The four imaams offered a great service in the field of fiqh and their heritage is great value to the ummah. The earliest of them:

Imaam Abu Haneefah

He is al-Nu'maan bin Thaabit bin Zootaa, he is of Persian-Turkish origin and was born in 80H and died in 150H. From his most well-known teachhers:

• 'Ikrimah, mawlaa of Ibn Abbaas (d. 104H)
• 'Ataa bin Abi Rabaah (d. 114H)
• Naafi', mawlaa of Ibn Umar (d. 117H)
• Hammaad bin Abi Sulaymaan (d. 120H)

His most well-known students:

• Zafar bin al-Hudhayl (d. 158H)
• Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Ansari (d. 182H)
• Muhammad bin al-Hasan al-Shaybani (d. 189H)
• Dawud al-Taalibee
• Asad bin Amr
• al-Hasan bin Ziyaad al-Lu'lu'i al-Kufi (d. 204H)

The foundations of his madhhab:

• The Noble Quran
• The Prophetic Sunnah
• Consensus of the Companions
• Qiyaas
• Istihsaan
• Legislative means to accomplish ends

The spread of his madhhab:

• Iraq
• India
• China
• Central Russian regions

Most famous books of the madhhab:

• Fath al-Qadeer of Ibn al-Humaam (d. 861H)
• Badaa'i al-Sanaa'i of al-Kaasaani (d. 587H).

Refer to (الملخصات الفقهية الميسرة) "Simple, Summarized Fiqh Principles" (Imaad Ali Jumu'ah, 1434H, Dar al-Nafaa'is).