بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Abū ‘Abdullāh Āl-Hamdān mentions: “Al-Nasr ibn Shumayl (d. 204 AH) said: “I entered upon al-Maʾmūn and he said to me: ‘How are you this morning, O Nadr?’ I said: ‘In goodness.’ He said: ‘Do you know what al-Irjāʾ is?’ I said: ‘It is a religion that suits kings — through it they obtain (something of) their worldly life while it diminishes their religion.’ He said to me: ‘You have spoken the truth.'” End [of quote]. (Tārīkh Dimashq, 33/301)
The ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn said: “…al-Irjāʾ is the religion of kings.” (Narrated by al-Lālikāʾī, no. 2818)
The (various deviant sects of) desires were mentioned in the presence of Raqabah ibn Masmalah (d. 219 AH) and he said: “…As for the Murjiʾah: they follow the religion of kings.” (al-Ibānah al-Sughrā, no. 216)
The reason al-Irjāʾ is the ‘religion of kings’ is that the Murjiʾah make light of the abandonment of obligatory duties and grant concessions in commission of forbidden acts, since actions are excluded from īmān in their view.
For [according to them] the believer of complete īmān is one who affirms [the truth] in his heart and utters [it] with his tongue — even if he abandons obligatory duties and commits forbidden acts. They even claimed that his īmān is like the īmān of the nearest angels — and this is something that accords with the desires of the soul.
There is also another matter no less significant than the first reason: the well-known characteristic of the imāms of the Murjiʾah of following (personal) opinion (raʾī) and abandoning the Sunan.
As Imām Mālik said regarding the imām of the people of opinion (i.e. Abū Hanīfah): “He led the people astray in two ways:
1) Through al-Irjāʾ.
2) Through nullification of the Sunan by way of [personal] opinion.
He is in our view the most calamitous person born in Islām; a great multitude have been led astray by him, and they continue in misguidance through what he introduced until the Day of Judgement.” End [of quote].
This is what drove them toward legal stratagems (hiyal) in issuing rulings, in conformity with the desires of worldly people and those of luxury.
Imām Ahmad said: “These legal stratagems that Abū Hanīfah and his companions devised — they turned to the Sunan and contrived to nullify them; they took what they were told was forbidden and contrived [a way] around it until they declared it permissible.” (Ibtāl al-Hiyal by Ibn Battah, p. 62)
Al-Karjī al-Qassāb said in Nukat al-Qurʾān (1/623): “The legal stratagems that are censured and counted against Abū Hanīfah by way of criticism are those by which he declared the forbidden permissible, or the permissible forbidden.” End [of quote].
For this reason Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī said: “The Murjiʾah have left the religion thinner than a Sāburī garment.” (al-Īmān by Ahmad, no. 199)
The Sāburī garment is the thin garment that does not conceal what lies beneath it of the ʿawrah.” (al-Jāmi Fī Kutub al-Īmān 1/179-180)
The Irjā of Abū Hanīfah
… Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās al-Samarqandī narrated: ‘Abdullāh ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us from Abū Hanīfah at al-thagr (frontier/border region). Then a man with the kunyah Abū Khidāsh stood up and said:
“O Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān don’t narrate to us from Abū Hanīfah, for he was a Murji’. ” Ibn al-Mubārak did not reject that from him.
Afterwards, when a hadīth came from Abū Hanīfah and his opinion, Ibn al-Mubārak would strike it out from his books and abandon narrating from him. This was the last of what he read to the people at al-thagr, then he left and passed away.
He said: I was on the ship with him when he returned from al-thagr and he was narrating to us. He came across something from Abū Hanīfah’s hadīth and said to us: “Strike out the hadīth of Abū Hanīfah, for I have abandoned his hadīth and opinion.” He said: Ibn al-Mubārak died on his return from that expedition. (al-Sunnah of Ibn Ahmad 1/213)
al-Muqri’ narrated to us: “Abū Hanīfah narrated to us and he was a Murji’ī,” he would extend his voice high (when saying this)… (Ibn ‘Adī 7/2475)
Al-Muqri’ narrated to us saying: “By Allāh, Abū Hanīfah was a Murji’ī and he called me to Irjā’ but I refused him.“ (al-Sunnah of Ibn Ahmad 1/223)
Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī said: “Abū Hanīfah was a Murjiʾī who would see (permissible) the sword.”
… Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī said: “Abū Hanīfah used to say: ‘The (īmān) faith of Iblīs and the faith (īmān) of Abū Bakr al-Siddīq (رضي الله عنه), are the same – Abū Bakr said: ‘O Lord’ and Iblīs said: ‘O Lord.’” (al-Sunnah of Ibn Ahmad 1/207)
Al-Fazārī who said: Abū Hanīfah said: “The faith of Ādam and the faith of Iblīs are the same. Iblīs said: ‘My Lord, because You have led me astray’ (Qur’ān 15:39) and said: ‘My Lord, then give me respite until the Day that they are resurrected‘ (Qur’ān 15:36) and Ādam said: ‘Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves (Qur’ān 7:23).’” (Ma’rifah wa al-Tārīkh 2/788)
ʿAlī ibn Al-Hasan ibn Shaqīq narrated to us saying: Ibn Al-Mubārak was asked: “Who are the congregation (jamāʿah)?” He said: “Muhammad ibn Thābit, Al-Husayn ibn Wāqid, and Abū Hamzah Al-Sukkarī.”
Abū Zurʿah said: Ahmad ibn Shabūyah told us: “There is nothing of irjāʾ or opinion of Abū Hanīfah among them.“ (Abū Zurʿah Al-Dimishqī in al-Tārīkh 1/208)
‘Abdullāh (ibn Ahmad) said: Abū Mu’ammar narrated to me from Ishāq ibn ‘Īsā al-Tabbā’, he said: I asked Hammād ibn Zayd about Abū Hanīfah, and he said: “That one is known for disputation in Irjā‘.” (al-Sunnah 1/202)
Muhammad ibn Mu’ādh narrated to me, he said: I heard Sa’īd ibn Muslim say: I said to Abū Yūsuf [the Imām and student of Abū Hanīfah]: “Was Abū Hanīfah a Jahmī?” He said: “Yes.” I said: “Was he a Murji’?” He said: “Yes.”… (Ma’rifah wa al-Tārīkh 2/782)
Sufyān narrated to us saying: “The companions of Abū Hanīfah asked Abū Hanīfah to repent two or three times.” Sufyān was severe in his words regarding al-irjā’ and refuting them. (Ilal of Ahmad 3/239)
Abū Zur’ah said: “Abū Hanīfah was a Jahmī, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan was a Jahmī, and Abū Yūsuf was a Jahmī, clearly manifesting al-Jahmiyyah.” (Questiones of al-Bardhā’ī pg. 570)
And Abū Zur’ah said (p. 718): “…And he (i.e. Abū Hanīfah) says: The Qur’ān is created, and he rejects [the narrations] the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) and he ridicules the āthār (narrations), and he calls to innovations (bid’ah) and misguidances. Then he concerns himself with his hadīth – none does this except a foolish ignorant person, or something similar to what he said. And he began to get angry about Ibrāhīm. And he mentioned ahādīth from the narrations of Abū Hanīfah that have no basis…“
Abū Zur’ah said: “So he (i.e. Abū Hanīfah) and Abū Sinān made īmān (to be merely) the pillars of īmān [i.e. beliefs]. And he mentioned ahādīth in which he (Abū Hanīfah) made errors and he criticised them from his narrations. Then he said to me: Whoever says that the Qur’ān is created, then he is a disbeliever (kāfir)…”
Yahyā ibn Ma’īn said: “Abū Hanīfah was a Murji and he called others towards that, and he was nothing in hadīth. As for his companion Abu Yusuf, there is nothing wrong with him in hadīth.” (Al-Sunnah 1/226)
Al-Bukhārī said: “He (Abū Hanīfah) was a Murji, and we remained silent about his opinion and his narrations.” (al-Tārīkh 8/81)
Muhammad ibn Sa’īd narrated to us from his father, he said:
I was with Amīr al-Mu’minīn – Mūsā – in Jurjān, and with us was Abū Yūsuf (the student of Abū Hanīfah). So I asked him about Abū Hanīfah, and he said: “What do you want with him when he died as a Jahmī?” (al-Tārīkh 13/381)
Ibn Hibban said: “Nu’mān ibn Thābit Sahīb al-Ra’ī… hadīth was not his craft… he narrated 130 ahādīth and erred in 120 of them…from another perspective, it is not permissible to use him as evidence because he was a caller to al-Irjāʾ, and the caller to innovations (bid’ah) – it is not permissible to use him as evidence according to all our scholars – I do not know of any disagreement among them regarding it. Moreover, the leaders (aʾimmah) of the Muslims and the people of piety (ahl al-waraʿ) in the religion in all the regions and all the lands criticized him and openly impugned him…” (al-Majrūhīn 3/61)
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