Clarification of the virtues attributed to Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) that are not authentic, in order to clarify that a person may be praised for qualities he does not possess.

The Shaykh: For example, as is narrated—and I am telling this story using the method of hitting or throwing at two birds with one stone—it is narrated in the virtues of Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him), and this narration is not authentic. This is the first bird. We agree that this narration is not authentic. But the second bird, as an analogy for what we are discussing, is narrated in the virtues of Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) that he was walking on the road when he heard one of them saying to the other, "Do you know who so-and-so is? It is Abu Hanifah, who does not sleep at night..." And this news is false. He sleeps at night so that what people say about him is true. And by the way, of course, I say that this story is narrated but is not authentic, as will be explained, because there is another story. This is mentioned in the virtues of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) that forty years passed for him while he was praying the Fajr obligatory prayer with the wudu of the Isha prayer. What does this mean? It means he prayed the Isha prayer and did not sleep. The questioner : e : This one is authentic.The Shaykh: What am I talking about? I am talking about that one. This one is not authentic. I said that I would say the first story is not authentic, as will be explained in the other story. So the other story says that Abu Hanifah prayed the Fajr obligatory prayer with the wudu of the Isha prayer for forty years. This means he did not sleep at night. This is contrary to the Sunnah. May Allah protect Abu Hanifah, and even someone lower, and lower, and lower than him by many stages, from coming and contradicting the Sunnah in this way and not sleeping at night at all. It is not that he does not sleep at night except a little, even though the Messenger (peace be upon him), with the teaching of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to us of what Allah taught him, because it is not permissible to be extreme and severe in worship. Because, as the common people say, and this is taken from the rule of prophethood and messengership, "When the rope is tightened, it is loosened." And this is taken from his saying (peace be upon him): .
Indeed, every deed has a sharrat, meaning enthusiasm. Every deed in which a person begins has this, and it is a natural thing observed even in material matters. A person takes on a matter with all heat, and he does not feel in his state that he is beginning what? It cools down, and it cools down, and it cools down, and so on. And then what happens? He lets the matter go to the extent that he tightened it at first, he loosened it. Let it go, so that he becomes moderate in what he undertook. This moderation is the guidance. And this is the meaning of the hadith: meaning extreme intensity and enthusiasm. He keeps loosening it a little by a little, so either he lets it go completely, as we said, or he keeps holding onto it with moderation. meaning moderation in matters. clear misguidance. So it is narrated about Abu Hanifah that he stood up to pray the Fajr prayer with the Isha prayer for forty years. It is absolutely impossible that Abu Hanifah would do this. But the point is, in the first story, it was said about him that he does not sleep at night. The purpose of the story, if it is true, is that he does not want to be attributed with what is not in him. He does not want to be praised for what is not in him. So he must act so that people are truthful in what they say about him.