40 Great Students of Imam Abu Hanifah

Imam Abu Hanifah had thousands of students. Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhummad and Ibn Mubarak were the most famous students of Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifah had a council of 40 students who lived and studied in his academy. He has reportedly spoken on 83,000 juristic issues.

Whenever an issue came to the attention of Imam Abu Hanifah’s council they used to discuss the matter for months and reach a conclusion based on the consensus. The council used to resolve the problems of the community, they were unlike some of the scholars today who are harsh and send people away.

They used to “speculate” and “assume” issues and then passed Fatwa’s on them. The Fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifah is compatible and applicable to modern times.

28 of Imam Abu Hanifah’s students became judges in different towns, cities and provinces and 8 became Imams, capable of passing legal rulings according to the Qur’an and Sunnah.

The 40 Students of Imam Abu Hanifah and the Ulama of the founding Hanafi School:

1. Imam Zufar (Passed away 158 A.H.)
2. Imam Malik bin Mighwal (Passed away 159 A.H.)
3. Imam Dawood Taa’ee (Passed away 160 A.H.)
4. Imam Mandil bin Ali (Passed away 168 A.H.)
5. Imam Nadhar bin Abdul Kareem (Passed away 169 A.H.)
6. Imam Amr bin Maymoon (Passed away 171 A.H.)
7. Imam Hiban bin Ali (Passed away 173 A.H.)
8. Imam Abu Ismah (Passed away 173 A.H.)
9. Imam Zuhayr bin Mu’aawiyah (Passed away 173 A.H.)
10. Imam Qaasim bin Ma’n (Passed away 175 A.H.)
11. Imam Hammad bin Abi Hanifah (Passed away 176 A.H.)
12. Imam Hayyaaj bin Bistaam (Passed away 177 A.H.)
13. Imam Shareek bin Abdullah (Passed away 178 A.H.)
14. Imam Aafiyah bin Yazeed (Passed away 180 A.H.)
15. Imam Abdullah ibn Mubarak (Passed away 181 A.H.)
16. Imam Abu Yusuf (Passed way 182 A.H.)
17. Imam Muhammad bin Nuh (Passed away 182 A.H.)
18. Imam Hushaym bin Basheer Sulami (Passed away 183 A.H.)
19. Imam Abu Sa’eed Yahya bin Zakariyyah (Passed away 184 A.H.)
20. Imam Fudhayl bin Iyaadh (Passed away 187 A.H.)
21. Imam Asad bin Amr (Passed away 188 A.H.)
22. Imam Muhammad bin Hasan as Shaybani (Passed away 189 A.H.)
23. Imam Ali bin Mis’ar (Passed away 189 A.H.)
24. Imam Yusuf bin Khalid (Passed away 189 A.H.)
25. Imam Abdullah bin Idrees (Passed away 192 A.H.)
26. Imam Fadhl bin Moosa (Passed away 192 A.H.)
27. Imam Ali bin Tibyaan (Passed away 192 A.H.)
28. Imam Hafs bin Ghiyaath (Passed away 194 A.H.)
29. Imam Wakee bin Jarrah (Passed away 197 A.H.)
30. Imam Hisham bin Yusuf (Passed away 197 A.H.)
31. Imam Yahya bin Sa’eed al Qattan (Passed away 198 A.H.)
32. Imam Shu’ayb bin Ishaq (Passed away 198 A.H.)
33. Imam Abu Mutee Balkhi (Passed away 199 A.H.)
34. Imam Abu Hafs bin Abdur Rahmaan (Passed away 199 A.H.)
35. Imam Khalid bin Sulayman (Passed away 199 A.H.)
36. Imam Abdul Hameed (Passed away 203 A.H.)
37. Imam Hasan bin Ziyaad (Passed away 204 A.H.)
38. Imam Abu Aasim Nabeel (Passed away 212 A.H.)
39. Imam Makki bin Ibraheem (Passed away 215 A.H.)
40. Imam Hammad bin Daleel (Passed away 215 A.H.)

The pillars of this committe were Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Zufar, Imam Dawood Taa’ee, Imam Yusuf bin Khaalid, Imam Yahya bin Zakariyyah, Imam Muhammed, Imam Abdullah ibn Mubarak and Imam Abu Hanifah himself.

With regard to this committee, Imam Wakee who was the teacher of Imam Shafi’i said:

“How could there have remained any errors in this work of Imam Abu Hanifah when he had with him experts of Hadith, experts of Tafseer, experts of Fiqh, experts in Arabic….A person who has such people as companions cannot be wrong because there would always be someone to correct him if he erred”

May Allah have mercy on them all

By Mufti Afzal Hossen