Imam Abu Hanifa

Grand father of Imam Abu Hanifa was from Kabul. He embraced Islam and migrated to Kufa and with him he brought his son Thabit – father of Imam Abu Hanifa – who was a merchant selling cloths. Abu Hanifa also became merchant selling cloths. Instead of depending on someone else for livelihood he set his foot firm on the ground.

Zuhud and Contentment

More than two hundred thousand dirhams were inherited from his father, but Imam Abu Haneefa kept only for thousand dirhams for himself. There was a narration of Ali bin Abi Talid that “four thousand dirhams are sufficient for someone to live on”. So Imam Abu Hanifa considered it useless to keep more than that. Rest was spent on poor peoples, poor students and on other means. Imam Abu Hanifa's monthly expenditure was two dirhams a month. This shows his asceticism and pity. As he was a cloth seller, he used to wear luxurious cloths and perfumes. He always go out well dressed.

Knowledge

Imam Abu Hanifa had great debating skills. It was reported that Imam Malik said regarding Imam Abu Hanifa: “I saw a man who is able to convince you that a wooden column is made of Gold”. He is very knowledgable both in Quran and Hadith. Imam Abu Hanfia was the best memorizer of Hadith in Kufa. He was taught by four thousand teachers and he used to write down many prophetic sayings.

Most of the people who criticized Imam Abu Hanifa was unaware of his status. Once Abdullah ibn Mubaarak, a great Imam was with Imam al Awza'i in Beirut. Imam al Awza'i called Abdullah ibh Mubaarak by saying “O Abdullah ibn Mubaarak the Khurasani, who is the innovator who appeared in you city of Kufa, who is called Abu Hanifa?” Abdullah ibn Mubaarak said he kept quit and went home and stayed there for three days. During this three days he had been choosing good questions discussed by Imam Abu Hanifa, wote them out using Abu Hanifa's full name – An-Nu'man bin Thabit. He wrote it in a letter, put it up his sleeves and went to mosque. He was the caller of the prayer and Imam of the mosque. Imam al Awza'i was one of the great scholar of Salaf, who used to declare the truth, enjoin good and forbi evil. When some news reached him about Imam Abu Hanifa, it made him dislike him. Al-Awzai asked to see the message Ibn Mubaarak had, and he read some of the paper after establishing the call for prayer. He then offered the prayer and after he returned to read the whole letter, he asked about Nu'man ibn Thabit and praised his was of replying questions and he urged Ibn Mubaarak to follow him as he was good. So Ibn Mubaarak told him it was Abu Hanifa whom he had told him to avoid.

Once Imam Al-Awzai met Imam Abu Hanifa durin the Hajj. They debated about some religious questions, most of which had been in the letter of Abdullah ibn Mubaarak. Imam Abu Hanifa explained many things that were not mentioned in the message. At the end Imam Awza'i was asked about Imam Abu Hanifa, he responded by saying that he like him for the great knowledge and intelligence which he possessed.

Etiquettes towards the teacher: How he followed his teacher Abu Hammad

Sister of Imam Abu Hammad reported that Nu'man bin Thabit (Abu Hanifa) would comb their cotton and buy them whatever they needed. Imam Abu Hanifa played the role of a cotton ginner by ginning and combing their cotton for no penny. To let his Sheikh rest, Imam Abu Hanifa also do his shopping and he continued to serve Imam Abu Hammad and studied under him for about ten years. Although Imam Abu Hanifa joined the study circle late, Imam Hammad liked him very much. He was also made teacher, so that he coud take his place whenever he was absent. Imam Abu Hanifa was appointed by the people of Kufa in the place of Imam Hammad when he died.

Politeness, decency and patience

Imam Abu Hanifa is known for his politeness, decency and patience. Once a man came to Imam Abu Hanifa's lesson in the mosque of Kufa with an opinion of Hassan bin Ali, the grand son of Prophet Muhammed S.A.W. Imam Abu Hanifa ruled out that the opinion is wrong. The man got furious in unacceptable manner and spoken to Imam Abu Hanifa. Even he insulted mother of Abu Hanifa just because he said that Al-Hassan bin Ali's opinion is wrong. Students of Abu Hanifa and his friends were about to beat him, but Abu Hanifa did not allow them to do so. Rather Abu Hanifa clarified that Hassan bin Ali was mistaken and the opinion of Abdullah bin Masood was correct.

God-Consciousness and fearing Allah

One another occasion when Imam Abu Hanifa was giving a lesson in the mosque of Kufa, a man stood up and insulted him by calling him heretic and sanctimonious. Imam Abu Hanifa responded him by saying “May Allah forgive us both, Allah know I am not like what you have said about me, and I have nerver wronged anyone as far as I know through the fear of Allah. I ony see His reward and fear His punishment”. Imam Abu Hanifa burst into tears on remembering punishment of Allah. The man was embarrassed and sought Abu Hanifa's forgiveness, so he forgave him.

Piety

As mentioned above Imam Abu Hanifa is a merchant selling cloths. So when he sent garments in a caravan, he told the man in charge to show the defects in the garments and tell the one who buys about the defects. When the man returned, he asked the if he had shown the defects he had found. The man forgot to show the defect. So Imam Abu Hanifa gave all the thirty thousand dirhams profit which he got from it in charity in order to avoid anything which is doubtful of its lawfulness.

