ON TASAWWUF: Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150)

Ibn `Abidin relates in his al Durr al mukhtar that Imam Abu Hanifa said: "If it were not for two years, I would have perished." Ibn `Abidin comments:

For two years he accompanied Sayyidina Ja`far al-Sadiq and he acquired the spiritual knowledge that made him a gnostic in the Way... Abu `Ali Daqqaq (Imam Qushayri's shaykh) received the path from Abu al-Qasim al-Nasirabadi, who received it from al Shibli, who received it from Sari al-Saqati who received it from al Ma`ruf al Karkhi, who received it from Dawud at Ta'i, who received the knowledge, both the external and the internal, from the Imam Abi Hanifa.¹

¹ Ibn `Abidin, Hashiyat radd al-muhtar `ala al-durr al-mukhtar 1:43.

Blessings and Peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions

[Reproduced with permission from Shaykh M. Hisham Kabbani's The Repudiation of "Salafi" Innovations (ASFA, 1996)

p. 276.