Assalaamu alaykum. Is it true that Abu Haneefah used Kalaam against atheists?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Imaam Abu Haneefah took up ‘Ilm al-Kalaam (scholastic theology) at the beginning not only to refute the claims of the atheists, but also because he thought that it was the best science, then he discovered its reality, that it was not beneficial, so he forbade it afterwards. 

The statements of Imaam Abu Haneefah were quoted by Dr. Muhammad ibn Abdur-Rahmaan Al-Khamees in his dissertation entitled, “The Belief of the Four Imaams”. We will quote his exact words:

(1) Imaam Abu Haneefah said, “The people who follow their desires in Basra are so many. I have been there over twenty times, and I lived there for a year or a little more or less, thinking that ‘Ilm al-Kalaam was the best science.”

(2) He also said, “I took up Kalaam to the extent that it made me prominent in that field; and we used to sit near the study circle of Hammaad ibn Abi Sulaymaan. A woman once came to me and asked, 'A man has a slave wife and he wants to divorce her according to the Sunnah, how many times is he allowed to divorce her?' I did not want to answer her question and I told her to ask Hammaad and then come back and tell me what he had told her. So she asked Hammaad, who answered her, 'He should divorce her one divorce while she is pure from menses and before having sexual intercourse with her (after her being pure from menses), and then he leaves her until she menstruates twice, then if she performs ghusl (ritual bath), then she becomes lawful to marry other men.' So the woman came back and informed me of his answer, so I said, 'I am not in need of Kalaam,' and I took my sandals and I joined Hammaad’s study circle.”

(3) He also said, “May Allaah curse ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd as he opened the door for people to speak about matters that have no benefit of 'Ilm al-Kalaam.”

A man asked him, “What would you say about what people invented in speaking about the tangible and non-tangible things?" and he replied, “These are the statements of philosophers; you should stick to the hadeeth (of the Prophet) and the way of the Salaf (righteous predecessors) and avoid every newly invented matter as it is an innovation.”

(4) Hammaad ibn Abi Haneefah (son of Abu Haneefah) said, “My father – – entered my house once while a group of people of Kalaam advocates were with me, and we were debating about a subject with raised voices. When I heard his voice in the house, I came out to him, and he said to me, 'O Hammaad, who is with you?' I said, so and so, and so and so, and I mentioned their names; and he said, 'What are you debating about?' I said, 'We are debating about such and such subject.' Then he said to me, 'O Hammaad, give up Kalaam.' Hammaad said, 'I did not know my father as someone who would order something and then forbid it. So I said to him, 'O father, did you not command me to take it up?' He said, 'Yes, my son, but today I am forbidding you from it.' I said, 'Why is that?' He said, 'O son, these people who argue about subjects of Kalaam used to have one view and one religion (belief), then the devil incited enmity and differences between them, so they became divided...'”

(5) Abu Haneefah said to Abu Yoosuf, “Beware of speaking to the public about the principles of religion with the views of the people of Kalaam; as they would imitate you and be preoccupied by it.”

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 280561, which highlights that ‘Ilm al-Kalaam is dispraised according to the majority of scholars; but some scholars permitted learning it and learning logic in order to refute the misconceptions of the misguided people.

Allaah knows best.