Bahlool Dana and Abu Hanifa

Synopsis: This post briefly examines the famous Shia story of Bahlool's dialogue with Abu Hanifa. The scope of this post is only to examine this particular story, it does not examine the authenticity of the actual existence of this character (for the record, the earlier Shia rijal sources such as Najashi and Tusi do not mention him, perhaps his earliest mention is in Shaikh al Haeri's Munatahal Maqal; thereby making his existence dubious).

أعيان الشيعة - السيد محسن الأمين - ج ٣ - الصفحة ٦١٧

A'yan al Shia by Syed Muhsin al Amin, Vol 3 Page 617

 ثم إن صاحب المجالس ذكر نقلا عن تاريخ گزيده حكايات للبهلول مع الامام أبي حنيفة وانها كانت في عصر الرشيد مع أن بين وفاة البهلول ووفاة أبي حنيفة نحو أربعين سنة لأن أبا حنيفة توفي سنة 150 والبهلول سنة 190 وادراكه له وان كان ممكنا الا ان جعله ذلك في عصر الرشيد يبطل الخبر من أصله لأن أبا حنيفة لم يعاصر الرشيد بل المنصور، والبهلول ان كان عاصر الصادق ع فقد عاصر المنصور

Qadi Nurullah Shostri had quoted from the book 'Tarikh Guzaidah' interactions of Bahlool with Abu Hanifa during the reign of Caliph Haroon Rashid. However, there is a gap of approximately 40 years between the death of Abu Hanifa and Bahlool, as Abu Hanifa died in 150AH while Bahlool in 190AH. While there is a possibility that Bahlool may have witnessed Abu Hanifa, but the issue of it taking place during the reign of Haroon Rashid renders the whole episode impossible, as Abu Hanifa was not a contemporary of Haroon Rashid but of Caliph Mansoor; and if Bahlool was a contemporary of Imam al Sadiq (as) then he would have been in the era of Mansoor.

تنقيح المقال ـ الجزء الثالث عشر ::: 121 ـ 135

Tanqihul Maqal by Allamah Mamqani, Vol 13 Page 123

  وأقول : ينبغي أن يكون ذهاب أبي حنيفة إلى المنصور دون هارون ؛ لأنّ أبا حنيفة مات سنة مائة وخمسين ، ومات المنصور سنة مائة وثمان وخمسين ، ويومئذ لم يكن هارون خليفة ، وإنّما كان الخليفة المنصور

I say: It is more likely that Abu Hanifa went to complain to Mansoor* instead of Haroon Rashid, as Abu Hanifa died in 150AH while Mansoor died in 158AH (i.e. they were contemporaries) and Mansoor, not Haroon Rashid, was the caliph at that time.

*Author's note: This seems unlikely, as Abu Hanifa is reported to be on bad terms with Caliph Mansoor, who had Abu Hanifa imprisoned and lashed. Moreover, if such an event had occurred to a scholar as famous as Abu Hanifa, that too while he was teaching a class full of students and moreover the incident then got escalated to the caliph of the time; then the incident would surely have been widely reported by all historians.