Musnad Abi Hanifa Riwayat Abi Nuaym
- Author died
- 430 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Kawthar
Musnad Abi Hanifa Riwayat Abi Nuaym (مسند أبي حنيفة رواية أبي نعيم, "The Hadith Musnad of Abu Hanifa in the Transmission of Abu Nuaym") is a hadith compilation compiled by the scholar and traditionist Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani (336–430 AH / 948–1038 CE), gathering the prophetic traditions transmitted by Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150 AH / 767 CE) .
Background and Purpose
Although Abu Hanifa did not compile a dedicated hadith compendium in the form of a musnad himself—his transmitted hadiths being originally preserved in early texts such as the Kitab al-Athar transmitted by his students—subsequent hadith masters compiled dedicated works collecting his narrations . Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani's compilation is one of several such collections documented by later scholars alongside compilations by traditionists such as Abu Muhammad al-Harithi, Abu Bakr ibn al-Muqri, Abu al-Husayn ibn al-Muzaffar, and Ibn Khusraw .
In the work's opening, Abu Nuaym outlines his intention to record the hadiths that reached him from the transmissions of Abu Hanifa al-Numan ibn Thabit al-Kufi, whom he designates as the jurist and mufti of the people of Iraq . He prefaces the text with a biographical overview of Abu Hanifa, recounting his early livelihood as a silk merchant in Kufa, his devotion to worship, his legal apprenticeship under Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman and the associates of Ibrahim al-Nakhai, his refusal to accept a judgeship under the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, and his death in Baghdad in 150 AH, where al-Hasan ibn Umara led the funeral prayer .
Structure and Arrangement
The book is structured as a musnad arranged according to Abu Hanifa’s direct teachers (shaykhs) from whom he received narrations . Abu Nuaym introduces each section with a dedicated heading indicating Abu Hanifa's narration from a particular authority, often providing biographical identifiers for that teacher, such as:
- Narrations from Abu Husayn Uthman ibn Asim al-Asadi al-Kufi .
- Narrations from Abu Khalid .
- Narrations from Abu Rawq Atiyya ibn al-Harith al-Hamdani .
- Narrations from Abu al-Hudhayl Ghalib, Abu Bakr al-Zuhri, and Abu Umayya Abd al-Karim al-Jazari .
Under each entry, Abu Nuaym cites full chains of transmission (isnad) reaching back through multiple intermediary paths to Abu Hanifa, and then through Abu Hanifa's teachers to the Successors, Companions, and the Prophet ﷺ .
Publication
The work has been published in a single volume edited by Nazar Muhammad al-Faryabi (first edition published in 1415 AH / 1994–1995 CE by Maktabat al-Kawthar in Riyadh) .
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