as-salam alaykum, Here is my amateur audio recording of the following event: ---- The Legacy of Al-'Azam Imam Abu Haneefah A sign from amongst ths Signs of ALLAH Ta'ala. Shaykh Ahmad Ali Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq Shaykh Zaheer Mufti AbdurRahman ibn Yusuf Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam Saturday 30th Jan 2010. Time: 5:00pm The Rex Centre 430 Coventry Road Small Heath Birmingham Shareef B10 0UG Bro entrance: Coventry Road Ladies entrace: Watts Road. ---- All files have been encoded as mp3 with single channel, 40 kbps, dynamic range normalization and a 4kHz lowpass filter applied. Jazakallah for listening and please pass these files onto whoever may be interested. wa salam, Abdurahman Al-Hollandi http://ejtaal.net/ I've just shamelessly copy & pasted some notes about these lectures from this website: http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?243910-The-Legacy-of-Al-Azam-Imam-Abu-Haneefah&p=3699826&viewfull=1#post3699826 I hope that whoever posted them ("Al Chachi" from http://www.ummah.com/forum/) does not mind. ============================================ Re: The Legacy of Al 'Azam Imam Abu Haneefah Alhamdulillah the event was very successful and the Rex Centre was packed approx 3000+. People came from up north and south (I saw a coach from Preston) Bolton, Leicester, Slough, London. It was well organised and the speakers were limited to 45min slot. Here is a summation of the event from my memory. 5.30pm – Intro and Qirat 6.00 – 6.50pm Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam – Usul ul Fiqh He covered the topic really well even though the subject matter was complex in nature in terms explaining of how the rulings are made. Fiqh literally means to understand. He mentioned that Muhadith collected the hadeeth and their example is like the Pharmacists who have a large collection of medicines but do not prescribe the cure. The Faqih derive rulings based on the Quran and Hadeeth and they are similar to a Doctor who prescribes the cure. You cannot be a Faqih unless you are a Muhadith. He mentioned it was not the job of a Faqih to collate a large number of hadeeth but his job is to analyse the evidences and derive the rulings. The job of a Faqih is much more difficult because you need to have sound knowledge of Quran and the background of Hadeeth to come out with the rulings. In Hanafee Fiqh the rulings were based on the Quran and Hadeeth but again here they were certain principles in place. He mentioned that one of the principles is Quran is given preference over to Hadeeth. For example reading Surah Fatihah in salah, there is a Hadeeth in Bukhari where it mentions salah is not valid for one who does not read Surah al Fatihah. However there is a clear verse in the Quran where is states read whatever of the Quran is easy for you. Therefore even if you read 3 verses of Quran your salah will be valid because this is Fard. Reading Surah al Fatihah is Wajib because of the Hadeeth. So in summation Hanafee Madhab look at clear cut evidences (Quran) and then look at Hadeeth and if the Hadeeth opposes the verse than preference is given to the Quran. 6.55 – 7.40pm Shaykh Zaheer – The Sacrifice and Character of Imam Abu Hanifah Again very inspiring, he talked about Imam Abu Hanifah’s piety, worship and dedication to Allah. He was unswerving in his beliefs and was steadfast in the face of oppression. Very moving incident was mentioned when the ruler asked him to take up position of chief judge but Imam Abu Hanifah refused. The ruler took an oath that Imam Abu Hanifah will become the Chief Qadi (Judge); Imam Abu Haifa took an oath that he will not. Then he mentioned why he refused, Imam Abu Hanifah said it is far easier for me to take the punishment (because he was whipped for refusing) in this world than to face Allah on the day of judgment with some innocent soul who was executed because I a ruling on favour of the ruler. Basically the position will entail authorising verdicts on behalf a ruler rather than being just for the sake of Allah. He was whipped many times but cried only when struck on the face. They thought his resolve was broken but Imam Abu Hanifah mentioned that I only cry for the sake of my mother who will see in this state and not for my self. Imam Abu Hanifah was indeed like a rock and spoke words of truth in the face of an oppressive ruler. 7.45 – 8.35pm Mufti Abdur-Rahman – Aqeedah This topic was quite complex and the Mufti tried to simplify is as much as possible. He mentioned the history of deviant sects those went to extremes in the attributes of Allah. Imam Abu Hanifah firstly refuted all these deviant sects in Kufah and Basrah. His intellect was amazing and he defeated the Khawarij, Mu'tazilah, the Qadriyyah and the Atheists. When ever a controversy arose in Iraq and nobody could handle it, they would refer to Imam Abu Hanifah to debate with them. He blessed by Allah with such piercing insight that he would use their arguments against them. An example of this is when the Khawarij approached Imam Abu Hanifah and told him to repent. The Khawarij believed if you committed a sin you became kaffir. Imam Abu Hanifah said is it something you know for certain or do suspect that I have committed kufr. Their leader said no it something we suspect, So Imam Abu Hanifah mentioned verse of the Quran ‘O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion; indeed some is a sin…’ (49:12) and said now you repent because you have committed kufr based on your own belief. The mufti then mention about the classical scholars and how they believed in verses regarding the attributes of Allah, the Yad (hand), Sight, Istawa upon the Arsh. He said they would believe in it without changing the meaning and leaving the reality unto Allah. 