In the eyes of the founders of the Islamic schools of thoughts, Imam al-Sadiq (as) was seen as a great personality. They were sure about his being the most outstanding referential authority in Islam regarding his jurisprudence and the other fields of knowledge. Abu Hanifah, who had the honour of being one of Imam al-Sadiq’s (as) students, expressed his idea and spoke about him with interest and astonishment. He made a variety of statements regarding the Imam’s (as) high position.
Abu Hanifah declared that the period in which he studied under Imam al-Sadiq (as) assisted him in establishing a strong fundament of his jurisprudence. He said:
“Without these two years, there would not be Numan (Abu Hanifah).”
Commenting on this statement, Al-Alousi says, “Abu Hanifah, the founder of a major Sunni school of law, takes pride and frankly says, ‘Without these two years, there would not be Numan.’ By this, he refers to the two years when he studied under Imam al-Sadiq (as).”
Abu Hanifah has reported the following incident:
“I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable in jurisprudence than Jafar ibn Muhammad (as). One day, al-Mansour, the Abbasidd ruler, summoned him. Just before that, al-Mansour summoned me and said, ‘Abu Hanifah! People here are astonished by Jafar ibn Muhammad (as); I therefore want you to prepare the most difficult questions you can to forward to him.’ I prepared forty questions.
Afterwards, al-Mansour, who was in al-Hirah, asked me to come. I went there and found Jafar ibn Muhammad (as) sitting on his right side. As soon as I saw Jafar (as), I was astounded by his dignity more than I was with the ruler, al-Mansour. I greeted him and he pointed to me to have a seat.
The ruler turned to Jafar (al-Sadiq (as)) and said, ‘Abu Abdullah! This is Abu Hanifah.’ Jafar (as) said, “Yes!” Then, al-Mansour turned to me and said, ‘Abu Hanifah! Forward your questions to Abu Abdullah (as).’ I began asking and he replied all my questions as follows: ‘According to your view, the answer is so-and-so. According to the view of the people of Medina, the answer is so-and-so. However, in my view, the answer is so-and-so.’ He would agree to my or the people of Medina’s view in some questions while he would reject the all in other questions. The same was done with all of my forty questions.
I have always said that the most knowledgeable of all people is the one who is most acquainted with all of the different views of people.”
We can conclude the following points from the abovementioned report of Abu Hanifah:
(1) The incident indicates that the Abbasidd ruling authorities feared from the gathering of people around the Holy Prophet’s (S) progeny in general and Imam al-Sadiq (as) in particular, because they understood that such gathering represented a continuation of the Holy Prophet (S) and Imam Ali (as), a matter that would deprive the Abbasidd rulers of any national support, and a fact that increased their fury and desire for getting rid of the Holy Prophet’s (S) progeny, represented by their head, Imam al-Sadiq (as).
(2) The dignity of Imam al-Sadiq (as), which resembled the dignity of the prophets (as), overflowed Abu Hanifah to the extent that it went away with the dignity of the ruler himself.
(3) This incident indicates that Imam al-Sadiq (as) was full acquainted with all views in jurisprudence issues and proves that he was the most well-informed of all laws of Islam, as Abu Hanifah stated.
Abu Hanifah is also reported to have said:
“Without Jafar ibn Muhammad (as), people would be left unaware of the Hajj laws.”
He is also reported to have said:
“Nobody has ever seen someone more knowledgeable than Jafar ibn Muhammad (as). He is the most knowledgeable in the Muslim nation.”
THE LIFE OF IMAM JAF’AR AL-SADIQ (AS) – BAQIR SHARIF AL-QURASHI