2. Sunnah (verification of hadeeth)

Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 61

At the time of Imam Abu Haneefah, there was a lot of fabrication of hadith and even false claims of Prophethood. Thus, the scholars of Iraq who taught him were very critical of hadith that were narrated to him and were selective. This was why they were known to know very few hadith and include very few in their Fiqh. So this affected his Fiqh. Also, Imam Abu Haneefah differentiated between Mutawaatir (many narrations of hadith to make it undeniable) versus Ahad (solitary or single report). Thus he also made a differentiation between Fard and Waajib. Fardh or obligatory was whatever was Muhkam (clear) in the Qur’aan and whatever was Mutawaatir in hadith. Waajib or necessary was anything that was Mutashabih (unclear) in the Qur’an and Ahad in hadith.