8.40 – 9.25pm – Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq – The Legacy of Imam Abu Hanifah This was an en excellent talk which was rich in nature and focused to the topic at hand. Persia was not as we know it today and at that time included Afghanistan. Imam Abu Dawud was from Kabul. Shaykh first talked about history of Kufa from the times of Sahabah and how it developed into a centre for learning which became the political, military garrison and learning centre of the entire Islamic Empire. He mentioned we praise Imam Abu Hanifah with only that much as Allah had given him and not more. During the time Sayyiduna Umar (ra) he sent Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (ra) to the people of Kufa with a letter stating ‘O People of Kufa I am sending someone who I am in need of but I give preference over to you than myself to teach your religion so treat him well’. Within short many people flocked to the gathering Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (ra) and learnt knowledge from him. Also no fewer than 70 veterans of Badr settled in Kufa, along with many other companions whose number reached 1500. Thus Kufa became a bustling centre for learning and when Sayyiduna Ali (ra) became Ameer he shifted the capital from Madinah to Kufa. When he came and saw the knowledge being spread, he remarked ‘O Abdullah you have indeed filled this land with knowledge’. The two persons who were head shoulders above the rest in knowledge from the Sahabah in Kufah were Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ud and Sayyiduna Ali (May Allah be pleased with them). There were so many knowledgeable sahabah residing in kufa but it terms leading lights it was Abdullah ibn Mas’ud and Ali (ra). Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (ra) produced many scholars but his most leading students were Alqama and Aswad. Their leading student was Ibraheem al Nakhai who was the leading Faqih in kufa and he produced his leading student Hammad ibn Sulaiman. The best and most intelligent student of Hammad was Imam Abu Hanifah who travelled to Makkah and Madinah to learn from students of Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with them). Imam Abu Hanifah was attacked by people throughout the ages and Imam Muhammad would say they only attack him because of ignorance and envy. Shaykh mentioned a poem in Arabic ‘They have ascribed partners to Allah and attacked the Prophet (saw) so who am I that they may not attack me’. Shaykh said if you are somebody than people will attack you and if you are insignificant than nobody will know about you. This has been case throughout history. He mentioned that Quran and Hadeeth are like raw information which needs to be distilled so you can understand it. You cannot just pick up a book of hadeeth and come to your own conclusions because it is near impossible and this is where Imam Abu Hanifah would discuss each masail at length with over 40 of his students and then come to a verdict. They include masters in their own right Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhammad, Yayah ibn Ma'in, Abdullah ibn Mubarak and many others. Regarding Yahah ibn Ma’in, Imam Ahmad stated if he does not know a hadeeth than it is not a hadeeth. Imam Ahmad took many narrations from Yayah ibn Ma’in because he was a leading Muhadith. However despite being the leading Muhadith Yayah ibn Ma’in followed the Hanafee Fiqh very closely. Shaykh then mentioned about people who say Imam Abu Hanifah did know hadeeth than this a non starter because you cannot be Faqih unless you are a Muhadith. It is true that Imam Abu Hanifah did not compile a book on Hadeeth but this does take away anything from him because Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (ra) only narrated few Hadeeth and Abu Huriarah narrated over 5200, yet Abu Bakr (ra) knew much more about the Prophet (saw). 9.30 – 10.30 Shaykh Ahmad Ali – Taqleed He mentioned Hafidh ibn Hajjar in great detail and how much he knew yet he followed the Hanbali fiqh. The books which were written by him went into volumes and so many other leading authorities such ibn Kathir followed one of the 4 schools of thought. These scholars were head and shoulders above the contemporary scholars we have today, yet they adhered to a madhab. Finally a beautiful dua was made Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq to close the event. In summation it was en excellent event and covered from different angles.