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Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist,
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
,
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
traditionist, and founder of the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
school of Sunni jurisprudence — one of the four major orthodox legal schools of
Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...
. A highly influential and active scholar during his lifetime,H. Laoust, "Ahmad b. Hanbal," in ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', Vol. I, pp. 272-7 Ibn Hanbal went on to become "one of the most venerated" intellectual figures in
Islamic history The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic, military, and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization. Most historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE. Muslims ...
, who has had a "profound influence affecting almost every area of" the traditionalist perspective within Sunni Islam.Holtzman, Livnat, “Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. One of the foremost classical proponents of relying on scriptural sources as the basis for Sunni Islamic law and way of life, Ibn Hanbal compiled one of the most important Sunni hadith collections, the ''Musnad'', which has continued to exercise considerable influence in the field of
hadith studies Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism) consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
up to the present time. Having studied
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
and
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
under many teachers during his youth, Ibn Hanbal became famous in his later life for the crucial role he played in the
Mihna The Mihna ( ar, محنة خلق القرآن, ''Miḥnat k͟halaq al-Qurʾān'' "ordeal egardingthe createdness of the Qur'an") refers to the period of religious persecution instituted by the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE in which relig ...
, the inquisition instituted by the ''Abbasid'' Caliph
al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'm ...
towards the end of his reign, in which the ruler gave official state support to the Muʿtazilite
dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
of the Quran being created, a view that contradicted the orthodox doctrine of the Quran being the
eternal Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to: * Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state * Immortality or eternal life * God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism Comics, film and television * ...
, uncreated Word of God. Suffering physical persecution under the caliph for his unflinching adherence to the traditional doctrine, Ibn Hanbal's fortitude in this particular event only bolstered his "resounding reputation" in the annals of Sunni history. Throughout Sunni Islamic history, Ibn Hanbal was venerated as an exemplary figure in all the traditional schools of Sunni thought, both by the exoteric
ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
and by the mystics, with the latter often designating him as a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...
in their hagiographies.Christopher Melchert, The Ḥanābila and the Early Sufis, Arabica, T. 48, Fasc. 3 (Brill, 2001), p. 356 The fourteenth-century
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
master
al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
referred to Ibn Hanbal as "the true Shaykh of Islām and leader of the Muslims in his time, the ḥadīth master and Proof of the Religion."Gibril F. Haddad, ''The Four Imams and Their Schools'' (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 301 In the modern era, Ibn Hanbal's name has become controversial in certain quarters of the Islamic world, because the Hanbali reform movement known as
Wahhabism Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
has cited him as a principal influence along with the thirteenth-century Hanbali reformer
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...
. However it has been argued by certain scholars that Ibn Hanbal's own beliefs actually played "no real part in the establishment of the central doctrines of Wahhabism,"Michael Cook, “On the Origins of Wahhābism,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jul., 1992), p. 198 as there is evidence, according to the same authors, that "the older Hanbalite authorities had doctrinal concerns very different from those of the Wahhabis," rich as medieval Hanbali literature is in references to saints, grave visitation, miracles, and relics. In this connection, scholars have cited Ibn Hanbal's own support for the use of relics as simply one of several important points upon which the theologian's opinions diverged from those of Wahhabism.Gibril F. Haddad, ''The Four Imams and Their Schools'' (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 390 Other scholars maintain that Ahmād Ibn Hānbal was "the distant progenitor of Wahhābism" who also immensely inspired the conservative reform movement of ''
Salafiyya The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...
''.


Biography


Early life and family

Ahmad ibn Hanbal's family was originally from
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, and belonged to the
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Banu Dhuhl tribe. His father was an officer in the Abbasid army in
Khurasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plat ...
and later settled with his family in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, where Ahmad was born in 780 CE.Roy Jackson, "Fifty key figures in Islam", Taylor & Francis, 2006. p 44: "Abu Abdallah Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ibn Hilal al-Shaybani was born in Baghdad in Iraq in 780" Ibn Hanbal had two wives and several children, including an older son, who later became a judge in
Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...
.Foundations of the Sunnah, by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, pg 51-173


Education and work

Imam Ahmad studied extensively in Baghdad, and later traveled to further his education. He started learning jurisprudence (Fiqh) under the celebrated Hanafi judge,
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari () better known as Abu Yusuf ( ar, أبو يوسف, Abū Yūsuf) (d.798) was a student of jurist Abu Hanifa (d.767) who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the gove ...
, the renowned student and companion of Imaam
Abu Hanifah Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān ( ar, نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان; –767), commonly known by his '' kunya'' Abū Ḥanīfa ( ar, أبو حنيفة), or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Mu ...
. After finishing his studies with Abu Yusuf, ibn Hanbal began traveling through Iraq,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, and
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
to collect hadiths, or traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. Ibn al-Jawzi states that Imam Ahmad had 414 Hadith masters whom he narrated from. With this knowledge, he became a leading authority on the hadith, leaving an immense encyclopedia of hadith, ''
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal ''Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal'' ( ar, مسند أحمد بن حنبل) is a collection of musnad hadith compiled by the Islamic scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH/855 AD) to whom the Hanbali fiqh (legislation) is attributed. Description It is on ...
''. After several years of travel, he returned to Baghdad to study Islamic law under
Al-Shafi'i Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ ٱلشَّافِعِيُّ, 767–19 January 820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and schol ...
. Ahmad became a mufti in his old age, and founded the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
madhab A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within '' fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centurie ...
, or school of Islamic law, which is now most dominant in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Unlike the other three schools of Islamic jurisprudence (
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
,
Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as prima ...
, and
Shafi The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
), the Hanbali madhab remained largely traditionalist or
Athari Atharī theology or Atharism ( ar, الأثرية: / , "archeological"), otherwise referred to as Traditionalist theology or Scripturalist theology, is one of the main Sunni schools of Islamic theology. It emerged as an Islamic scholarly moveme ...
in theology. In addition to his scholastic enterprises, ibn Hanbal was a soldier on the Islamic frontiers (Ribat) and made Hajj five times in his life, twice on foot.


