Seeking a high/short sanad is an established Sunnah. Imam Muslim narrates that a Bedouin came to the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and inquired, “O Muhammad, Your messenger came to us and said such and such”. If seeking a high/short chain was disliked the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم would have reprimanded the bedouin and would have ordered him to suffice on what his messenger had related to him.
Ahmed ibn Hambal said: Seeking a high/short chain is a Sunnah of the Salaf.
He also said: Seeking a high/short chain is part of the Deen.
Muhammad ibn Aslam Tusi said: A close/short chain is closeness to Allah.
Definition of high/close/short chain: A chain with the least amount of links between a person and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Muhadditheen have compiled books in which they have mentioned those narrations where a particular muhaddith has a very high chain. Some complied books called rubaaiyyaat (رباعيات), in which they mention those ahadaith that an author has only 4 links between him and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Others compiled thulathiyaat (ثلاثيات), in which they mention those narrations that only have 3 links between the scholar and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم.
The highest chain that Imam Muslim, Abu Dawud and Nasai have is rubaai. So between them and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم there will be 4 narrators in such chains.
The highest chain that Imam Shafee, Ahmed, Bukhari, Ibn Majah and Tirmithi have is thulathi, so between them and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم there will be 3 narrators in such chains.
Imam Ahmed has over 300 thulathiyaah while Imam Bukhari only has 22 in his Saheeh. Ibn Majah has 5 while Tirmithi only narrates 1 in his Sunan. (These numbers are based on what reached us. An author could also have knowledge of certain high chains of narrations but may not have narrated them.)
When we look at Imam Abu Hanifah we see that he and Imam Malik are the only ones amongst the Aimmah Arba’ah that narrate Thunaaiyyaat (ثنائيات) i.e. where there are only 2 narrators between them and the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. One should also note that none of the authors of the Sihah Sittah have such a high chain.
All the muhadditheen agree that Imam Abu Hanifah saw Anas رضي الله عنه, therefore he is a tabe’e. Many scholars are of the opinion that Imam Abu Hanifah have even narrated from some Sahabah. Therefore he has wuhdaan (وحدان) narrations. Those chains where there is only 1 link between the scholar and the Rasool of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. They say he has narrated from Abdullah ibn Abi A’wfa, Anas ibn Malik, A’mr ibn Hirrith, Abdulah ibn Unais, Abdullah ibn Harith, Wathilah ibn Asqa’ and Abu Tufail Aamir ibn Wathilah رضي الله عنهم. Based on this opinion Imam Abu Hanifah will be the only one of these ten scholars who have wuhdaan hadiths.
If we take the opinion that states he did not narrate from these sahabah then he will still have a very high chain in many ahadith as no one denies that he was a student of many of the great tabe’een.
From the books that have reached us with the ahadith of Imam Abu Hanifah we see that he has over 200 thunaaiyaat (ثنائيات). In all of these ahadith there are only two links between him and the Rasool صلى الله عليه وسلم.
We will give an example of the chains in a chart so one will see the clear distinction.
ابو حنيفة عن نافع عن ابن عمر رضي الله عنهما قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : صلوا في بيوتكم ولا تجعلوها قبورا.
اخرجه الحارثي في مسنده عن علان بن يعقوب العلاف عن عيسى بن عبد الرحمن الربعي ثنا يحيى بن عنبسة ثنا ابو حنيفة # 142
In this hadith Imam Abu Hanifah only has 2 links between him and the Rasool, Ahmed has 4 links, Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmithi and Ibn Majah have 5 links while Nasai has 6.
Out of the 200 plus thunaaiyaat hadiths of Abu Hanifah 26 of them are narrated from Nafe’ a’n Ibn Umar (نافع عن ابن عمر).
Imam Abu Hanifah has countless thulathiyaat (3 links) while Bukhari has but 22. The rubaae’yaat (4 links) which are the shortest chains Muslim have are the longest Imam Abu Hanifah has. There are not more than 4 links between Abu Hanifah and the Rasool صلى الله عليه وسلم in any given hadith.
Subhanallah, how high are his chains!
المصادر
ثنائيات الامام الاعظم ابو حنيفة تاليف عبد العزيز يحيى السعدي
الثلاثيات ثلاثيات الائمة تحقيق علي و احمد
مسند الامام الاعظم للحارثي
مسند احمد
الصحاح السنة
