolute and determinate predestination, which the mussulmans
term cad ha: but Abu-Joseph, sovereign Judge, and a sort
of chancellor of the empire under the calif Hadi, brought
his doctrine into such reputation, that, in order to be a
good mussulman, it was necessary to be a Hanifite. Nevertheless he died in the prison of Bagdat; and it was not
till 335 years after his death that Melikshah, sultan of the
race of the Seljuk dynasty, caused to be built for him in
the same city a noble mausoleum, to which he added a
college particularly for those who made profession of his
sect. This was in the year 485 of the Hegira, of the
vulgar sera 1092. Several of the most illustrious authors
among the Mohammedans have written, in a style of commendation, the life of this doctor; Zamakhsehari, Korderi,
Marghinani, Deinouri, Sobahazmouni, are of that number r
and some of them have even found his name in the Old
Testament, and assert that he was foretold in the sacred
writings, as well as their prophet. All the historians agree
that he excelled not only in the knowledge, but also in the
practice of the mussuhnau law: for he led a life of great
austerity, entirely detached from the manners of the world;
which has caused him to be considered as the first chief
and iman of the law by all the orthodox, and he is only
rejected by the Shiites, or followers of Ali. The author of
Rabialabrar relates the opinion of this doctor concerning
the authority of tradition in these terms: “As to what
regards the things we have received from God and from
his prophet, we respect them with perfect submission: as
to what is come down to us from the companions or contemporaries of the prophet, we select the best of it; but
as to what the other doctors who succeeded them have left
us, we look upon it as coming from persons who were men
like us.
” Houssain-Vaez, expounding that verse of the
chapter of Amram, where God says he has prepared Paradise for those who restrain their anger, and pardon such as
have trespassed against them, relates a fact of Abou-Hanifah that deserves to be noted. That doctor, having
received a blow on the face, said to him who had the audacity to strike him “I might return you injury for injury;
hut I will not do it. 1 might carry my complaint to the
calif; but 1 will not complain. I might at least lay before
God in my prayers the outrage you have done me; but I
will not. Lastly, I might, at the day of judgment, require
God to avenge it; but, far from doing so, if that terrible
day were to arrive this moment, and my intercession might
avail, I would not enter into Paradise, except in your
company.
”