Death

Ibn Hanbal died on Friday, 12 Rabi-ul-awwal, 241 AH/ 2 August, 855 at the age of 74–75 in Baghdad, Iraq. Historians relate that his funeral was attended by 800,000 men and 60,000 women and that 20,000 Christians and Jews converted to Islam on that day. His '' qabr'' (grave) is located in the premises of the Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal Shrine in Ar-Rusafa District.


The Mihna

Ibn Hanbal was known to have been called before the Inquisition or Mihna of the Abbasid
Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
Al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'm ...
. Al-Ma'mun wanted to assert the religious authority of the Caliph by pressuring scholars to adopt the
Mu'tazila Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islami ...
view that the Qur'an was created rather than uncreated. According to Sunni tradition, ibn Hanbal was among the scholars to resist the Caliph's interference and the Mu'tazili doctrine of a created Qur'an. Ibn Hanbal's stand against the inquisition by the
Mu'tazila Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islami ...
(who had been the ruling authority at the time) led to the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
school establishing itself firmly as not only a school of
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
(legal jurisprudence), but of
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
as well. Due to his refusal to accept Mu'tazilite authority, ibn Hanbal was imprisoned in Baghdad throughout the reign of
al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'm ...
. In an incident during the rule of al-Ma'mun's successor,
al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ( ar, أبو إسحاق محمد بن هارون الرشيد; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling ...
, ibn Hanbal was flogged to unconsciousness. However, this caused upheaval in Baghdad and al-Mu'tasim was forced to release ibn Hanbal. After al-Mu’tasim's death,
al-Wathiq Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ( ar, أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد المعتصم; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), better known by his regnal name al-Wāthiq bi’llāh (, ), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 until 84 ...
became caliph and continued his predecessor's policies of Mu'tazilite enforcement and in this pursuit, he banished ibn Hanbal from Baghdad. It was only after al-Wathiq's death and the ascent of his brother
al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was ...
, who was much friendlier to the more traditional Sunni beliefs, that ibn Hanbal was welcomed back to Baghdad.


Views and thought

Ibn Hanbal's principal doctrine is what later came to be known as "traditionalist thought," which emphasized the acceptance of only the
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
and
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
as the foundations of orthodox belief. He did, however, believe that it was only a select few who were properly authorized to interpret the sacred texts.


Theology


God

Ibn Hanbal understood the perfect definition of
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
to be that given in the
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
, whence he held that proper belief in God constituted believing in the description which God had given of Himself in the Islamic scripture. To begin with, Ibn Hanbal asserted that God was both Unique and Absolute and absolutely incomparable to anything in the world of His creatures. As for the various
divine attributes The attributes of God are specific characteristics of God discussed in Christian theology. Christians are not monolithic in their understanding of God's attributes. Classification Many Reformed theologians distinguish between the ''communica ...
, Ibn Hanbal believed that all the regular
attributes of God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
, such as hearing, sight, speech, omnipotence, will, wisdom, the vision by the believers on the day of resurrection etc., were to be literally affirmed as "realities" (''ḥaqq''). As for those attributes called "ambiguous" (''mutas̲h̲ābih''), such as those which spoke of God's hand, face,
throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mon ...
, and
omnipresence Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to descri ...
,
vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
by the believers on the
day of resurrection In Islam, "the promise and threat" () of Judgment Day ( ar, یوم القيامة, Yawm al-qiyāmah, Day of Resurrection or ar, یوم الدین, italic=no, Yawm ad-din, Day of Judgement), when "all bodies will be resurrected" from the dead, ...
, etc. they were to be understood in the same manner. Ibn Hanbal treated those verses in the scriptures with apparently anthropomorphic descriptions as ''muhkamat'' (clear) verses; admitting to only a literal meaning. Furthermore, Ibn Hanbal "rejected the negative theology (''taʿṭīl'') of the Jahmiyya and their particular allegorizing exegesis (''taʾwīl'') of the Quran and of tradition, and no less emphatically criticized the
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
(''tas̲h̲bīh'') of the Mus̲h̲abbiha, amongst whom he included, in the scope of his polemics, the Jahmiyya as unconscious anthropomorphists." Ibn Hanbal was also a critic of overt and unnecessary speculation in matters of
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
; he believed that it was fair to worship God "without the 'mode' of the theologoumena (''bilā kayf''), and felt it was wise to leave to God the understanding of His own mystery. Thus, Ibn Hanbal became a strong proponent of the ''bi-lā kayfa'' formula. This mediating principle allowed the traditionalists to deny ''ta'wil'' (figurative interpretations) of the apparently anthropomorphic texts while concomitantly affirming the doctrine of the "incorporeal, transcendent deity". Although he argued for literalist meanings of the ''
Qur'anic The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
'' and prophetic statements about God, Ibn Hanbal was not a fideist and was willing to engage in hermeneutical exercises. The rise of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the ''
Ashab al-Hadith Ahl al-Ḥadīth ( ar, أَهْل الحَدِيث, translation=The People of Hadith) was an Islamic school of Sunni Islam that emerged during the 2nd/3rd Islamic centuries of the Islamic era (late 8th and 9th century CE) as a movement of had ...
'', whose cause he championed, during the ''
Mihna The Mihna ( ar, محنة خلق القرآن, ''Miḥnat k͟halaq al-Qurʾān'' "ordeal egardingthe createdness of the Qur'an") refers to the period of religious persecution instituted by the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE in which relig ...
''; would mark the stage for the empowerment and centering of corporealist ideas in the Sunnite orthodoxy. Ibn Hanbal also recognized "Divine Form (''Al-Şūrah'')" as a true attribute of God. He disagreed with those speculative theologians who interpreted the Divine Form as something that represents pseudo-divinities such as the sun, moon, stars, etc. For Ibn Hanbal, to deny that God truly has a Form is
Kufr Kafir ( ar, كافر '; plural ', ' or '; feminine '; feminine plural ' or ') is an Arabic and Islamic term which, in the Islamic tradition, refers to a person who disbelieves in God as per Islam, or denies his authority, or rejects ...
(disbelief). He also believed that God created Adam "according to His form". Censuring those who alleged that this was referring to the form of
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, Ibn Hanbal asserted:
"He who says that Allah created Adam according to the form of Adam, he is a Jahmi (disbeliever). Which form did Adam have before He created him?"


