DUSHANBE, February 26, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- A republican conference formally titled “The Tolerant Essence of the Doctrine of Imam Azam and State of Religion in the Country” has opened at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe today morning.

The conference, staged by President’s Executive Office and dedicated to the 1310th anniversary of al-Imam al-Azam Numan Thabit bin Zuta bin Mah, better known by his kunya as Abu Hanifa, has brought together senior representatives of the ministries and organizations, researchers and clerics.

As it had been reported earlier, taking into account great services of Imam Azam for the Islamic culture and civilization as well as great significance of his religious-jurisprudence heritage for formation of national self-consciousness, President Emomali Rahmon on September 15, 2008 signed a decree announcing 2009 as Year of Imam Azam in Tajikistan. 

Abu Hanifa, (699-767 CE / 80-148 AH) was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence.  He was also one of the Tabi’een, the generation after the Sahaba, because he saw the Sahabi Anas ibn Malik, and transmitted hadiths from him and other Sahaba.

Abu Hanifa was born in Kufa, Iraq during the reign of the powerful Umayyad caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan.  His father, Thabit bin Zuta, a trader from Kabul, part of Khorasan in Persia, (the capital of modern day Afghanistan),was 40 years old at the time of Abu Hanifa''s birth.

His ancestry is generally accepted as being of non-Arab origin as suggested by the etymology of the names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather (Mah). The historian, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, records a statement from Abu Hanifa''s grandson, Ismail bin Hammad, who gave Abu Hanifa''s lineage as Thabit bin Numan bin Marzban and claiming to be of Persian origin. The discrepancy in the names, as given by Ismail of Abu Hanifa''s grandfather and great-grandfather are thought to be due to Zuta''s adoption of a Muslim name (Numan) upon his acceptance of Islam and that Mah and Marzban were titles or official designations in Persia.  Further differences of opinion exist on his ancestry.  Abu Muti, for example, describes Abu Hanifa as an Arab citing his ancestry as Numan bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Yahya bin Zaid bin Asad. The widely accepted opinion, however, is that he was of Persian ancestry.