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And among them: the Imam of the world and the exemplar of creation, the honor of the jurists and the glory of the scholars, Abu Hanifa Nu'man ibn Thabit al-Khazzaz—may Allah be pleased with him.

He had a firm footing in worship and spiritual striving, and in the principles of this Path he held a great station. In the beginning of his states he intended seclusion and renounced all people and wished to withdraw from among them, for he had purified his heart from leadership and the rank of people and stood refined for the Truth. Until one night he saw in a dream that he gathered the bones of the Prophet, peace be upon him, from his grave and was selecting some from among others. From the terror of that he awoke. He asked one of the companions of Muhammad ibn Sirin, who said: 'You will reach a great degree in the knowledge of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the preservation of his Sunnah, such that you will have mastery over it and separate the sound from the unsound.' And another time he saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, in a dream, who said to him: 'O Abu Hanifa, you have been made a means of reviving my Sunnah. Do not intend seclusion.'

And he was the teacher of many of the shaykhs, such as Ibrahim Adham, Fudayl ibn Iyad, Dawud Ta'i, Bishr Hafi, and others besides them—may Allah's pleasure be upon them all.

And among the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—it is recorded that in the time of Abu Ja'far al-Mansur they planned to make one of four persons a judge (qadi): one, the Greatest Imam Abu Hanifa; the second, Sufyan; the third, Mis'ar ibn Kidam; and the fourth, Sharik—may Allah's mercy be upon them—and these four were among the leading scholars of the age. They sent someone to bring them all there. On the road as they were going, Abu Hanifa said: 'Shall I tell a discernment (firasat) about each one of us regarding this journey of ours?' They said: 'It would be right.' He said: 'I, by a stratagem, will repel this judgeship from myself; Sufyan will flee; Mis'ar will feign madness; and Sharik will become the judge.'

Sufyan fled from the road and went into a boat and said: 'Hide me, for they want to cut off my head,' by the interpretation of the report that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever is made a judge has been slaughtered without a knife.' The boatman hid him.

And these three were brought before Mansur. First he said to Abu Hanifa: 'You must be made judge.' He said: 'O Amir, I am a man not of the Arabs, but of their clients (mawali). And the Arab chiefs will not be content with my judgment.' Abu Ja'far said: 'This matter is not connected to lineage; this office requires knowledge, and you are the foremost of the scholars of the age.' He said: 'I am not fit for this task, and in this statement of mine—that I am not fit—it cannot be other than two cases: if I speak truly, then I myself have said that I am not fit; and if I lie, then you should not consider it permissible to bring a liar and make him your deputy and entrust to him the blood and honor of the Muslims while you are the caliph of God.' This he said, and he was saved.

Then they said to Sharik: 'You must be made judge.' He said: 'I am a melancholic man and my brain is weak.' Mansur said: 'Treat yourself with suitable porridges and triple-cooked nabidh, until your intellect becomes complete.' Then they gave the judgeship to Sharik, and Abu Hanifa shunned him and never again spoke with him.

And this is a sign of the perfection of his state in two meanings: one, the truthfulness of his discernment about each one; and the other, treading the path of safety and soundness and blame (malamat) and driving people away from himself and not being deluded by their rank. And this tale is a strong proof for the soundness of malamat, that those three great elders by a stratagem drove themselves away from the people. And today all the scholars deny this kind of dealing, because they have rested with caprice and fled from the way of the Truth, made the house of the emirs their qibla, made the palace of the tyrants their Bayt al-Ma'mur, and equated the carpet of oppressors with 'the length of two bows or nearer' (al-Najm 9); and whatever is contrary to these meanings, they all deny.

Once in the presence of Ghazna—may God protect it—one of the claimants of imamate and knowledge had said: 'Wearing the patched cloak (muraqqa'a) is an innovation (bid'a).' I said: 'A garment of khashish and brocade and dabiqi, all of silk, whose very substance is forbidden to men, taken from oppressors and gathered by importunity and insistence from what is forbidden—an absolute forbidden thing—they wear it and do not call it an innovation. Why should a lawful garment, from a lawful place, bought by a lawful means, be an innovation? If self-conceit of nature and misguidance of intellect did not hold sway over you, you would speak more measuredly about this. But silk is lawful for women and permitted for madmen. If you acknowledge both of these, you have excused yourself; otherwise, we seek refuge in God from the absence of fairness.'

And the Greatest Imam, Abu Hanifa, says: When Nawfal ibn Hayyan passed away, I saw in a dream that it was the Resurrection and all creation were in the place of reckoning. I saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, standing with sleeves rolled up at his pool (hawd), and to his right and left I saw shaykhs standing. I saw an old man of beautiful face, with white hair upon his head, resting cheek upon the cheek of the Prophet, and opposite him I saw Nawfal standing. When he saw me he came toward me and gave greeting. I said to him: 'Give me water.' He said: 'Until I seek permission from the Prophet, peace be upon him.' The Prophet pointed with his finger to give me water. I drank of that water and gave it to my companions, yet nothing had diminished from that cup. I said: 'O Nawfal, who is that old man at the right of the Prophet?' He said: 'Ibrahim, the Friend of the Merciful (Khalil al-Rahman), and the other, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq.' Thus I kept asking and he counted on his fingers until I asked about seventeen persons—may Allah's pleasure be upon them all. When I awoke, I held the number seventeen counted on my fingers.

And Yahya ibn Mu'adh al-Razi says: I saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, in a dream and said to him: 'Where shall I seek you?' He said: 'At the knowledge of Abu Hanifa. Seek me at the knowledge of Abu Hanifa.'

And he has abundant excellence in scrupulousness (wara') and famous virtues, more than this book can bear.

And I, who am Ali ibn Uthman al-Jullabi—may God grant me success—was in Syria, sleeping at the grave of Bilal, the muezzin of the Messenger, peace be upon him. I saw myself in Mecca in a dream, that the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—was entering from the Bab Bani Shayba, having taken an old man in his embrace, as one takes children with tenderness. I ran forward and kissed his hand and foot, and was in wonder as to who that was and what that state was. He, by the ruling of miracle, became aware of my inner self and thought, and said to me: 'This is your Imam and the people of your land.' And I have great hope from that dream, together with the people of my own city.

And it became established from this dream that he was one of those who were annihilated (fani) from the attributes of nature and subsisting (baqi) by the rulings of the Law and standing thereby, such that his bearer was the Prophet, peace be upon him. If he himself had walked, he would have been subsisting in attribute (baqi al-sifa), and one subsisting in attribute is either erring or correct. Since his bearer was the Prophet, he is annihilated in attribute by the subsistence of the attribute of the Prophet, and since error does not take form upon the Prophet, it also does not take form upon the one who subsists by him. This is a subtle mystery (ramz).

And they say that when Dawud Ta'i acquired knowledge and became a source and exemplar, he came to Abu Hanifa and said: 'Now what shall I do?' He said: 'Upon you is action, for knowledge without action is like a body without a spirit—because any knowledge that is not practiced is like a body that has no soul.' But, may I be your ransom, until knowledge is joined to action it does not become pure and the times are not sincere, and whoever contents himself with mere knowledge is not a scholar; for the scholar is not content with mere knowledge, since the very essence of knowledge demands action, just as the essence of guidance demands striving, and just as contemplation (mushahadat) is not without striving (mujahadat), knowledge is not without action; from... [text truncated in source]