The Quran

One of Ibn Hanbal's most famous contributions to
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...
thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...
was the considerable role he played in bolstering the orthodox
doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...
of the Quran being the " uncreated Word of God" (''kalām Allāh g̲h̲ayr mak̲h̲lūḳ''). By "Quran," Ibn Hanbal understood "not just an abstract idea but the Quran with its letters, words, expressions, and ideas—the Quran in all its living reality, whose nature ''in itself''," according to Ibn Hanbal, eluded human comprehension.


''Taqlid''

Ahmad ibn Hanbal favoured ''
Ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...
'' and rejected ''
Taqlid ''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
''; the practise of blind adherence to ''
madhabs A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE an ...
'' (legal schools). Ahmad ibn Hanbal's staunch condemnation of ''Taqlid'' is reported in Hanbali ''
Qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hassan's treatise (1196-1285 A.H / 1782-1868 C.E) ''Fath al-Majeed''. Comparing ''Taqlid'' to ''
Shirk Shirk may refer to: * Shirk (surname) * Shirk (Islam), in Islam, the sin of idolatry or associating beings or things with Allah * Shirk, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Shirk-e Sorjeh, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran ...
'' (polytheism), ibn Hanbal states:
"I am amazed at those people who know that a '' Sanad'' (i.e. Chain of Transmission) is authentic and yet, in spite of this, they follow the opinion of Sufyan, for Allah (Glorified be He), says: . (
An-Nur Light ( ar, النور, ; The Light) is the 24th chapter of the Quran with 64 verses. The surah takes its name, An Nur, from verse 35. Summary *1 This chapter revealed from heaven *2-3 Law relating to fornication *4-5 Punishment for defa ...
: 63) Do you know what that ''Fitnah'' is? That Fitnah is ''Shirk'' (polytheism). Maybe the rejection of some of his words would cause one to doubt and deviate in his heart and thereby be destroyed."


Intercession

It is narrated by Abū Bakr al-Marwazī in his ''Mansak'' that Ibn Hanbal preferred one to make ''tawassul'' or "intercession" through the Prophet in every supplication, with the wording: "O God! I am turning to Thee with Thy Prophet, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad! I am turning with you to my Lord for the fulfillment of my need." This report is repeated in many later Hanbali works, in the context of personal supplication as an issue of jurisprudence.
Ibn Qudamah Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī Muwaffaq al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad ( ar, ابن قدامة المقدسي موفق الدين ابو محمد عبد الله بن احمد بن محمد ; 1147 - 7 July 1223), often re ...
, for example, recommends it for the obtainment of need in his ''Wasiyya''. In the same way,
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...
cites the Hanbali fatwa on the desirability of the Prophet's intercession in every personal supplication in his ''Qāida fil-Tawassul wal-Wasiīla'' where he attributes it to "Imām Ahmad and a group of the pious ancestors" from the ''Mansak'' of al-Marwazī as his source.


