The Problem of Correlating the Idea of Khalk al-Qur'an with Abu Hanifa

Abstract

Various claims are attributed to Abu Hanifa regarding the createdness of the Qur'an (khalk al-Qur'an). Some sources claim that he was the first person to put forward this idea, and that he was about to have this idea when he died. Some other sources, on the other hand, state that he never defended this idea and even suggested that it should not be discussed on this issue. While some works attributed to him do not contain any of his views on this subject, some other works attributed to him contain ideas that he distinguished between the meaning and pronunciation and recitation. Another striking point is that there is no reference to Abu Hanifa on this subject in the Hanafi-Maturidi-Maturidi works written in later periods expressing their views on this theological issue. Thus, while one group among various sectarian formations accused Abu Hanifa of this view and marginalized him, other Hanafi and Sunni groups, who evaluated him in line with Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah,-Jamaah , tried to purify him from this view. In this study, we aim to analyze the views attributed to Abu Hanifa on the issue of the createdness of the Qur'an from an impartial perspective. Our research, based on the methods of the discipline of the History of Islamic Sects, is based on an approach that evaluates ideas in terms of their relationship to historical context and events, with a perspective that takes into account the development of the idea of khalq alQur'an in the historical process from the time it was put proposed; it was also carried out by taking into account the socio-cultural-cultural and sectarian affiliations of the individuals. The fact that the idea of khalq al-Qur'an was adopted by some Hanafi people during the Mihna period must have been effective in attributing this idea to him. In this respect, it can be said that the attribution of conflicting narratives to Abu Hanifa regarding this idea largely reflects a retrospective construction activity. Neither the Hanbali circles, who accuse those who make a distinction between meaning and pronunciation of the Qur'an by Lafziyyah and condemn them as Jahmi; nor other figures from the Ashab al-hadith-hadith who adopted this distinction, such as Bukhari and Ibn Qutayba, said anything about this distinction by Abu Hanifa. This fact leads us to doubt of the claim that this distinction was made by Abu Hanifa. In general, the main point that makes the contradictory claims presented in our article meaningful is that it depicts the struggle between the groups that exclude Abu Hanifa within the Ahl al-Sunnah l-Sunnah and those who defend him. On the other hand, mostly Iraqi Hanafis, who were interested in kalam and were close to the Mu'tazilah, were influential in attributing this idea to Abu Hanifa; on the other hand, the Hanafis s of Maweraunehr, who displayed an attitude closer to the Ahl al-Hadith,-Hadith, stood out with their opposition to attributing this idea to him due to their anti-Mu'tazilah attitude.