Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man ibn Thabit ibn Zuta al-Kufi

An-Nu'man ibn Thabit, known as Abu Hanifa, was born in Kufa, Iraq, in approximately 699 CE (80 AH) into a prosperous merchant family of Persian descent. He initially pursued commerce, becoming a successful silk trader, before turning his primary attention to Islamic scholarship. He studied under the leading scholars of Kufa, most importantly Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, under whom he studied fiqh for approximately 18 years. He also narrated hadith from several companions' students (tabi'een), giving him access to early scholarly traditions.

Abu Hanifa's distinctive contribution was the development of systematic legal reasoning. While earlier scholars had addressed legal questions individually as they arose, Abu Hanifa and his students developed a methodology for deriving rulings from foundational principles, using analogical reasoning (qiyas) and juristic preference (istihsan) when direct textual evidence was not available. His famous teaching circle in Kufa functioned almost like a legal seminar, with students proposing hypothetical scenarios and the group collectively reasoning through them. This methodology produced a comprehensive legal system capable of addressing novel situations — a quality that made the Hanafi school exceptionally adaptable and contributed to its widespread adoption.

His integrity was tested when the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur offered him the position of chief judge (qadi) of Baghdad. Abu Hanifa refused, reportedly saying he was not fit for the position — a decision widely interpreted as refusal to compromise his scholarly independence by serving political authority. He was imprisoned for his refusal and died in prison in Baghdad in 767 CE (150 AH). Despite this end, his school became the most widely followed in Islam, adopted as the official legal system of the Ottoman Empire and dominant across Turkey, South Asia, Central Asia, the Balkans, and much of the Arab world.