Mysticism

As there exist historical sources indicating patently "mystical elements in his personal piety" and documented evidence of his amiable interactions with numerous early Sufi saints, including
Maruf Karkhi Maʿrūf Karkhī ( fa, معروف کرخی), known also by his full name Abū Maḥfūẓ Maʿrūf Ibn Firūz al-Karkhī, was a Sufi Muslim saint. Biography Maruf was born in the district of Wasit or Karkh in Baghdad. His father's name was Fi ...
, it is recognized that Ibn Hanbal's relationship with many of the Sufis was one of mutual respect and admiration. Qadi Abu Ya'la reports in his ''Tabaqat'': " bn Hanbalused to greatly respect the Sūfīs and show them kindness and generosity. He was asked about them and was told that they sat in mosques constantly to which he replied, 'Knowledge made them sit.'" Furthermore, it is in Ibn Hanbal's ''Musnad'' that we find most of the
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
reports concerning the
abdal Abdāl () ''lit'': substitutes, but which can also mean "generous" 'karīm''and "noble" 'sharīf'' is a term used in Islamic metaphysics and Islamic mysticism, both Sunni and Shiite, to refer to a particularly important group of God's saints. ...
, forty major saints "whose number ccording to Islamic mystical doctrinewould remain constant, one always being replaced by some other on his death" and whose key role in the traditional Sufi conception of the celestial hierarchy would be detailed by later mystics such as
Hujwiri Abu 'l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAlī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī (c. 1009-1072/77), known as ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or al-Hujwīrī (also spelt Hajweri, Hajveri, or Hajvery) for short, or reverentially as Shaykh Syed ʿAlī al- ...
and
Ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influen ...
. It has been reported that Ibn Hanbal explicitly identified
Maruf Karkhi Maʿrūf Karkhī ( fa, معروف کرخی), known also by his full name Abū Maḥfūẓ Maʿrūf Ibn Firūz al-Karkhī, was a Sufi Muslim saint. Biography Maruf was born in the district of Wasit or Karkh in Baghdad. His father's name was Fi ...
as one of the
abdal Abdāl () ''lit'': substitutes, but which can also mean "generous" 'karīm''and "noble" 'sharīf'' is a term used in Islamic metaphysics and Islamic mysticism, both Sunni and Shiite, to refer to a particularly important group of God's saints. ...
, saying: "He is one of the Substitute-Saints, and his supplication is answered."Gibril F. Haddad, ''The Four Imams and Their Schools'' (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 387 Of the same Sufi, Ibn Hanbal later asked rhetorically: "Is religious knowledge anything else than what Maruf has achieved?" Additionally, there are accounts of Ibn Hanbal extolling the early ascetic saint Bishr the Barefoot and his sister as two exceptional devotees of God, and of his sending people with mystical questions to Bishr for guidance. It is also recorded that Ibn Hanbal said, with regard to the early Sufis, "I do not know of any people better than them." Moreover, there are accounts of Ibn Hanbal's son, Sālih, being exhorted by his father to go and study under the Sufis. According to one tradition, Sālih said: "My father would send for me whenever a self-denier or ascetic (''zāhid aw mutaqashshif'') visited him so I could look at him. He loved for me to become like this." As for the Sufis' reception of Ibn Hanbal, it is evident that he was "held in high regard" by all the major Sufis of the classical and medieval periods,Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, ''Al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al-Tayyib'', trans. Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald and Moulay Youssef Slitine as ''The Invocation of God'' (London: Islamic Texts Society, 2000), p. 153 (note by Timothy Winter) and later Sufi chroniclers often designated the jurist as a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...
in their hagiographies, praising him both for his legal work and for his appreciation of Sufi doctrine.
Hujwiri Abu 'l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAlī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī (c. 1009-1072/77), known as ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or al-Hujwīrī (also spelt Hajweri, Hajveri, or Hajvery) for short, or reverentially as Shaykh Syed ʿAlī al- ...
, for example, wrote of him: "He was distinguished by devoutness and piety ... Sufis of all orders regard him as blessed. He associated with great Shaykhs, such as Dhul-Nun of Egypt,
Bishr al-Hafi Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith () better known as Bishr al-Ḥāfī (Bishr the Barefoot) () was a Muslim saint born near Merv in about 767 C.E. He converted and studied Muslim tradition under Al-Fozail ibn Iyaz. Bishr became famous as one of the greate ...
,
Sari al-Saqati Abū al-Ḥasan Sarī (al-Sirrī) b. al-Mughallis al-Saqaṭī (867CE) also known as Sirri Saqti (Arabic:سری سقطی) was one of the early Muslim Sufi saints of Baghdad. He was one of the most influential students of Maruf Karkhi and one o ...
,
Maruf Karkhi Maʿrūf Karkhī ( fa, معروف کرخی), known also by his full name Abū Maḥfūẓ Maʿrūf Ibn Firūz al-Karkhī, was a Sufi Muslim saint. Biography Maruf was born in the district of Wasit or Karkh in Baghdad. His father's name was Fi ...
, and others. His miracles were manifest and his intelligence sound ... He had a firm belief in the principles of religion, and his creed was approved by all the heologians" Both non-Hanbali and Hanbali Sufi hagiographers such as Hujwiri and
Ibn al-Jawzi ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Abu 'l-Faras̲h̲ b. al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي, ''Ibn al-Jawzī''; ca. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, or reverentially as ''Imam Ibn al-Jawzī'' by ...
, respectively, also alluded to Ibn Hanbal's own gifts as a
miracle worker Thaumaturgy is the purported capability of a magician to work magic or other paranormal events or a saint to perform miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking. A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a "thaumaturge", "thauma ...
and of the blessedness of his grave. For example, Ibn Hanbal's own body was traditionally held to have been blessed with the miracle of
incorruptibility Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...
, with Ibn al-Jawzi relating: "When the Prophet's descendant Abū Ja'far ibn Abī Mūsā was buried next to him, Ahmad ibn Hanbal's tomb was exposed. His corpse had not putrified and the shroud was still whole and undecayed." Although there is a perception that Ibn Hanbal or his school were somehow adverse to Sufism, scholars such as Eric Geoffrey have asserted that this opinion is more partial than objective, for there is no proof that the Hanbali school " ttackedSufism in itself any more than any other school,"Eric Geoffrey, ''Introduction to Sufism: The Inner Path of Islam'' (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2010), p. 121 and it is evident that "during the first centuries some major Sufis uch_as_Ibn_Ata_Allah,_Hallaj.html" ;"title="Ibn_Ata_Allah.html" ;"title="uch as Ibn Ata Allah">uch as Ibn Ata Allah, Hallaj">Ibn_Ata_Allah.html" ;"title="uch as Ibn Ata Allah">uch as Ibn Ata Allah, Hallaj, and Abdullah Ansari] ... followed the Hanbalite school of law." By the twelfth-century, the relationship between Hanbalism and Sufism was so close that one of the most prominent Hanbali jurists,
Abdul Qadir Jilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...
, was also simultaneously the most famous Sufi of his era, and the ''
Tariqa A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking '' haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...
'' that he founded, the
Qadiriyya The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ...
, has continued to remain one of the most widespread Sufi orders up until the present day. Even later Hanbali authors who were famous for criticizing some of the "deviances" of certain heterodox Sufi orders of their day, such as
Ibn Qudamah Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī Muwaffaq al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad ( ar, ابن قدامة المقدسي موفق الدين ابو محمد عبد الله بن احمد بن محمد ; 1147 - 7 July 1223), often re ...
,
Ibn al-Jawzi ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Abu 'l-Faras̲h̲ b. al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي, ''Ibn al-Jawzī''; ca. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, or reverentially as ''Imam Ibn al-Jawzī'' by ...
, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, all belonged to
Abdul Qadir Jilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...
's order themselves, and never condemned Sufism outright.


