Zufar, the disciple of Abu Hanifa

Zufar was one of the most important disciples of Abu Hanifa, the eponym of the Hanafi school. However, his figure is little known. Little attention has been paid to his life and almost nothing to his doctrine. This study tries to shed light on the personality of this jurist, on the basis of the few existing biographical information. Since he left no works, perhaps because of his early death, his doctrine emerges from the analysis of quotations found in the sources of the Hanafi school, put in relation to the doctrines expressed both by Abu Hanifa and his main disciples, namely Abu Yusuf and al-Shaybani. From this analysis Zufar emerges as a strict juridically-minded man, rigidly adherent to a legal logic, averse to compromises and ethical considerations, an advocate of the purity of the Islamic principles, and a free-thinker, but not strictly bound to the discipline of his school.