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Allamah al-Muhaddith al-Sheikh Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr al-Mulla (Allah have mercy on him) said in his treatise ‘Al-Itiraf bi Sihhah Madhab al-Ahnaf’:
Know O seeker of benefit that Abu Hanifah (Allah have mercy on him) was the first of the Imams of Ijtihad, and the earliest of them in terms of preservation of the sunnah and recording of knowledge and legal issues, not least that of fiqh linked to the understanding of the book of Allah and the sunnah of His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace). He met a number of the companions and based his madhab upon the Quran, Sunnah and its rulings. As for that which is said regarding his madhab -which is in opposition to the truth, and is incorrect- has been rejected by the people of truth and verification who are relied upon. If his madhab were as they claimed, then why does it have a greater following than the others in terms of its muqallids. For we have been ordered to the majority, which is that what the majority of muslims who follow the truth are upon, because this is closer to that which is correct.
He (Allah have mercy on him) also said:
That which is incumbent upon us with regards to our Imams of ijtihad, the people of the four madhabs whose righteousness and virtue is witnessed to, is that we hold a good opinion of them because of the great struggle that they undertook in preserving the pure sunnah by their recording, preserving and guarding it from those who tampered with it. Along with our belief that all of them are upon truth and guidance from Allah, and all of them are agree on the principles of the religion, their difference being only being in the branches, as it is the area of ijtihad. This is according to that which reached them from the sunnah from the evidences related to rulings, each one of them took that which reached him and he regarded as authentic.
Brief Biography
Allamah al-Muhaddith al-Sheikh Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr al-Mulla (Allah have mercy on him) was born in to the scholarly ‘al-Mulla’ family which traces its origin back to the noble companion Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr al-Siddiq (Allah be pleased with them both) from the tribe of Quraish.
-Sheikh Muhammad Abd al-Latif al-Mulla
-Sheikh Abd al-Latif al-Jafari
-Sheikh Ahmad al-Aliyy al-Arfaj
-Sheikh Abd al-Aziz al-Ulji
-Sheikh Umar Hamdan al-Mahrasi
-Sheikh Hussein Abd al-Ghani al-Hanafi
-Sheikh Muhammad Yahya Amaan
-Sheikh Hasan Mashat
-Sheikh al-Sayyid Muhammad Abd al-Hayy al-KattaniThe Sheikh passed away in the year 1421 aged approximately 98 years old having spent a life busy in learning, teaching and benefiting the muslims. His written works include:
-An anthology of his poetry
-A poem on the different types of hadith
-Collection of treatise on various issues