DUSHANBE, September 23, 2009, Asia-Plus — Some 500 researchers from 46 countries have already confirmed their participation at an international conference formally titled “Heritage of Imam Abu Hanifa in the Context of Inter-Civilization Dialogue: Past and Present” that is expected to take place in Dushanbe on October 5-6 this year.
Davlat Nazriyev, the head of the Tajik MFA information department, told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon that the conference dedicated to the 1310th anniversary of Abu Hanifa consists of two plenary sessions and four scientific sessions.
President Emomali Rahmon and heads of foreign delegations will deliver statements at the conference.
The most dignified delegation numbering 70 people will arrive from the Russian Federation. Besides, 60 researchers from Saudi Arabia and 30 from the United States will arrive in Dushanbe to attend the conference, the MFA spokesman said. According to him, delegations from all Central Asia’s states as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and other member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will also take part at the conference. “The majority of delegates are Muslim clerics and religious and specialists in Islam,” he said.
Nazriyev further added that it could not be ruled out that the number of the conference participants might increase because “the conference aroused great interest throughout the world and the MFA is continuing to receive the participation applications.”
Numan Ibn Thabit ibn Zuta ibn Marzuban, known as Abu Hanifa, (699-767) was founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Acclaimed as Al-Imam al-Azam, or Al-Adham (the Great Imam), he was better known by his kunya Abu Hanifa.
The Hanafi school is one of the four schools of law or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam (The other three schools of thought are Shafi’I, Maliki, and Hanbali). Among the four established Sunni schools of legal thought in Islam, the Hanafi school is the oldest. It has a reputation for putting greater emphasis on the role of reason and being slightly more liberal than the other three schools. The Hanafi school also has the most followers among the four major Sunni schools.
