Fawāids |Qur'ān | Authentic Sunnah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

1) … A man said to Ibn al-Mubārak while we were with him: “Indeed Abū Hanīfah was a Murji’ who saw (using) the sword [i.e. deemed it permissible to rebel against the Muslim ruler],” and Ibn al-Mubārak did not reject that from him.” (al-Sunnah 1/214. Sahīh – authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and al-Riyāshī)

2) Salamah ibn Sulaymān narrated: Hamzah al-Bazzār entered upon Ibn al-Mubārak and said: “O Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān I have heard of Abū Hanīfah’s insight in hadīth and his devotion in worship until I don’t know who could match him (in this).” Ibn al-Mubārak replied: “As for what you said about insight in hadīth, he wasn’t worthy of that. I used to come to him secretly from Sufyān and my companions would blame me for going to him, saying: ‘He obtained the books of Muhammad ibn Ja’far and narrated them.’

And as for what you said about his devotion in worship, he wasn’t worthy of that either. He would begin the morning active with the masāil (questions/issues) and that would be his preoccupation until he might miss his midday rest, then reach the evening still active. But the one devoted to worship and staying up (for the night prayer) awakens in the morning with a lull upon him.“ (al-Sunnah 1/286. Sahīh – Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and al-Riyāshī)

3)  ʿAlī ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqīq — said: “I returned from the Hajj and reached Ibn al-Mubārak in Irāq, and I asked him. I said: ‘O Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān — I have some funds left over from my Hajj expenses; do you think I should spend it copying out the legal opinion (raʾī) of Abū Hanīfah?’ He said: ‘No.’ I said: ‘Why not?’ He said: ‘Because it is the work of a man who is not [suited to] that.’” (al-Sunnah 1/287. Sahīh – Authenticated by al-Riyāshī)

4a) 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 1/287. Sahīh, authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and al-Riyāshī)

4b) Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās said: “I accompanied Ibn al-Mubārak on the ship and he said: ‘Strike out the hadīth of Abū Hanīfah.’ This was about ten-some days before Ibn al-Mubārak’s death.” (al-Sunnah 1/289. Sahīh, authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and al-Riyāshī)

4c) Al-Hasan ibn Al-Rabī’: “Ibn Al-Mubārak struck out (erased) the hadīths of Abū Hanīfah a few days before his death.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/573. Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil)

4d) Zakariyyā (ibn Sahl al-Marwazī) said: al-Husayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Naysābūrī informed us, he said: “I bear witness regarding ʿAbd Allāh” — meaning Ibn al-Mubārak — “a testimony that Allāh will question me about — that he said to me: ‘O Husayn, I have abandoned everything I narrated from Abū Hanīfah; so I seek Allāh’s forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance.’” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/556)

4e) Al-Humaydī narrated to us, saying: I heard Ibn Al-Mubārak say: “I prayed behind Abū Hanīfah, and I had some reservations in my soul regarding that prayer.” He also said: “I wrote down four hundred hadīths from Abū Hanīfah, but when I return to Irāq, if Allāh wills, I will erase them.” (Al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/573 – Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil)

5a) Abū al-Wazīr Muhammad ibn Aʿyan – the executor of Ibn al-Mubārak’s estate – said: “A man from among the companions of ʿAbd al-Karīm came in to see Ibn al-Mubārak, in a house set apart specifically for the scholars of hadīth, and said: ‘O Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān — [what about] such-and-such an issue?’

So Ibn al-Mubārak related, on that matter, hadīths from the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions. The man said: ‘O Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān — Abū Hanīfah held the opposite of this.’ Ibn al-Mubārak grew angry, and said: ‘I narrate to you from the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions, and you bring me [the opinion of] a man who used to hold that the sword should be raised against the community (ummah) of Muhammad (ﷺ)?’” (al-Sunnah 1/288. Sahīh – Authenticated by al-Riyāshī)

5b) Salamah ibn Sulaymān, from Ibn al-Mubārak: that a man asked him about a certain matter, and he related to him, on it, a hadīth from the Prophet (ﷺ). The man said: “Abū Hanīfah said the opposite of this.”

