Aba Hanafa is one of the leaders of the eighth-century movement toward systematizing the “Sharia,” the name of the sacred law of Islam.

The Sharia (from an Arabic word meaning "path") is based on divine will as revealed in the Koran and the “sunna” (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad).

It also incorporates laws derived from ancient Arabian custom as well as those of the peoples conquered during the first century of Islam.

Aba Hanafa dies in 767 in the Arabic city of Kufa in Mesopotamia.