This research was almost the same, but more elaborate to the one posted on Friday 29 June, 2018 under the title “[url]FOUR IMAMS OF AHAL SUNNA WAL JA’MA A (THE SUNNI MUSLIMS)[https://www.nairaland.com/4589303/four-imams-ahalal-sunna-wal]”

The task of the Fuquha (theologians) is not an easy one. Anyone with merely intellectual knowledge cannot successfully become a faqih (theologian). The Holy Qur’an, the primary source of Islamic theology had laid down the comprehensive principles about the persons who are worth the task. It says:
“This is the Book of Allah: there is no doubt about it. It is guidance to God-fearing (Muttaji) people who believe in the unseen, establish prayer (salat) and spend in our way out of what we have bestowed on them, who believe in the book we have sent down to you and in the books sent down before you, and firmly believe in the hereafter. Such people are on the right from their Lord and as such are truly successful (Qur’an, Surah 2: verses 1-5).

The above Qur’anic verses make it abundantly clear that the guidance from the Holy Book and also the words of the Prophet can only be obtained if one firmly believes in the Book of Allah. That it is the revealed book beyond any shadow of doubt. The Holy Qur’an is not like the common book of philosophy and religion which are based on mere speculation and guesswork. The authors of such books are not free from doubts even while writing their books. But the Book of Allah is based on truth because its author is Allah Himself who possesses complete knowledge about the reality. The real Faqih who desire to understand the Qur’an should be a strong believer (Mumin) in Allah and His Messenger.

Secondly, he should be Muttaqi, a God-fearing righteous man who really discriminates in the right and wrong, good and evil. In other words, one who wants guidance from Divine Message should first be righteous and approach the Qur’an and the Hadith with right mental attitude to understand their deeper meaning.

The third condition laid down in the Qur’an is that the seekers of the truth should have firm believe in the unseen (believer in the Ghayb). Things which cannot be mere comprehended by sensul knowledge and which do not merely come from human experience and naked sense perception. For example, belief in God, angels, revelations, death, hereafter, paradise, hell, etc. can neither be seen, smelled, tested, touched or measured and weighed. The sources of our belief in the unseen are the Revealed books and Prophets of Allah from whom we receive this knowledge on trust just as we are very much used to take many things on trust in our day to day life in the physical world. Religion is a matter of faith, and it is faith in the alone that can help us in deriving proper guidance from the Qur’an and the Hadith.

The fourth condition for receiving proper guidance from the Qur’an and the Sunnah is that one should be able to put the teachings of Islam into practice. He should be willing and ready to do so. These teachings are many but the most important obligatory practice are salat (prayers), Saum (fasting), Zakat (poor rate), Hajj (pilgrimage), etc. the Prophet’s tradition mentioned salat as a distinguishing factor between a believer and an unbeliever and the practical proof and permanent test of the sincerity of one’s faith.

The fifth condition for receiving Divine Guidance is that one should have firm belief in the Divine Revelation since the Qur’an guides only those who believe that Divine Guidance is essential for right living and that it is not revealed to everyone individually but to the Messengers of Allah and it can only be obtained from the Books revealed to them.

The Fuquha (theologians or Jurist) of the early history of Islam were honest and sincere believers in the teachings of Allah and fulfilled the above conditions while searching for proper guidance not only for themselves but for the understanding of a common believer. With Divine Grace, they gained mastery of the Qur’an and the Hadith and made it easy for every Muslim to fashion his everyday affairs according to requirement of the Shariah. One cannot expect the attainments of an ordinary believer to reach an extend that one may be able to give a correct and authentic interpretation to the Qur’an and the Sunnah. There are number of such specialized doctors of religion who applied themselves to the task but the following four leaders (Aimma) and their school of Fiqh are followed by Muslims throughout the world.

1. IMAM ABU HANIFA
Abu Hanifa Numan, the son of Thabit was born at Basra in the year 80 A.H/699 AD. In his early life, he lived in Kufa as a manufacturer and merchant of kind of silk material. From his early childhood he was marked as an intelligent person and was known for his piety. He was a student of Hammad Bin Abi Sulayman (d.120 A.H) who taught theology in Kufa. He also learnt from Ata bin Abi Rabah in Mecca, and a number of other well known scholars at that time. When his teacher Hammad died, Abu Hanifa became the foremost authority on questions of religious law in Kufa. A large number of students were attracted by him from different part of Muslim world who came to learn Faqih from him.