Reference

Al-Shareef, M. M. (1408 A.H.) Great Muslims In History: Imam Abu Hanifa [Online]. Available at http://www.kalamullah.com/great-muslims-series.html. Accessed on 01^st December 2014, 08:37 am

Theological and political impact of the Council of Nicaea on Christianity

Overview

Council of Nicaea was organised on 325 C.E. by the order of Constantine 1 by the recommendation of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba. In the council the Nicaean creed was developed to battle against Arianism, so the nature of Christ (p.b.u.h.) was determined. The day of celebration of Passover (Ester) was also determined. It is said that 1800 bishops including both from east and west were invited for the council, while only about 270 – 318 bishops attended. “1t is significant that no one from the Church of Donatus was asked to attend – although Cacealian, Donatus's chief opponent, was invited.” (Rahim and Thomson, 1995, p96). Debates in the council continued from 20^th May to 19^th June of 325 C.E.

Theological impacts

1. The nature of Christ

One of the main purpose of the Council of Nicaea was to eradicate the unitarian belief which many Christians had at that time in the name of resolving the disagreement which arose within the Church of Alexandria regarding the relationship between the Son and Father. Trinitarians of Pauline Church wanted to impose manifestation of God in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, without any evidence from their scriptures. Large controversy arose between Unitarians like Arians and Trinitarians. Finally homoousian of father and the Son was affirmed the Trinitarian belief was accepted as the fundamental doctrine and termed as the official Christianity. The decision was made by majority vote. Jesus Christ (p.b.u.h.) was declared as the only begotten Son of the Father – begotten, not made. “Of those who signed the Nicene Creed, some believed in it, some pretended to believe in it, even though they did not really know what they were putting their names to, and some, the majority of the delegates at the Council, did not agree with the doctrine of Trinity at all, but nevertheless signed the Creed with silent mental reservation, in order to please the Emperor.” (Rahim and Thomson, 1995, p104). Emperor decided that anyone who refused to believe in Nicaean creed would be exiled and excommunicated.

2. Celebration of Easter

According to Christians the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (p.b.u.h) was at the same time as the Jews passover. However they believed that the time Jews celebrated passover was miscalculated as the month Nisan was before spring equinox. Some of them wanted to compute to determine Nisan to set Easter separately as in recent times Nisan never preceded equinox, while others thought it would be wise to keep the traditional reliance on the Jews calender, even though the computation of Jews were wrong. Independent computation of Nisan on a Sunday in a lunar month chosen according to Christian criteria was affirmed and the controversy was solved. Those who urged to keep according to Jews calender followed the majority

3. Canons of doctrinal orthodoxy

Original number of Gospels at the time of Council of Nicaea was unknown. According to some reports there are at least 270 versions or perhaps as many as 4000 different Gospels were there. According to Rahim and Thomson these Gospels were placed under a table in the Hall of Council and the door was locked. At that night Bishops prayed to find most reliable Gospels on top of the table and in the morning they found Matthew, Mark, Luke and John there. Twenty new Church laws called canons were also promulgated in the Council of Nicaea.

4. Others

Romans considered their Emperor as the representation of sun-god in the earth. So the Pauline Church declared Roman sun day to be the Sabbath of Christians. Birthday of sun-god – 25^th of December – was considered as the birth day of Jesus. Cross – the emblem of sun-god – was also adopted as the symbol of Christianity.

Political Impacts

Soon after the Council of Nicaea Arius, Theonas, and Secundus who strongly opposed the Nicaean creed were exiled to Illyria and excommunicated. The Council of Nicaea increased the differences between the Christians sects. To restore unitary among Christians over a million Unitarians were prosecuted. Obeying the ruling of the Pauline Church was made mandatory. Even though Nicaean Creed was an agreement on profession of belief, the conflicts and controversies among the sects which were there before the Council continued. Perhaps only the Athanasius was loyal to it.

In 328 C.E. after the death of Bishop Alexander, strong fight for post arose between the Arians and Meletians, but Athanasius was declared as a bishop, who was accused of persecution, political intrigue and even magic.

On other hand the Emperor's sister expressed her great regret against prosecution which the Unitarian Christians were facing. She also opposed the banishing of Eusebius of Nicomedia due to his beliefs. So Eusebius was finally allowed back and it was a great blow to the Athanasian. As a result the Emperor lean towards the side of Arius. When he heard the dispute on the election of Athanasius, new Bishop was summoned to the capital. However Athanasius made excuses and did not go to Constantinople.

The First Synod of Tyre was called by Emperor and a letter was sent to Athanasius that if he refuse to come he would be brought to the Synod forcibly. The disapproval of Athanasius was confirmed by the bishops gathering in Jerusalem. Finally Arius was invited to the Constantinople, taken back into the Church and allowed to receive communion. In desperate Athanasius came to the Constantinople and Emperor granted him audience and Eusebius of Nicomedia was also present in it. He accused Athanasius of hindering the supply of corn to the Constantinople from Egypt. As the charge was proven, Athanasius was exiled to Trier in Gaul while Arius was appointed as the Bishop of Constantinople. He died soon after in 336 C.E. Emperor suspected it to be a murder. Athanasius was found to be guilty, and was condemned for poisoning Arius. The Emperor was heartbroken by the death of Arius. He was baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia and died a year later, in 337 C.E.

Reference

1. Got Questions, Got Questions Ministries, ....... , What occurred at the Council of Nicea? [Online], available at http://www.gotquestions.org/council-of-Nicea.html, Accessed on 17^th December 2014, 10:15 am
2. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, last editied by Gabby Merger (2014), First Council of Nicaea [Online], Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea, Accessed on 16th December 2014, 13:05
3. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, last edited by Special Contributions 24.187.148.244 (2014), First Synod of Tyre [Online], Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Synod_of_Tyre, Accessed on 17^th December 2014, 19:55
4. 'Ata'ur-Ramm, M and Thomson, A (1995) Jesus Prophet of Islam (Revised Edition), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd [Online], Available at http://wynnechambers.co.uk, Accessed on 17^th December 2014, 10:32 am