Imam Abu Hanifa's Al-Fiqh al-Akbar Explained

About the Book

Al-Fiqh al-Akbar is one of the earliest texts written on Islamic ­creed and one of the surviving works of Abu Hanifa, the Great Imam of jurisprudence and theology. Studied for centuries in the Muslim world, Al-Fiqh al-Akbar offers a more nuanced, textured approach to understanding divine oneness (tawhid), the focal point of Islamic belief. It refines one’s understanding of the Creator, the messengers and divine communication, and enables one to gain much-needed insight into the realities of this life and the events of the hereafter.

Al-Fiqh al-Akbar not only improves one’s understanding of 'aqida and deepens one’s appreciation of his or her beliefs, but it endeavors to address questions, which, if left unanswered, could leave insidious doubt and cause communal division. Such questions include: Where is Allah? Does Allah evolve? What constitutes true Islamic belief? Are prophets capable of sinning? Is there creation beyond what we see? What comes after death?

This translation of Al-Fiqh al-Akbar is an unprecedented contribution to the subject of 'aqida in English. A lucid rendering, unhampered by sterile literalism, it draws on a number of commentaries to unlock a subject that has been largely inaccessible to an English readership. This is due both to the subject’s complexity and the lack of reliable works in English. Combining Maghnisawi’s basic commentary with copious notes carefully selected from 'Ali al-Qari’s super-commentary and the entire Kitab al-Wasiyya of Abu Hanifa, this edition promises to be an essential guide on the intellectual and rewarding journey through Islamic creed.

Abot the Authors

Imam Abu Hanifa was from Kufa and was one of the Followers (taabi’un). He was born in 80 AH in a family of Persian ancestry. Imam Abu Hanifah was a trader in fabrics. He studied with the great scholars of Kufa who transmitted the schools of Ibn Mas’ud and ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib in particular, but he also travelled further afield in search of hadith and fiqh. He was noted for his exceptional grasp of fiqh, and is said to have laid its foundations. He died in 150 AH in Baghdad.
His list of teachers is very extensive, and his list of pupils a roll-call of honour.
Sahl ibn Muzahim said, 'Abu Hanifah’s knowledge was universal knowledge.' Ash-Shafi’ee said,'In fiqh people are the needy dependents of Abu Hanifah.'
Imam Abu Hanifa's School or Madhab is the most widely followed school of thought in the Muslim world most predominately in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, Central Asia, the Balkans and Iraq,

Allama Abu ’l-Muntaha al-Maghnisawi
Allama Maghnisawi was an accomplished jurist of the Hanafi School an a master in the science of Qur'an recitation, he authored many works mostly in Arabic and few in Turkish

'Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Qari (d.1014/1605), popularly known as Mulla 'Ali al-Qari, was born in Herat, Iran, where he received his basic Islamic education. Thereafter, he travelled to Makkah al-Mukarramah and studied under the celebrated scholar Shaykh Ahmad ibn Hajar Haythami Makki. Mulla 'Ali al-Qari eventually decided to remain in Makkah al-Mukarramah where he taught, died and was laid to rest.
One of the great Hanafi masters of hadith and Imams of fiqh, Qur'anic commentary, language, history and tasawwuf, he authored several great commentaries such as al-Mirqat on Mishkat al-masabih in several volumes, a two-volume commentary on Qadi `Iyad's al-Shifa', and a two-volume commentary on Ghazali's abridgment of the Ihya entitled `Ayn al-`ilm wa zayn al-hilm (The spring of knowledge and the adornment of understanding).

About the Translator

Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera, has been studying the traditional Islamic sciences and writing scholarly works for most of his life. He completed the bulk of his studies at Darul Uloom in England and then in South Africa (where he attended Madrasah Zakariyyah part-time to gain specialized training in answering legal questions [ifta’] under Mufti Rada al-Haq, he also completed a B.A. with honors in Islamic studies at Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, under Professor Abdur-Rahman Doi, Ph.D.)
He then travelled to Syria, where he received a second certification in Qur’anic recitation and memorization, this time from Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Halabi, who possessed a short, unbroken chain of transmission [sanad] to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) in this subject. He also received a certification from Shaykh Adib Kallas after reading Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari’s Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar and attending lectures on other classical texts of Islamic creed [‘aqida].