Ibn al-Mubārak grew severely angry, and said: “I narrate to you from the Messenger (ﷺ), and you bring me the opinion (raʾī) of a man who rejects the hadīth?! I will not narrate a single hadīth to you all today” — and he got up [and left].” (al-Sunnah 1/313. Sahīh, authenticated by al-Riyāshī)

6)  Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh said: I heard Muʿādh ibn Khālid ibn Shaqīq say to ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak: “Which of the two will emerge sooner: the Dajjāl, or the Beast?” ʿAbd Allāh said: “The appointment of so-and-so the Jahmite as judge over Bukhārā is more severe upon the Muslims than the emergence of the Beast — or the Dajjāl.” (al-Sunnah 1/290. Hasan – authenticated by al-Riyāshī)

7) Sufyān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak say, regarding a legal position of Abū Hanīfah: “Highway robbery/blocking the road is, at times, better than this.” (al-Sunnah 1/291. Hasan – authenticated by al-Riyāshī)

8) Ibn al-Mubārak said: “There was no gathering on earth more beloved to me than the gathering of Sufyān al-Thawrī. If you wished to see him praying, you would see him thus. If you wished to see him in remembrance of Allāh, Mighty and Majestic, you would see him thus. And if you wished to see him discussing intricate matters of jurisprudence, you would see him thus.

As for a gathering where I never witnessed salutations being sent upon the Prophet (ﷺ) at all…” Then he fell silent and didn’t mention it. He said (i.e. the narrator): “meaning the gathering of Abū Hanīfah.” (al-Sunnah 1/289. Sahīh – Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and al-Riyāshī)

9a) Alī ibn Ishāq told us, saying: I heard Ibn al-Mubārak saying: “Abū Hanīfah was an orphan (yatīm) in religion.” (Ibn ‘Adī 7/2474 and al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/574. Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil and Dr. Bashhār)

9b) Abdān ibn ‘Uthmān informed us, saying: I heard Ibn al-Mubārak saying: “Abū Hanīfah was a pauper (miskīn)/ orphan (yatīm) in hadīth.” in a variant : “he was afflicted in hadīth”. (al-Khatīb 15/574 and others – Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil)

10a) Abū Tawbah al-Rabīʿ ibn Nāfiʿ narrated to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us, he said: “Whoever studies the book of al-Hiyal [Legal Stratagems] by Abū Hanīfah makes lawful what Allāh has forbidden, and forbidden what Allāh has made lawful.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/555. Authenticated by Sh. Muqbil)

10b) Abū Ishāq al-Tālaqānī narrated to us, he said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak say: “Whoever possesses the book of Hiyal [Legal Stratagems] of Abū Hanīfah, using it or issuing legal rulings by it, his Hajj is rendered void, and his wife is separated from him [by divorce].”

The client (mawlā) of Ibn al-Mubārak said: “O Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān — I don’t think anyone but a devil could have composed the book of Hiyal.” Ibn al-Mubārak said: “The one who composed the book of Hiyal is worse than a devil.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/556)

11) ʿAlī ibn Jarīr narrated: I was in al-Kūfah, then I came to al-Basrah where Ibn al-Mubārak was. He said to me: How did you leave the people? I said: I left behind in al-Kūfah a people who claim that Abū Hanīfah is more knowledgeable than the Messenger of Allāh. He said: (That is) disbelief (kufr). I said: They have taken you as a leader (who is followed) in (this) disbelief. He said: So he wept until his beard became wet — meaning that (Abū Hanīfah) had narrated from him.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/572 – Isnād declared Hasan by Dr. Bashhār)

12) ʿAlī ibn Jarīr al-Abyūwardī narrated: I came to Ibn al-Mubārak and a man said to him: Indeed two men disputed in our presence over a matter — one of them said: Abū Hanīfah said (such and such), and the other said: The Messenger of Allāh said (such and such) — and (one of them) said: Abū Hanīfah was more knowledgeable in (matters of) legal judgment. Ibn al-Mubārak said: Repeat that to me. So he repeated it to him, and he said: Disbelief, disbelief (kufr kufr). I said: Through you they have disbelieved, and through you they have taken disbelief as a leader. He said: And why (is that)? I said: Through your narrating from Abū Hanīfah. He said: I seek Allāh’s forgiveness for my narrations from Abū Hanīfah.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/572 – Isnād declared Hasan by Dr. Bashhār)

13)…Ibn al-Mubārak used to say: “A single hadīth from the hadīth of al-Zuhrī is dearer to me than all the speech of Abū Hanīfah.” (al-Tārīkh of al-Khatīb 15/574 – Isnād declared Sahīh by Dr. Bashhār)