Al-Mansur (136 A.H/754 AD) the Abbasid Caliph invited him to come to Baghdad, the newly founded capital. He offered him the important post of Qadi (Judge) but the Imam refused the offer. As a result, Mansur ordered him to be thrown into prison. He became a victim of persecution so much so that he was flogged in order to make him accept the post of the Qadi when all his efforts failed. At last he died in prison in Baghdad in 150 A.H/767 AD at the age of seventy. He is buried at the same place which is known as Azamiyya a given after the Imam’s epithet “Al Imam al-Azam”

Abu Hanifa was a great theologian whose school of thought of Islamic theology is known as the Hanifite School. He played the role of theoretical systematizer who achieved a great success in technical legal thought. Since he had not accepted any position under the Khalifa, he was free to give legal decisions without any fear or favour. Imam Abu Hanifa legal thought showed a high degree of reasoning. He used his personal judgement (Ra’y) and conclusion by analogy (Qiyas) to the extend customary in the schools of Islamic law of that time. He avoided extremes and relied on scriptural rather than on rational proofs. He is known in the Hanafite world as Imam al Azam, the Great Imam.

His well known works are Al-Alim and Muta’allim (The Teacher and the Pupil) famous Wasiya addressed to his disciple Yusuf bin Khalid al Sumtial Basri. He was one of the most vigorous personalities of Islam which he has profoundly influenced in its historical development. There are approximately 500 million followers of the Hanafi school of Fiqh in the world mostly concentrated in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Indo-China, China and former Soviet Russia.

2. IMAM MALIK BIN ANAS
Imam Malik’s full name was Abu Abdullah Malik bin Anas. He was born at Medina in the year 93 A.H/713 AD. He spent most of his life at Medina. He studied Fiqh with the celebrated Rabi’a bin Farrukh (d. 133 A.H) and large number of other scholars and divines. It is said he studied under about 900 teachers out of whom 300 people were Tabi’un, the successors of the Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Suyuti has given a list of 95 Sheyhkh (the learned scholars) from whom he transmitted traditions.

Within a short period of time, his reputation as an eminent Faqih (theologian) spread far and wide. In 145 AH, he gave a Fatawa (religious decision) that homage paid the Abbasid Caliph AL-Mansur was not binding because it was given under compulsion. He was a fearless man like Abu Hanifa and any religious decision without any fear or favour. Inspite of all this, he was held in such a high esteem by the Caliphs that Al-Mahdi sought his advice when he wanted to make structural alteration in the Ka’aba sanctuary. In 179 A.H, the famous Caliph Haruna al-Rashid visited him on the occasion of his pilgrimage.

Imam Malim died in the year 179 A.H at Medina after a short illness at the age of 85. He was buried in Al-Baqi and his funeral prayer were led by Abdullah bin Zubairu, the governor there.

Imam Malik was a great theologian and his system of jurisprudence and law was based on entirely on the Ahadith (traditions). He was scrupulously careful in given judgement. Whenever he had the least doubt as to the correctness of his decision, he would say “I do not know” Imam Malik’s great work is the Kitab al-muwatta which is the earliest surviving law book. Its object to give a survey of law and justice, ritual and practice of religion of Islam according to Ijima, consensus of opinion of the learned men in religion of that time.

The Maliki school of Islamic law was founded by Imam Malik bin Anas. It prevails over most of Muslim Africa, with the exception of Lower Egypt, the horn of Africa and the East coast.
[center]
“It is the law books of this school with their numerous commentaries which are still studied and taught in Bamako, Jennie, Timbuktu, Bondoukou, Sokoto, Kano, Maiduguri, Katsina, Bida and Ibadan, and a host of others centres of Islamic learning in West Africa.[/center]

There are about 70 million followers of the Maliki school of Fiqh in the world.

3. IMAM AL- SHAFI’I
Imam al-Shafi’i’s full name was Muhammad Ibn Idrissa al- Shafi’i. He was born at Askolan in Palestine in the year 150 A.H/767 AD. He came from the Quraish tribe, the tribe of the Holy Prophet. This is why he is referred to as Imam al-Muttalabi because of his descent from the Prophet’s grandfather Abdul Muttalib.

