The Disagreement of the Scholars of Critique and Vindication of Narrators Regarding Imam Abu Hanifah

The Shaykh : When the questioner cited Abu Hanifah as an example, stating that if the critique and vindication, or the critics and vindicators, are equal in number, the reality, unfortunately, regarding Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) is that those who vouched for his reliability are so few that they are not mentioned in comparison to those who criticized him, both in the past and present, among the early and later scholars. There is no famous imam reported to have vouched for Abu Hanifah’s reliability except Yahya ibn Ma’in (may Allah have mercy on him), who has two reports regarding him: one in which he vouches for his reliability and the other in which he criticizes him. In this case, the opinion that aligns with the majority of scholars who criticized Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) is adopted, especially since those who criticized him provided clear evidence of his defect, which is a type of critique that invalidates relying on his hadiths, because they described him as inconsistent, stating that he attributes some hadiths to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or chains them to him when they are actually disconnected.