Relics

As has been noted by scholars, it is evident that Ibn Hanbal "believed in the power of relics," and supported the seeking of
blessing In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will. Etymology and Germanic paganism The modern English language term ''bless'' likely ...
through them in religious veneration. Indeed, several accounts of Ibn Hanbal's life relate that he often carried "a purse ... in his sleeve containing ... hairs from the Prophet." Furthermore,
Ibn al-Jawzi ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Abu 'l-Faras̲h̲ b. al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي, ''Ibn al-Jawzī''; ca. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, or reverentially as ''Imam Ibn al-Jawzī'' by ...
relates a tradition narrated by Ibn Hanbal's son Abdullah, who recalled his father's devotion towards relics thus: "I saw my father take one of the Prophet's hairs, place it over his mouth, and kiss it. I may have seen him place it over his eyes, and dip it in water and then drink the water for a cure."Ibn al-Jawzī, ''The Life of Ibn Hanbal'', XXIV.2, trans. Michael Cooperson (New York: New York University Press, 2016), p. 89 In the same way, Ibn Hanbal also drunk from the Prophet's bowl (technically a "second-class" relic) in order to seek blessings from it, and considered touching and kissing the sacred
minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, '' khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits a ...
of the Prophet for blessings a permissible and pious act. Ibn Hanbal later ordered that he be buried with the hairs of the Prophet he possessed, "one on each eye and a third on his tongue." Sufi scholar
Gibril Haddad Gibril Fouad Haddad (born 1960) ( ar-at, جبريل فؤاد حداد; ) is a Lebanese-born Islamic scholar, hadith expert (''muhaddith''), author, and translator of classical Islamic texts. He was featured in the inaugural list of ''The 500 Mo ...
reports from
al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
that Ibn Hanbal "used to seek blessings from the relics of the Prophet." Citing the aforementioned report of Ibn Hanbal's devotion towards the Prophet's hair, al-Dhahabī then goes onto staunchly criticize whoever finds fault with the practices of ''tabarruk'' or seeking blessings from holy relics, saying: "Where is the quibbling critic of Imām Ahmad now? It is also authentically established that Abd Allāh bn Hanbal's sonasked his father about those who touch the pommel of the Prophet's pulpit and touch the wall of the Prophet's room, and he said: 'I do not see any harm in it.' May God protect us and you from the opinion of the dissenters and from innovations!" When asked by his son Abdullah about the legitimacy of touching and kissing the grave of the Prophet in
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
, Ibn Hanbal is said to have approved of both these acts as being permissible according to sacred law.


Jurisprudence

According to Hanbali scholar Najm al-Din Tufi (d. 716 A.H/ 1316 C.E), Ahmad ibn Hanbal did not formulate a legal theory; since "his entire concern was with ''
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'' and its collection". More than a century after Ahmad's death, Hanbali legalism would emerge as a distinct school; due to the efforts of jurists like Abu Bakr al-Athram (d. 261 A.H/ 874 C.E), Harb al-Kirmani (d. 280 A.H/ 893 C.E), 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad (d. 290 A.H/903 C.E),
Abu Bakr al-Khallal ʾAḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Yazīd al Baghdādī () better known as Abū Bakr al Khalāl, was a Medieval Muslim jurist."Khallal, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Harun al-" aThe Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History Ed. ...
(d. 311 A.H/ 923 C.E) etc., who compiled Ahmad's various legal verdicts.


Independent reasoning by muftis

Ibn Hanbal also had a strict criterion for
ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...
or independent reasoning in matters of law by muftis and the
ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
.Gibril F. Haddad, ''The Four Imams and Their Schools'' (London: Muslim Academic Trust, 2007), p. 306 One story narrates that Ibn Hanbal was asked by Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Ḍarīr about "how many memorized ḥadīths are sufficient for someone to be a
mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...
eaning_a_''mujtahid''_jurist_or_one_capable_of_issuing_independently-reasoned_fatwas.html" ;"title="jurist.html" ;"title="eaning a ''mujtahid'' jurist">eaning a ''mujtahid'' jurist or one capable of issuing independently-reasoned fatwas">jurist.html" ;"title="eaning a ''mujtahid'' jurist">eaning a ''mujtahid'' jurist or one capable of issuing independently-reasoned fatwas]." According to the narrative, Zakariyyā asked: "Are one-hundred thousand sufficient?" to which Ibn Hanbal responded in the negative, with Zakariyyā asking if two-hundred thousand were, to which he received the same response from the jurist. Thus, Zakariyyā kept increasing the number until, at five-hundred thousand, Ibn Hanbal said: "I hope that that should be sufficient." As a result, it has been argued that Ibn Hanbal disapproved of independent reasoning by those muftis who were not absolute masters in law and jurisprudence.


Misusing ''ahadith''

Ibn Hanbal narrated from Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān that the latter said: "If someone were to follow every '' rukhṣa'' ispensationthat is in the ḥadīth, he would become a transgressor (''fāsiq'')." It is believed that he quoted this on account of the vast number of forged traditions of the Prophet.


Private interpretation

Ibn Hanbal appears to have been a formidable opponent of "private interpretation," and actually held that it was only the religious scholars who were qualified to properly interpret the holy texts. One of the creeds attributed to Ibn Hanbal opens with: "Praise be to God, who in every age and interval between
prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
(''fatra'') elevated learned men possessing excellent qualities, who call upon him who goes astray (to return) to the right way." It has been pointed out that this particular creed "explicitly opposes the use of personal judgement (''raʾy'') ... s basisof
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...
."


