Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī

He said: Through this same chain, from the teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ: ʿAlī ibn Yūnus mentioned: Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī related to us: I left Basra and came to Kufa when I heard Abū Ḥanīfa’s name. I entered a mosque in Kufa, thinking it his mosque, but it was al-Aʿmash’s, with his companions inside. I sat with them and posed questions. Al-Aʿmash was absent then; when he entered, we rose for him. His companions said: “This man from Basra poses questions to us.” Al-Aʿmash took my hand and said: “Leave this mosque and go to Abū Ḥanīfa’s mosque: he knows the answers to these questions.”

Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī then said: We sat with al-Battī and thought ourselves jurists. When I sat with Abū Ḥanīfa, it was as though a covering had been removed from my face.

Among the accounts of his generosity is what is recounted of Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī. When he came to Kufa to learn from Abū Ḥanīfa, he first came across al-Aʿmash’s mosque; al-Aʿmash directed him to Abū Ḥanīfa. He studied with him four or five years, then asked to return to Basra. Abū Ḥanīfa told him to wait a week. He then invited him home and produced a written collection of admonitions, including: “Yūsuf, you have learned and become more learned than Basra’s scholars. You probably think that, on entering Basra, you will disregard its jurists, compel them and not be troubled by them.” Yūsuf said this was what he thought. Abū Ḥanīfa warned: “Beware of that. When you enter Basra and jurists and imams visit, honor and respect them. Return their visits and speak kindly to each. If you can send each a gift of good things, do so. If no one visits you, visit them and honor each.” He gave such admonitions, then a thousand dirhams and fine garments as a gift. Yūsuf departed for Basra and said: “I followed Abū Ḥanīfa’s advice, and it benefited me in both worlds.”

Ḥammād's companions included Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī, Abū Burda al-ʿUtbī and Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥanafī—or, in another version, al-Juʿfī. When Ḥammād died, his son did not take his teaching seat because he was not a jurist. Abū Bakr al-Nahshalī did not take it because he was easily wearied, and Abū Burda did not take it. Abū Ḥanīfa therefore took the seat to teach jurisprudence, and Ḥammād's companions gathered around him.

Ibn Abī Laylā, Ibn Shubruma, Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Sufyān al-Thawrī and al-Aʿmash opposed him. He continued until his position became established, without becoming weary. His companions gathered around him: Abū Yūsuf, Zufar, Asad ibn ʿAmr, al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn, al-Walīd, al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād, Dāwūd al-Ṭāʾī, Yūsuf ibn Khālid al-Samtī, Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida, Nūḥ ibn Abī Maryam, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, al-Mughīra ibn Ḥamza and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Forty men among Abū Ḥanīfa's companions composed books on jurisprudence, including the men just mentioned.