A Reflection on Abū Ḥanīfa's Political Thought through the Lens of Spriggens' Problematic Logic

Author

Ph.D., Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran; Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Dawat University, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Abstract

This study aims to analyze Abū Ḥanīfa's political thought within the context of the political and intellectual crises of his era, and seeks to demonstrate how this thought was shaped in response to the turbulent and tense conditions of the Islamic world in the early centuries. The main question of the research is what analysis Abū Ḥanīfa offered regarding phenomena such as political despotism, lawlessness, the corruption of rulers, the lack of judicial independence, and intellectual and theological disorder, and how his political thought was formulated in reaction to this critical situation. Within this framework, the article attempts to clarify whether Abū Ḥanīfa's positions were merely a moral and individual reaction to the conditions of his time, or whether they can be interpreted as a coherent framework for understanding the relationship between power, justice, and human responsibility within the Islamic legal and political tradition. This research has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and employing Spriggens' problematic logic. The research data have been collected and analyzed based on historical sources, works attributed to Abū Ḥanīfa, and accounts and reports related to his political actions and positions. Within this framework, the political and intellectual crisis of Abū Ḥanīfa's era is first formulated, and then his theoretical and practical response to this situation is examined in order to clarify the relationship between the historical conditions and the formation of his political thought. The research findings indicate that Abū Ḥanīfa did not interpret the crisis of his time merely at the level of moral or social disorders, but regarded it as the result of unjust power structures, coercive and dominant rule, political corruption, and the spread of lawlessness. Within this framework, by critiquing deterministic tendencies, he emphasized the role of human will and choice in the formation of social order or disorder, thus highlighting human political and moral responsibility. Furthermore, in his thought, human freedom and rationality hold a fundamental place, and government should not interfere in matters pertaining to the choice and judgment of a rational person. An examination of Abū Ḥanīfa's practical positions also shows that he did not cooperate with the despotic governments of his time and adopted a critical stance against oppression and injustice. From this perspective, his thought can be seen as an effort to counter despotism, critique a political order based on coercion and domination, and defend rationality and human responsibility in the sphere of politics. In sum, the research results show that Abū Ḥanīfa's political thought was a coherent response to the political and intellectual crises of his era—a response shaped by critiquing tyranny and despotism, defending rationality and human freedom, and emphasizing human responsibility vis-à-vis political power. This rereading can be significant for the historical understanding of the relationship between jurisprudence and politics in the Islamic tradition, as well as for rethinking the foundations of justice and political legitimacy in the Islamic world.

