Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (r.a)

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (r.a)

          by Samia Salim

Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal bin Hilal bin Asad bin Idris bin Abdullah bin Hayyan is the full name of the great Imam. His father was the soldier of Merv, & his grandfather Hanbal was the governor of Sarkhas during the rule of the Umayyads. His mother Safiyyah bint Maimoonah Shaibani was from the tribe of Banu Amir. [1] She always enjoyed the company of Imam Ahmad even when he grew up & he was very dutiful to her. He was born in the year 164 A.H in Baghdad. He is heard to have said that he never saw his father or grandfather & was an orphan. He had no siblings.

He was married after reaching the age of 40. His first wife was Umm Al Fadl who bore him his first child Salih & his second wife was Raihanna who bore him Abdullah.[2]

Description

Imam Ahmad was tall, good looking, had a brown complexion & his hair used to be dyed with unripe henna. His dress used to be extremely simple & always used to stay neat & clean.

Abdul Malik Al Maimoona said : “ I do not think I have seen anyone cleaner in his dress, nor more meticulous about his personal toilet, such as trimming his moustache & his head hair & removing his public hair, nor with cleaner or white garments than Ahmad bin Hanbal.”[3]

Qualities

 Imam Ahmad became a scribe at the age of 14. He was of a high moral character & when the women had to write letters to their families stationed in other areas they would let Imam Ahmad do the writing & he would refuse to write down anything which was objectionable.  He was extremely patient & well mannered.  He was awe inspiring & did not like joking. He lived in a state of poverty but never accepted any help or gifts from anyone.

Pursuit of Knowledge

He starting memorizing the Quran & said his Tahajud from a very early age. After Fajr he would always go & study under a well known scholar Abu Bakr Ibn Ayash. He also studied under Hushaym Bin Basheer for around 4 years.[4] After Hushaym bin Hasheer passed away Imam Ahmad on his quest for knowledge & search of hadith travelled extensively, to Basra, Hijaz, Yemen & Kufa. In Mecca he met Imam Shafi & learnt his jurisprudence. He then went to Sa’na to acquire knowledge from Abdur Razaq bin Hammam & suffered from discomfort illness & poverty due to extensive travelling.

Imam Ahmad narrated many ahadith & attained the status of Imam. He once said that,

“ I will seek Knowledge until I enter the grave”.[5]

Ahmad bin Salamah said: “I mentioned Yahya Ibn,Yahya Ishaq hin Rahawaih & Ahmad bin Hanbal to Qutaibah bin Saee’d & he said: “Ahmad bin Hanbal is the greatest in knowledge of all those whom you mentioned.”[6]

Imam Ahmad had memorized a lot of hadith & had a comprehensive knowledge of them. He was a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence.

Respect for Knowledge & his Teachers

Imam Ahmad was a very humble man. He had high respect for the knowledge he was gaining & also held all this teachers in high esteem, respect & revered them.  Once the Imam went to Khalaf to acquire & hear the hadeeth of Abu Awanah & refused to sit in an elevated position and said:

“I will not sit except facing you; we were ordered to show humility before those who we are learning.”[7]

In the same way all the scholars & his teachers respected him & held him in high esteem due to his understanding, dedication & perseverance.

Abul Waleed At Tayalisi said,”There is no one in the two cities of Basra& Kufa more beloved to me than Ahmad bin Hanbal, nor is there anyone whom I esteem more deeply in my heart than him.”[8]

Firm Adherence to the Quran & Sunnah

Imam Ahmad was a Mujtahid. He did not give legal verdicts until the age of 40. He did not allow his students or others to record his verdicts & was of the opinion that it is an innovation to write down his opinions & that the final authority would always be the Quran & the Sunnah.

Musnad of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal

His famous work is his Musnad in which out of 700,000 ahadith that he had gathered recorded 30,000[9] in his book. He did not record the hadith according to chapters but he recorded them under names of various narrators.

The Trial of the Imam

The Mutazilites had started promoting that the Quran was created. People were subjected to treachery & forced to accept that it was created. The chief judge, Ahmed Ibn Abee Dawood advised Caliph Mamoon to persecute those who resisted to this innovated idea. Imam Ahmad resisted the idea & stood up to this fitna thus imprisoned. Caliph Mamoon send for him a threatening message on which the Imam said:

"I ask Allah to suffice me, for what is (this life) but a short while."

After Mamoon came Caliph Mu’tasim who also had arguments with Imam Ahmad regarding Quran being  the created, on which the Imam said:

"The Speech of Allah Is not a creation.Allah says, "And if anyone of the polytheist seeks your protection then grant him protection, so that he may hear the Word of Allah."

The Caliph couldn’t break the resolve of Imam Ahmad & the next day in the month of Ramadan when the Imam was fasting he was stripped off his clothing & whipped till he lost consciousness. Then he was transferred to his house & after regaining strength he started his preaching again. The next Caliph was Wathiq, who did not find it appropriate to imprison Imam Ahmad & so asked him to leave on which the Imam went into refuge for 5 years. After the death of Wathiq came Caliph Mutawakil who put an end to the situation. Imam Ahmads patience, endurance, perseverance & hold to the Quran & Sunnah all paid off & the power of the Mutazilites broke & so did the innovated idea of the Quran being created.[10]

Conclusion

Imam Ahmad passed away in 241 A.H. 700,000 men & 60,000 women attended his funeral. Scholars & Historians say that had it not been for Abu Bakr(r.a) we would have had an Islam today that didn’t pay any zakat & without Imam Ahmad we would have had an Islam today that believed in the Quran not being the word of Allah. His contribution in the way of Islam was immense & spend his entire life being a devoted slave of Allah(swt).

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[1] Mawjood, S. A. The Biography of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Darussalam page 9

[2] Mawjood, S. A. The Biography of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Darussalam page 16

[3] Hanbal, I. A. Al Manaqib.

[4] youtube (Composer). (2010). Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. [K. A. Mekki, Performer]

[5] Jawzi, I. A. Manaqib Al Imam Ahmad, page 37

[6] Mawjood, S. A. The Biography of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Darussalam page 25

[7] Jawzi, I. A. Manaqib Al Imam Ahmad, page 71

[8] Tahzeeb Al Kamal, Volume I, page 451

[9] Mawjood, S. A. The Biography of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Darussalam

[10] A.Kayum, S. A critical analysis of the Modernists & Hadith Rejecters. kalamullah.com, pg26