Ethics


Differences of opinion

Ibn Hanbal was praised both in his own life and afterwards for his "serene acceptance of juridicial divergences among the various schools of Islamic law". According to later notable scholars of the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
school like Ibn Aqil and
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...
, Ibn Hanbal "considered every
madhhab A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within '' fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centurie ...
correct and abhorred that a jurist insist people follow his even if he considered them wrong and even if the truth is one in any given matter." As such, when Ibn Hanbal's student Ishāq ibn Bahlūl al-Anbārī had "compiled a book on juridicial differences ... which he had named ''The Core of Divergence'' (''Lubāb al-Ikhtilāf'')," Ibn Hanbal advised him to name the work ''The Book of Leeway'' (''Kitāb al-Sa'a'') instead.


Works

The following books are found in Ibn al-Nadim's ''
Fihrist The ''Kitāb al-Fihrist'' ( ar, كتاب الفهرست) (''The Book Catalogue'') is a compendium of the knowledge and literature of tenth-century Islam compiled by Ibn Al-Nadim (c.998). It references approx. 10,000 books and 2,000 authors.''The ...
'': * ''Usool as-Sunnah'': "Foundations of the Prophetic Tradition (in Belief)" * ''as-Sunnah'': "The Prophet Tradition (in Belief)" * ''Kitab al-`Ilal wa Ma‘rifat al-Rijal'': "The Book of Narrations Containing Hidden Flaws and of Knowledge of the Men (of Hadeeth)" Riyad: Al-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah * ''Kitab al-Manasik'': "The Book of the Rites of Hajj" * ''Kitab al-Zuhd'': "The Book of Abstinence" ed. Muhammad Zaghlul, Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi, 1994 * ''Kitab al-Iman'': "The Book of Faith" * ''Kitab al-Masa'il'': "Issues in Fiqh" * ''Kitab al-Ashribah'': "The Book of Drinks" * ''Kitab al-Fada'il Sahaba'': "Virtues of the Companions" * ''Kitab Tha'ah al-Rasul'' : "The Book of Obedience to the Messenger" * ''Kitab Mansukh'': "The Book of Abrogation" * ''Kitab al-Fara'id'': "The Book of Obligatory Duties" * ''Kitab al-Radd `ala al-Zanadiqa wa'l-Jahmiyya'': "Refutations of the Heretics and the Jahmites" (Cairo: 1973) * ''Tafsir'': "Exegesis" * ''
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal ''Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal'' ( ar, مسند أحمد بن حنبل) is a collection of musnad hadith compiled by the Islamic scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH/855 AD) to whom the Hanbali fiqh (legislation) is attributed. Description It is on ...
''


Historical views

Ibn Hanbal has been extensively praised for both his work in the field of prophetic tradition (''hadith''), jurisprudence, and his defense of orthodox Sunni theology.
Abdul-Qadir Gilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...
stated that a Muslim could not truly be a
wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
of
Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...
except that they were upon Ibn Hanbal's creed; despite praise from his contemporaries as well,
Yahya ibn Ma'in Yaḥyā ibn Maʻīn ( ar, يحيى بن معين) (774-847), was a great classical Islamic scholar in the field of hadith of Persian origin. He was a close friend of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Ibn Ma'in is known to have spent all of his inheritance ...
noted that Ibn Hanbal never boasted about his achievements.


Jurisprudence

There have some alleged views that his juristic views were not always accepted. Qur'anic
exegete Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations ...
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
, who at one time had sought to study under Ibn Hanbal, later stated that he did not consider Ibn Hanbal a jurist and gave his views in the field no weight, describing him as an expert in prophetic tradition only. However this must be seen in context of its time, as Ibn Hanbal's school was still at its infancy and not followed by so many people yet compared to the other schools and the students had conflict with Al-Tabari's school. Consider how the ''Masa'il'' of Imam Ahmad, i.e. the first written compilation of Ibn Hanbal's question and answers, was written by
Abu Bakr al-Khallal ʾAḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Yazīd al Baghdādī () better known as Abū Bakr al Khalāl, was a Medieval Muslim jurist."Khallal, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Harun al-" aThe Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History Ed. ...
who lived around the same time as Al-Tabari, and the first written compilation of Ibn Hanbal's fiqh was Al-Khiraqi who also lived around that same time. The more systematic teaching of Ibn Hanbal's jurisprudence in education facilities only occurred after that point. Likewise, some consider how the Andalusian scholar
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Abū ʿUmar al-Namarī al-Andalusī al-Qurṭubī al-Mālikī, commonly known as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr ( ar, ابن عبد البر)
did not include Ibn Hanbal or his views in his book ''The Hand-Picked Excellent Merits of the Three Great Jurisprudent Imâms'' about the main representatives of Sunni jurisprudence. However, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr actually has praised Ibn Hanbal's jurisprudence by saying "He is very powerful in the fiqh of the madhab of the ahl al-hadith and he is the Imam of the 'ulama of ahl al-hadith." Be that as it may, the vast majority of other scholars do recognize Ibn Hanbal's prowess as a master jurist worthy of one who's methodology became foundation for its own school of jurisprudence. Imam Shafi'i said, among many other praises, "Ahmad is an Imam in eight fields: he is an imam in ''hadith'', jurisprudence, ''Al-Qur'an, Al-Lughah, Al-Sunnah, Al-Zuhd, Al-Warak, and Al-Faqr''".
Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, one of the most major Islamic biographers, notes in his masterpiece ''Siyar A'lam Nubala'' that Ibn Hanbal's status in jurisprudence is alike
Al-Layth ibn Sa'd Al-Layth ibn Saʿd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Fahmī al-Qalqashandī ( ar, الليث بن سعد بن عبد الرحمن الفهمي القلقشندي) was the chief representative, imam, and eponym of the Laythi school of Islamic Jurispruden ...
,
Malik ibn Anas Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, ‎ 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
,
Al-Shafi'i Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ ٱلشَّافِعِيُّ, 767–19 January 820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and schol ...
, and
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari () better known as Abu Yusuf ( ar, أبو يوسف, Abū Yūsuf) (d.798) was a student of jurist Abu Hanifa (d.767) who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the gove ...
.
Muhammad Abu Zahra Muhammad Abu Zahra (Arabic: محمد أبو زهرة), (1898–1974) was an Egyptian public intellectual and an influential Hanafi jurist. He occupied a number of positions; he was a lecturer of Islamic law at Al-Azhar University and a professor ...
, a contemporary Hanafi scholar, wrote a book titled ''Ibn Hanbal: Hayatuhu wa `Asruhu Ara'uhu wa Fiqhuh,'' and there he mentioned the heavy praises of various other classical scholars towards Ibn Hanbal and his school of jurisprudence.