Keywords

References

The Holy Quran.
Abī Muṭīʻ al-Balkhī. (n.d.). Al-Sharḥ al-muyassar lil-fiqh al-absaṭ al-mansūb li-Abī Ḥanīfa riwāyat Abī Muṭīʻ al-Balkhī ʻan Abī Ḥanīfa. URL=              
https://ketabonline.com/ar/books/5213/read?part=1&page=71&index=2793234 [In Arabic]
Abū Yūsuf, Y. (1997). Ikhtilāf Abī Ḥanīfa wa-Ibn Abī Laylā. Beirut: Dār al-Maʻrifa. [In Arabic]
Abū Zahra, M. (2012). Ārāʼ wa-andīshahʹhā-yi fiqhī, uṣūlī, kalāmī wa-siyāsī-yi Imām Abū Ḥanīfa (Tārīkh al-madhāhib al-islāmī). In ʻA. Raḥīmī (Trans.) & M. ʻAzīzī (Ed.), Barrisī-yi ārāʼ wa-andīshahʹhā-yi Imām Abū Ḥanīfa. Tehran: Ehsan. [In Persian]
Allah Akbari, M. (2002). The Relationship between Alids and Abbasids. Tārīkh dar Āyinah-ʼi Pizhūhish, Pre-issue (1), pp. 11–30. [In Persian]
Balādhurī, A. (1977). Jumal min ansāb al-ashrāf (Vol. 3, M. B. Maḥmūdī, Ed.). Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Aʻlamī lil-Maṭbūʻāt. [In Arabic] (Original work published 1397 AH)
Dhahabī, Sh. al-D. (1955). Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī. [In Arabic] (Original work published 1374 AH)
Elahi Bolandshahri, M. A. (2015). Majmūʻah-ʼi waṣāyā-yi Abū Ḥanīfa (ʻA. Ḥaydarī, Trans.). s.l.: s.n. [In Persian]
Fallah, R., & Alikhani, ʻA. A. (2011). The Thought of Muslim Thinkers. Tehran: Institute for Cultural and Social Studies, Ministry of Sciences, Research, and Technology. [In Persian]
Fasihi DOlatshahi, M. A. (2022). Abū Ḥanīfa’s Political Thought. Kabul: Al-Mustafa International University. [In Persian]
Ghaderi, H. (2012). Political Thoughts in Islam and Iran. Tehran: SAMT. [In Persian]
Ghazālī, M. (2006). Sirr taʼakhkhur al-ʻArab. Cairo: al-Nahḍa. [In Arabic]
Halabi, ʻA. A. (2001). History of Political Thought in Islam and Iran. Tehran: Asāṭīr. [In Persian]
Ḥanafī, M. (2007). Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar (ʻA. M. Dandal, Ed.). Beirut: Dār
al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīya. [In Arabic]
Ibn ʻAbd al-Barr, Y. b. ʻA. (n.d.). Al-Intiqāʼ min faḍāʼil al-thalātha al-aʼimma
al-fuqahāʼ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīya. [In Arabic]
Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd al-Muʻtazilī, ʻA. b. H. (2000). Tarjamah-ʼi sharḥ-i Nahj al-balāgha (Vol. 4, Gh. Lāyiqī, Trans.). Tehran: Neyestan. [In Persian]
Ibn Abī Yaʻlā, M. (2005). Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila (ʻA. al-Ghuthaymīn, Ed.). Mecca: Jāmiʻat Umm al-Qurá. [In Arabic]
Ibn ʻĀbidīn, M. (1856). Ḥāshiyat Radd al-muḥtār ʻalā al-durr al-mukhtār: Sharḥ tanwīr al-abṣār (Vol. 1). Cairo: Būlāq. [In Arabic]
Ibn Aʻtham al-Kūfī, A. M. A. (1991). Al-Futūḥ (vol. 6). Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwā’. [In Arabic]
Ibn Bazāzī al-Kardarī, M. b. M. (1976). Manāqib Abī Ḥanīfa. Qom: Maktab
al-Dāwarī.  [In Arabic]
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʻAsqalānī. (1968). Tahdhīb al-tahdhīb (Vol. 1). Hyderabad Deccan: s.n. [In Arabic]
Ibn Ḥibbān, A. M. b. Ḥ. al-Tamīmī al-Bustī. (n.d.). Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān. East Germany: Maktabat Dār al-ʻUlūm al-Almānīya. [In Arabic]
Ibn Khallikān, A. (n.d.). Wafayāt al-aʻyān wa-anbāʼ abnāʼ al-zamān (2nd ed., A. ʻAbbās, Ed.). Qom: Manshūrāt al-Raḍī. [In Arabic]
Ibn Shahrāshūb, M. (2000). Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib (Vol. 4). Qom: ʻAllāma. [In Arabic]
Iṣfahānī, A. (1963). Al-Aghānī. Cairo: Wizārat al-Thaqāfa wa-al-Irshād al-Qawmī,
