Sweet Story of Imam Abu Hanifa(R.A)

Many years ago, during the time of the Taabi'een, Baghdad was a great city of Islam. There were many muslim scholars hence it was the center of Islamic knowledge. 1 day, a Roman came 2 this city with 3 challenges for the Muslims. He informed the Khalifah that he had 3 questions which he challenged the Muslims to answer.

The Khalifah gathered together all the scholars of the city & the Roman messenger climbed upon a HIGH PLATFORM & said, "I have come with 3 questions. 'Wat was there before Allah?' 'In which direction does Allah face?' 'What is Allah doing at this moment?'"

Everybody remained silent and confused. In the gathering of these brilliant scholars & students of Islam, there was a young boy who wanted 2 answer the unbeliever's questions. So the boy was given the permission 2 answer by Khalifah.

The Roman addressed the young Muslim and repeated his first question, "What was there before Allah?"

The boy asked, "Do you know how to count?" "Yes," said the man. "Then count down from ten!" So the Roman counted down, "10,9,8 ..." until he reached 1 & stopped counting. "But what comes before '1'?" asked the boy. "There is nothing before 1 tat is it!" said the man. "Well then, if there obviously is nothing before the arithmetic 'one', then how do u expect tat there shoud b anything before the '1' who is Absolute truth, All Eternal, Everlasting the First, the Last, the Manifest, the Hidden?"
Now the man was surprised by this direct answer which he could not dispute.So he asked, "Then tell me, in which direction is Allah facing?"


"Bring a candle & light it," said the boy, "& tell me in which direction the flame is facing." "But the flame is just light- it spreads in each of the 4 directions, North, South, East and West. It does not face any 1 direction only," said the man in wonderment. The boy cried, "Then if this physical light spreads in all 4 directions such tat u can't tell me which way it faces, then what do u expect of the Nur-us-Samawati-wal-'Ard: Allah - the Light of the Heavens & the Earth!? Allah faces all directions at all times". The Roman was astounded tat a young child was answering his challenges in such a way tat he cud not argue against the proofs. So, he desperately wanted to try his final question.

But before doing so, the boy said, "Wait! U r the 1 who is asking the questions & I am the 1 who is giving the answers . It is only fair tat u should cum down 2 where I am standing & I should go up where u r right now, so tat the answers may b heard as clearly as the questions". This seemed reasonable 2 the Roman, so he came down from where he was standing & the boy ascended the platform. Then the man repeated his final challenge, "Tell me, what Allah is doing at this moment?" The boy proudly answered, "At this moment, Allah found tat a non-muslim & mocker of Islam is standing on a high platform, so he brought him down(referring to roman challenger) & raised the status of a muslim (referring himself) by making him stand on a high platform ".The Roman had nothing to say and he accepted Islam immediately . This young boy grew up 2 become 1 of the most famous scholars of Islam. Allah, the Exalted, blessed him with special wisdom & knowledge of the Deen .His name was Abu Hanifah (r.a.) .He is known today as Imam Abu Hanifah (Imam-e-Azam), the Great Imam and scholar of Islam.