Hadith

It is reported that Ibn Hanbal has reached the title of ''al Hafidh'' of Hadith according to
Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf ibn al-Zakī ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yūsuf ibn ʻAbd al-Malik ibn Yūsuf al-Kalbī al-Quḍā’ī al-Mizzī, ( ar, يوسف بن عبد الرحمن المزي), also called Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abī al-Ḥajj� ...
classification, as the title bestowment were approved by
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...
that Ibn Hanbal has memorized at least 750,000 hadith during his life, more than
Muhammad al-Bukhari Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
and
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Abū al-Ḥusayn ‘Asākir ad-Dīn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward ibn Kawshādh al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī ( ar, أبو الحسين عساكر الدين مسلم بن الحجاج بن مسلم بن وَرْد بن كوشاذ ...
who each memorized 300,000 hadith, and Abu Dawud al-Sijistani who memorized 500,000 hadith. Abu Zur'ah mentions that Ibn Hanbal has memorized 1000,000 ''hadith,'' 700,000 among them are related to jurisprudence. While according to the classification from Marfu' Hadith of
Ibn Abbas ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ( ar, عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱبْن عَبَّاس; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest mufassir of the Qur'a ...
which recorded by
Al-Tabarani Abū al-Qāsim Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad ibn Ayyūb ibn Muṭayyir al-Lakhmī al-Shāmī al-Ṭabarānī (Arabic: أبو القاسم سليمان بن أحمد بن أيوب بن مطير اللَّخمي الشامي الطبراني) (AH 260/c. 87 ...
, Ibn Hanbal has reached the rank of ''Amir al-Mu'minin al-Hadith'', a rank that only reached by very few Hadith scholars in history such as
Malik ibn Anas Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, ‎ 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
,
Yahya ibn Ma'in Yaḥyā ibn Maʻīn ( ar, يحيى بن معين) (774-847), was a great classical Islamic scholar in the field of hadith of Persian origin. He was a close friend of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Ibn Ma'in is known to have spent all of his inheritance ...
,
Hammad ibn Salamah Abu Salma Hammad ibn Salamah ibn Dinar al-Basri ( ar, حماد بن سلمة بن دينار البصري; died 167 AH/783 CE), the son of Salamah ibn Dinar, was a prominent narrator of hadith and one of the earliest grammarians of the Arabic lan ...
,
Ibn al-Mubarak Ibn Mubarak is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak (726–797), Iranian muhaddith * Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, also known as Abul sharma, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami (1 ...
, and
Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; ( Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian ...
. Ibn Hanbal's Musnad is not, however, ranked among the '' Kutub al-Sittah'', the six big collections of hadith.


In popular culture

* Ahmad ibn Hanbal was largely depicted in
Qatar TV Qatar Television, ( ar, تلفزيون قَطَر); abbreviated as Qatar TV or QTV), is a Qatar Government owned public service national television channel in Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), offi ...
's 2017
Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
drama serial " The Imam" starring Mahyar Khaddour in the lead role.


See also


References


Further reading


Primary

* Al-Ājurrī, ''Kitāb al-Sharīʿa'', Beirut 2000Entire bibliography is taken from Holtzman, Livnat, “Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson * Al-Dhahabī, ''Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ'', ed. Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ and Ḥusayn al-Asad, 25 vols., Beirut 1401–9/1981–8 * Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, ''Ṭabaqāt al-ḥanābila,'' ed. Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqī, 2 vols., Cairo 1952 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''al-Masāʾil wa-l-rasāʾil al-marwiyya ʿan al-imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal'', ed. ʿAbdallāh b. Salmān b. Sālim al-Aḥmadī, 2 vols., Riyadh 1991 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''al-ʿIlal wa-maʿrifat al-rijāl'', ed. Waṣiyyallāh b. Muḥammad ʿAbbās, Bombay 1408/1988 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''Kitāb al-ṣalāh'' (with a supplement comprising Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's ''al-Ṣalāh wa-aḥkām tārikīhā''), ed. Zakariyyā ʿAlī Yusūf, Cairo 1971 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''Kitāb al-zuhd'', ed. Muḥammad Jalāl Sharaf, Beirut 1981 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''al-Musnad lil-imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal'', ed. Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir, 20 vols., Cairo 1416/1995 * Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, ''al-Radd ʿalā l-zanādiqa wa-l-Jahmiyya'', in ʿAlī Sāmī al-Nashshār and ʿAmmār Jumʿī al-Ṭālibī (eds.), ''ʿAqāʾid al-salaf'' (Alexandria 1971), 51–103 * Ṣāliḥ b. Ḥanbal, ''Sīrat al-imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal'', ed. Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Munʿim Aḥmad, 2 vols. in one, Alexandria 1401/1981 * Ibn al-Jawzī, ''Manāqib al-imām Aḥmad'', ed. ʿĀdil Nuwayhiḍ, Beirut 1393/19732 * Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya'', 16 vols., Cairo 1418/1998 * Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, ''Ijtimāʿ al-juyūsh al-islāmiyya'', ed. ʿAwwād ʿAbdallāh al-Muʿtaq, Riyadh 1419/1999 * Ibn Taymiyya, ''Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql'', ed. Muḥammad Rashād Sālim, 11 vols., Riyadh 1979–81 * Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, ''Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ wa-ṭabaqāt al-aṣfiyāʾ'', 10 vols., Beirut 1409/1988 * Marʿī b. Yūsuf al-Karmī, ''al-Shahāda al-zakiyya fī thanāʾ al-aʾimma ʿalā Ibn Taymiyya'', ed. Najm ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khalaf, Beirut 1404/1984 * Abū Bakr al-Khallāl, ''al-Sunna'', ed. ʿAṭiyya al-Zahrānī, 7 vols., Riyadh 1410/1989 * Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥajjāj al-Marwazī, ''Kitāb al-waraʿ'', ed. Samīr b. Amīn al-Zuhayrī, Riyadh 1418/1997.