al-Muʼassasa al-Miṣrīya al-ʻĀmma. [In Arabic]
Jaberi, M. (1997). The science of jurisprudence, the foundation of Arabic-Islamic rationality methodology (Takwīn al-ʻaql al-ʻArabī) [M. Khallaji, Trans.]. Naqd va Naẓar, (12), pp. 114–140. [In Persian]
Jafari, Ḥ. M. (2001). Shiism in the path of history (10th ed., M. T. Ayatollahi, Trans.). Tehran: Daftar-i Nashr-i Farhang-i Islāmī. [In Persian]
Jāḥiẓ, ʻA. (1933). Faḍl Hāshim ʻalā ʻAbd Shams. In Ḥ. Sandūbī (Ed.), Rasāʼil al-Jāḥiẓ (Vol. 1). Cairo: Maktabat al-Saʻāda. [In Arabic]
Jaṣṣāṣ, A. (1985). Aḥkām al-Qurʼān (Vol. 1, M. Ṣ. Qamḥāwī, Ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī. [In Arabic]
Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, A. B. A. b. ʻA. (1931). Tārīkh Baghdād. Cairo: Maktabat
al-Saʻāda. [In Arabic]
Makkī al-Khwārazmī, M. b. A. (1903). Manāqib al-imām al-aʻẓam Abī Ḥanīfa
(Vol. 1). Hyderabad Deccan. [In Arabic]
Masʻūdī, A. (2006). Murūj al-dhahab. Beirut: Dār al-Andalus. [In Arabic]
Maududi, A. (1978). Khilāfat wa mulūkīyat. Kuwait: Dār Qalam. [In Arabic]
Mian Muhammad Sharif, M. (1986). Tārīkh-i falsafa dar Islām (Vol. 2, N. Pūrjawādī, Trans.). Tehran: University Publishing Center. [In Persian]
Moraveji Tabasi, M. A. (2010). The Umayyad Hidden Face. Farhang-i Kawthar, (81), pp. 66–77. [In Persian]
Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj. (n.d.). Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (M. F. ʻAbd al-Bāqī, Ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī. [In Arabic]
Pakatchi, A. (1988). Abū Ḥanīfa. In K. Mousavi Bojnourdi (Ed.), Dāʼirat al-maʻārif-i buzurg-i Islāmī (Vol. 5). Tehran: The Great Islamic Encyclopedia Center. [In Persian]
Ṣadūq. (1984). Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh (Vols. 1–2). Qom: Nashr-i Islāmī. [In Arabic]
Ṣadūq. (n.d.). ʻUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā (Vol. 1, M. T. Esfehani, Trans. & Comm.). Tehran: Intishārāt-i ʻIlmīyah-i Islāmīya. [In Persian]
Samarqandī, A. (1969). Al-Sawād al-aʻẓam (ʻA. Ḥabībī, Ed.). Tehran: Intishārāt-i Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān. [In Arabic]
Sarakhsī, A. (1906). Al-Mabsūṭ. Cairo: Maṭbaʻat al-Saʻāda. [In Arabic]
Sarakhsī, A. (1957). Sharḥ al-siyar al-kabīr. Cairo: Sharikat Musāhama al-Miṣrīya. [In Arabic]
Shahrastānī, M. b. ʻA. (1956). Al-Milal wa-l-niḥal (Vol. 1). Cairo: Maktabat
al-Ḥusayn al-Tijārīya. [In Arabic]
Sharabāṣī, A. (n.d.). Al-Aʼimma al-arbaʻa. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl. [In Arabic]
Spriggns, T. (2003). Understanding Political Theories (F. Rajāʼī, Trans.). Tehran: Agah. [In Persian]
Suyūṭī, J. (1992). Tārīkh al-khulafāʼ (M. M. ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd, Ed.). Beirut: Dār al-Jīl. [In Arabic] (Original work published 1371 AH)
Ṭaqoush, M. S. (2004). The Abbasid Government. Qom: Research Institute of Hawza and University. [In Persian]
Ṭūsī, M. (1997). Al-Khilāf (Vol. 3, S. A. Khorasani, Ed.). Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute. [In Arabic]
ʻUqaylī, M. (1984). Al-Ḍuʻafāʼ al-kabīr al-ʻUqaylī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīya. [In Arabic]
Zarifian, Gh. R. (2020, July 30). From Alid government to Umayyad governance. Culture, Arts, and Communications Research Institute. URL=      
https://B2n.ir/s01335 [In Persian]
Zaydan, J. (2015). History of Islamic Civilization (A. Javaher Kalam, Trans.). Tehran: Intishārāt-i Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics