Abu Nuwas al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami 9(d. 738). After Hammad’s death, Abu Hanifah became
his successor and gathered numerous disciples.
LEGAL THOUGHTIslamic society had become more complex and there was
clearly a need for a more systematic collection of legal
doctrine and theory, even a code of law. Abu Hanifah and
his students scrutinized current ideas and doctrines in
collaboration, discussing problems before offering solu-
tions. They took a strict view on what could be consid-
ered traditional thought, looking for opportunities for
refinement and systematization and rationalization by the
use of technical or even theological arguments. Abu Han-
ifah favored scriptural arguments over both rational
proofs and individual legal opinion. This was the founda-
tion of his school, the Hanafa or Hanafiyyah, pieced
together after his death by two of his students and some-
times called “the People of Opinion.” It was to become an
important stream of thought for the Sharia, or Islamic
law, especially for the SUNNI. Abu Hanifah formulated
influential ideas about legal contracts and prices, often
relying on his own experience in business within the con-
text of Islam.
DEATH AND POLITICSAbu Hanifah avoided court politics and dynastic strug-
gles, favoring neither of the ruling dynasties of his time,
the UMAYYADSand ABBASIDS. His sympathies lay with the
Alids, the successors of Ali, later revered by Shiites, and
Abu Hanifah declined a judgeship or any kind of service
to the state. Later caught supporting subversion with
words and money, he suffered imprisonment in Baghdad
under both the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, dying in
prison in 767.
Further reading: Ignaz Goldziher, Introduction to
Islamic Theology and Law,trans. Andras and Ruth Hamori
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981
[1910]); Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964); Joseph Schacht,
The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence(Oxford: The
Clarendon Press, 1967); Joseph Schacht, “Abu Hanifa al-
Nu’man,” Encyclopedia of Islam,1.123–124.
Abu l-Abbas al-Saffah (the Bloodthirsty or the Gener-
ous)(d. 754)first caliph of the Abbasid dynasty
After the death of his brother, Ibrahim al-Abbas, in 749,
Abu l-Abbas became the secret leader of the Abbasid
movement against the unpopular Umayyads. When Abu
l-Abbas assumed the caliphate on November 28, 749, in
the mosque at al-Kufa, he linked himself with the family
of Muhammad. In their long campaign to replace them,
the Abbasids exploited the great dislike of numerous
religious and political factions of the Umayyads. Abu
l-Abbas won a great victory over the Umayyad caliph
in the Battle of the Zab in January 750 and eventually
pursued and killed the last Umayyad pretender in Egypt
in August. He soon moved against the Alids and other
Abbasid factional leaders who had become too popular,
including those of the still not quite coalesced Shia fac-
tion. These were in fact the leaders and military chiefs
of the groups that had put him and the Abbasids into
power. Some of these men he literally threw to ravenous
dogs, naming himself al-Saffah, “the blood shedder.”
Although some say he laid the basis for many of the
divisions in Islam that last to this day, he did establish a
firm legal and dynastic base for the Abbasids that lasted
hundreds of years, from a shadowy revolution creating
an institutional and consolidated regime. He grew to
rely on Persian rather than Syrian troops and moved
his headquarters to al-Kufa. He died in al-Anbar in
June 754.
Further reading:Michael David Bonner, Aristocratic
Violence and Holy War: Studies in the Jihad and the
Arab–Byzantine Frontier(New Haven, Conn.: American
Oriental Society, 1996); Hugh Kennedy, The Early
Abbasid Caliphate(London: Croom Helm, 1981); Jacob
Lassner, The Shaping of ‘Abbasid Rule(Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1980); S. Moscati, “Abu
‘l’Abba ̄ s al-Saffa ̄h,” Encyclopedia of Islam,1.103.Abu Nuwas al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami (ca.
747–ca. 814)innovative and fashionable lyric poet,
libertine
Abu Nuwas was born at al-Ahwaz about 747 of an Arab
father and a Persian mother; little is known of his early
life. He studied the QURAN, the HADITH, and Arabic
grammar at schools in the cities of al-Basra and al-Kufa.
He later claimed that he followed the traditional liter-
ary education and lived with Bedouin in the desert to
perfect his spoken Arabic. However, in his poetry, he
parodied such camp life. He became popular at the
Abbasid court for his poetry in praise of the caliphs and
for poems in favor of wine, hunting, women, and
pederasty. He not only described subjects prohibited by
religious law but praised them with carefree joy. It was
cynical and amusing and probably meant for the hard-
drinking contemporary Abbasid court, demonstrating
the motto “Accumulate as many sins as you can.”
Solely avoiding the sin of polytheism, he made fun of
most Islamic traditions and practices. Abu Nuwas had a
reputation for an excellent command of language and
became in the eyes of many one of the greatest Arabic
poets of all time. Nonetheless, orthodox Muslims
often decried the sinful nature of his work. Sometimes
presenting himself as a clown, he appears as a jester in
The Arabian Nights. He died in Baghdad sometime
between 813 and 815.
Further reading:Robert Irwin, ed., Night and Horses
and the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature
(New York: Anchor Books, 1999); Philip F. Kennedy, The