Secondary

* Binyamin Abrahamov, ''Islamic theology. Traditionalism and rationalism'', Edinburgh 1998 * Binyamin Abrahamov, "The bi-lā kayfa doctrine and its foundations in Islamic theology," ''Arabica'' 42/1–3 (1995), 365–79 * Muḥammad Abū Zahra, ''Ibn Ḥanbal. Ḥayātuhu wa-ʿaṣruhu wa-fiqhuhu'', Cairo 1947 * Michael Cooperson, "Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal and Bishr al-Ḥāfī. A case study in biographical traditions," ''SI'' 86 (1997/2), 71–101 * Michael Cooperson, ''Classical Arabic biography. The heirs of the prophets in the age of al-Maʾmūn'', Cambridge 2000 * Daniel Gimaret, "Theories de l'acte humain dans l'école ḥanbalite," ''BEO'' 29 (1977), 157–78 * Ignáz Goldziher, "Aḥmed b. Muḥammad b. Ḥanbal," ''EI1'' * Ignáz Goldziher, ''Vorlesungen über den Islam'', Heidelberg 1910 * Gibril F. Haddad, ''The four imams and their schools'', London 2007 * Wael B. Hallaq, "Was al-Shafiʿi the master architect of Islamic jurisprudence?," ''IJMES'', 25 (1993), 590 * Livnat Holtzman, "Human choice, divine guidance and the fiṭra tradition. The use of ḥadīth in theological treatises by Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya," in Yossef Rapoport and Shahab Ahmed (eds.), ''Ibn Taymiyya and his times'', Karachi 2009 * Livnat Holtzman, ''Predestination (al-qaḍāʾ wa-l-qadar) and free will (al-ikhtiyār) as reflected in the works of the Neo-Ḥanbalites of the fourteenth century'', Ph.D. diss., Bar-Ilan University 2003 (in Hebrew) * Nimrod Hurvitz, ''The formation of Ḥanbalism. Piety into power'', London 2002 * Nimrod Hurvitz, "From scholarly circles to mass movements. The formation of legal communities in Islamic societies," ''American Historical Review'' 108/4 (2003), 985–1008 * Henri Laoust, "Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal," ''EI2'' * Henri Laoust, ''La profession de foi d'Ibn Baṭṭa'', Damascus 1958 * Henri Laoust, "Les premières professions de foi ḥanbalites," in ''Mélanges Louis Massignon'' (Damascus 1956–7), 3:7–35 * Wilferd Madelung, "The origins of the controversy concerning the creation of the Koran," in J. M. Barral (ed.), ''Orientalia hispanica'' (Leiden 1974), 1:504–25 * George Makdisi, "Ḥanbalite Islam," in Merlin L. Swartz (ed.), ''Studies on Islam'' (Oxford 1981), 216–64 * Christopher Melchert, "The adversaries of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal," ''Arabica'' 44 (1997), 234–53 * Christopher Melchert, ''Ahmad ibn Hanbal'', Oxford 2006 * Christopher Melchert, ''The formation of the Sunni schools of law, 9th–10th centuries C.E.'', Leiden 1997 * Christopher Melchert, "The Ḥanābila and the early Ṣūfīs," ''Arabica'' 48/3 (2001), 352–67 * Christopher Melchert, "The Musnad of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal," ''Der Islam'' 82 (2005), 32–51 * Christopher Melchert, "The piety of the Hadith folk," ''IJMES 34'' (2002), 425–39 * John A. Nawas, "A reexamination of three current explanations for al-Maʾmūn's introduction of the miḥna," ''IJMES'' 26 (1994), 615–29 * Walter M. Patton, ''Aḥmed ibn Ḥanbal and the miḥna,'' Leiden 1897 * Muḥammad Z. Siddiqi, ''Ḥadīth literature'', ed. and revised by Abdal Hakim Murad, Cambridge 1993 * Morris S. Seale, ''Muslim theology. A study of origins with reference to the Church Fathers'', London 1964 * Susan Spectorsky, "Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal's fiqh," ''JAOS'' 102/3 (1982), 461–5 * Susan Spectorsky, ''Chapters on marriage and divorce. Responses of Ibn Ḥanbal and Ibn Rāhwayh'', Austin 1993 * W. Montgomey Watt, ''The formative period of Islamic thought'', Edinburgh 1973 * W. Montgomey Watt, ''Islamic creeds'', Edinburgh 1994 * Wesley Williams, "Aspects of the creed of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. A study of anthropomorphism in early Islamic discourse," ''IJMES'' 34 (2002), 441–63. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 780 births 855 deaths 8th-century Arabs 9th-century Arabic writers 9th-century Arabs 9th-century jurists 9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate Atharis Hadith compilers Hanbalis Mujaddid Sunni imams Sunni Muslim scholars Biographical evaluation scholars