The Thawri Madh’hab
The Founder: Imam Sufyan ath-Thawri (719-777CE)
Imam Ath-Thawri was born in Kufa. He is a contemporary of Imam Abu Hanifa and was a Hadith and Fiqh expert. In fact, he was the main Fiqh scholar of the Hadith school in Kufa. Abu Hanifa was in the same area, but he wasn’t the leading Fiqh scholar amongst the Hadith schools. He was an independent scholar who did have Hadith background. Imam at-Thawri held similar views to those of Abu Hanifa, that’s why his school didn’t become specifically outstanding because they shared similar ideas.
Being a hadith scholar, he didn’t lean much to Qiyas or Istihsan. He leaned more to direct application of hadiths and avoided the more speculative elements of the Fiqh schools.
Imam Sufyan Ath-Thawri was a very outspoken scholar. The officials of the Abbasid state tried to bring him under their control, but he would reject their advances and wouldn’t accept any positions they offered him. When Caliph Al-Mansour sent him a letter requesting him to be the judge of Kufa on condition that he didn’t make any ruling or judgment in opposition to state policy, he threw up the letter and threw it in disgust in the Tigris river. Word came to al-Mansour and they sent troops to him, and he had to remain in hiding. He remained so until he died in 777CE.
In spite of the fact that he did have some students, One of his main students Ammar ibn Saif, who used to record his rulings and try to stick with him, was requested by Imam Ath-Thawri in his will to have all his writing erased and the books burnt. He did it because of his belief that the rulings he made were rulings for his time, and didn’t need to be carried on after. What he narrated of hadith weren’t erased however, just the Fiqh rulings. This is the same position Abu Hanifa held.
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