It is said that al- Shafi’i was endowed with extraordinary talents right from his childhood. His biographers say that his memory was so sharp that at seven years of age, he learnt the whole Qur’an by heart. At the age of ten he had committed to memory the Muwatta of Imam Malik bin Anas, and at fifteen he had obtained the rank of Mufti.

Imam Shafi’i spent the early years of his life at Gaza in Palestine where he acquired his education and then he proceeded to Mecca. Then he went to Baghdad in 195 A.H. where he gave lectures on the science of Hadith and composed his first work entitled al-Usul. From there, al- Shafi’i went to Mecca for the Hajj and from there proceeded to Egypt where he met Imam Malik bin Anas. Al Shafi’i remained for the rest of his life in Egypt where he busied himself in the practice of religion, educating the ignorant and writing his books on the Fiqh. The Imam died in Cairo in the year 240 A.H/854 A.D and was buried there. Later Salahal din founded a college for the preservation of al- Shafi’i’s works and the propagation of his doctrines and theology.

The greatest contribution of Imam al- Shafi’i is that he was the first who reduced the science jurisprudence into a regular system and made a systematic collection of traditions. His illustrious pupil, Imam Ahad bin Hanbal said; :”until the time of al- Shafi’i men did not know how to distinguish between the traditions that were in force and those that were canceled”.

The most famous works of al- Shafi’i l are his usul (i.e. fundamentals) containing all the principles of the civil and canon laws, the Musnad and Sunna both of which are in the traditional law.

The followers of the Shafil school of Islamic theology are approximately 170 million and concentrated mainly in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia.

4. IMAM AHMAD BIN HANBAL
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal was born in the month of Rabi-al-Akhar in the year 164 A.H./780 AD. His father, Muhammad bin Hanbal was serving in the army of Khurasah and died at Baghdad when Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal was only three years old. He studied jurisprudence, Hadith and lexicography at Baghdad and in 179 A.H/795 AD, he devoted himself completely to the study of the Hadith. In this connection he made journeys to Iraq, Hijaz, Yemen and Syria. Two of his teachers were most outstanding: Yazid bin Harun and Yahya bin Said. When Imam al Shafi’i visited Baghdad (in 195 A.H) Ibn Hanbal attended his lectures and got instructions form him on the Hadith. As time passed, his reputation as a great theologian spread far and wide as he was distinguished for his profound knowledge of both civil and spiritual law. He became especially famous for the extent of erudition with respect to the precept of the Prophet. It is said that he could repeat about a million traditions.

It was during his life that the dispute concerning the Qur’an whether it was created or it existed from eternity began and the ruling Caliph Mustasim-Billah of the Abbasid dynasty (218 A.H./833 AD) was of the opinion that it was created. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal opposed this view and as a result, he was imprisoned and severely scourged by the Caliph’s order. Later, the Caliph Mutawakkil, son of Mutasim issued a decree of general toleration leaving everybody to judge for himself. Imam Hanbal was freed from prison and was received by the Caliph in his court with great honour and offered him a generous present of 1,000 pieces of gold which the Imam refused to accept.

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal wrote a famous book named Musnad of Imam Hanbal which contains 30,000 Ahadith (traditions) collected from 750,000 traditions. A lager number of pupils gathered round him to study hadith and Fiqh. Two of his pupils are very famous, Ismail al-Bukhari and Muslim bin Daud.

After attaining the rank of Imam, he retired and led a solitary life for several years and devoted his time in the service of God. He died in 241 AH/855 AD at the age of 75. It is said that his funeral was attended by 800,000 men and 60,000 women. On the day of his death 20,000 Jews and Christians are said to have accepted Islam.

At present, there are about 5,000,000 followers of Hanbali School of Islamic theology founded by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal mainly concentrated in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria.

Baba Ali Mustapha is of Ngrannam Ward, near 7up area, Bolori II, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Reference:
The Sunni Path by Ahmed Cavaet Pasa. Published by Hakikat Kitaberi Publication, Istanbul, Turkey.

The Cardinal Principles of Islam by A. Rahman I. Doi published by Hudahuda Publishing Company, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Ihya Ulum-Iddin by Imam Ghazzali, translated by Maulana Fauzil Karim, published by Hasbunalah Islamic Publishers, Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria.

In Egypt, published at Al Nahar Publishers, 7 Gomhori Street, Abdeen, Cairo.

Haba?