Imam Ahmed Bin Hambal
Imam Ahmed Bin Hambal
Imam Ahmed Bin Hambal
WORK OF IMAM ABU HANIFA: The greatest contribution of Imam Abu Hanifa towards development of Islam is to the Fiqh
(IslamicJurisprudence). He contributed to the development of fiqh (jurisprudence) by asking intelligent questions andtrying to answer
them in a structured and methodical way. Imam Shafi was perhaps referring to this uniquecontribution of Imam Abu Hanifah when
he said, “All fuqaha owe a debt of gratitude towards Abu Hanifah”;method of stating the issues before seeking the answer to them
was also pointed to as a major contribution of theimam by Imam Ibn Suray, another eminent Shafi’i scholar. Imam Abu Hanifa is the
most outstanding jurist of Islam whose Fiqh is followed by the majority of the Muslims.He was the pioneer in classification and
compilation of Fiqh. He collected information for each branch of knowledge. He organized Fiqh into functional sub categories
starting with tahara (purification). Through his efforts, the first school of Fiqh, the Hanafi school, developed. His school has the
largest number of followers among the four imams. He is known for his unparallel knowledge of fiqhand skill in qiyaasas well as
taqwaand an amazing memory. Some of the books directly written by Imam Abu Hanifa are: Al-Fiqh al-Akbar, Kitab al-Raddala al-
Qadariyyah, Al-Aalim wa al-Mutaallim, Al-Fiqh al-Absat, Kitab Ikhtilaf al-Sahaba, Kitab al-Jami, Al-Kitab al-Awsat, Kitab al-Sayr,
Risalah Abu Hanifa ila Uthman al-Bayti and Wasiyyah al-Imam Abu Hanifa fi al-Tawheed.