Aslam

Ibnul Mobarak narrated about Abu Hanifa: Do you say of that man who was given the treasures cf the world but who fled away from them.? Muhammad-b-Shuja narrated: Caliph Abul Mansur ordered XjO,000 dirhams to be given to the Imam but he declined the offer. On the day when the wealth would be delivered to him, he covered his body with a cloth after prayer and did not talk with anybody. The man of the Caliph went to him with Dirhams but the Imam did not talk with him. One of the people present said: This is his habit. Put it in a corner of his room. This was done. Thereafter Abu Hanifa left death instruction with regard to this wealth and said to his son: When I die and you finish my burial, take this purse to the Caliph and tell him: This is your trust which you have deposited with Abu Hanifa, His son said: I did accordingly. The Caliph said: May God have mercy on your father.

It is narrated that he was once offered the post of the chief justice of the state, but he said: I am not fit for this post. When he was asked about the reason, he said: If I have told the truth, it is good for the post, and if I have told a lie, I am unfit for that post as I am a liar.

Abu Hanifa's knowledge of the things of the hereafter and his concern over the important matters of religion are proved by the following narration. Ibn Juray said: I was informed that Abu Hanifa was a great God fearing man. Sharik said: Abu Hanifa used to spend long time in silence and meditation and converse little with the people. These actions prove his exoteric knowledge. He who has been given silence and asceticism has been given all knowledge.

IMAM SHAFEYI

He was a devout worshipper. He divided the night into three parts-one part for study, one part for prayer and one part for sleep. The narrator said that Imam Shafeyi used to finish the Quran 60 times in the month of Ramzan and every time he finished it in prayer. Hasan Qarabasi reported: I spent many nights with the great Imam. He used to spend one third of the night in prayer and yet I have not seen him reciting more than fifty to one hundred verses. At the end of each verse, he would

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beseech God's mercy upon himself and upon all Muslims. The Imam said: I used not to take food with satisfaction for the last 16 years as a full stomach makes the body heavy, makes the heart hard, increases sleep and renders a man lazy for worship. He also said: Never have I taken oath by God whether true or false. He said: He who claims that the love of the world and love of God are united in him is a liar. Hudaidi said: Imam Shafeyi once went to yemen with some men and returned to Mecca with 10,000 dirhams. A tent was fixed for him in the outskirts of Mecca and people began to come to him He did not move from that place till he distributed all dirhams among the people.