The name occurs in the report content. This does not necessarily constitute a separate biography.
فاختلف العلماء، فقال أكثرهم: هو من العجم. واسمه النعمان بن ثابت من نشاور. وقيل: كان ثابت من أبناء أنبار. وفي رواية أخرى: كان من ترمذ. وهكذا قال ابن ابن أبي حنيفة إسماعيل بن حماد قال: كان جدي أبو حنيفة بن ثابت بن المرزبان من أبناء فارس. وروي أن المرزبان -وهو جد أبي حنيفة- أهدى إلى علي الفالوذج في يوم النيروز. فقال علي : أي شيء هذا؟ قال: هذا نوروزنا. فقال علي : نوروزنا كل يوم. وكان المرزبان أتى بابنه ثابت إلى علي وهو صغير فدعا له علي بالبركة فيه وفي ذريته. فأما الذين قالوا: كان أبو حنيفة من العرب فهو قول أبي مطيع البلخي. قال أبو مطيع: اسم أبي حنيفة نعمان بن ثابت بن يحيى بن زيد بن راشد الأنصاري.
Show English translation
The scholars differed, but most said that he was of non-Arab origin. His name was al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit, from Nashāwar. It was also said that Thābit was one of the people of Anbār; another account places him in Tirmidh. Abū Ḥanīfa’s grandson Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād likewise said: “My grandfather was Abū Ḥanīfa ibn Thābit ibn al-Marzubān, of Persian descent.” It is related that al-Marzubān, Abū Ḥanīfa’s grandfather, presented ʿAlī with fālūdhaj on the day of Nayrūz. ʿAlī asked, “What is this?” He answered, “This is our Nowruz.” ʿAlī said, “Let every day be our Nowruz.” Al-Marzubān brought his young son Thābit to ʿAlī, who prayed for blessing upon him and his descendants. Those who said that Abū Ḥanīfa was Arab followed the statement of Abū Muṭīʿ al-Balkhī. Abū Muṭīʿ said: “Abū Ḥanīfa’s name was Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Yaḥyā ibn Zayd ibn Rāshid al-Anṣārī.”
Sources and text notes
al-Zaranjarī, Manāqib Abī Ḥanīfa · Reading edition: Şimşek & Kütük (2018).
- Şimşek & Kütük (2018), printed page 95 · View source page →
Edition comparison
Checked opening ancestry passage: 2018 printed p. 95; 2021 printed pp. 87–89. The comparison concerns the readings below; the English above follows 2018.
- The 2018 main text reads من نشاور (“from Nashāwar”). The 2021 main text reads من نسا (“from Nasā”); its footnote identifies the other witness’s reading as a corruption.
- In the ancestry attributed to Abū Muṭīʿ, 2018 reads نعمان بن ثابت بن يحيى بن زيد بن راشد الأنصاري. The 2021 text includes بن زوطى [بن] يحيى, adding Zūṭā and marking a supplied “ibn” in brackets.
- The 2021 footnotes also discuss these genealogies and the identification of the places. Editorial explanations are distinct from the transmitted narrative.