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Imam Abu Hanifa  (Rahmatullahi ’alayh) (d. 150)

Ibn `Abidin relates in his al Durr al mukhtar that Imam Abu Hanifa said: ‘If it were not for two years, I would have perished.’ Ibn `Abidin comments:

For two years he accompanied Sayyidina Ja`far al-Sadiq and he acquired the spiritual knowledge that made him a gnostic in the Way… Abu `Ali Daqqaq (Imam Qushayri’s shaykh) received the path from Abu al-Qasim al- Nasirabadi, who received it from al Shibli, who received it from Sari al-Saqati who received it from al Ma`ruf al Karkhi, who received it from Dawud at Ta’i, who received the knowledge, both the external and the internal, from the Imam Abi Hanifa.(1)

(1) Ibn `Abidin, Hashiyat radd al-muhtar `ala al-durr al-mukhtar 1:43.