Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Abu Abdillah Ahmad ibn Muhammed ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani

Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal Abu `Abd Allah al-Shaybani with Islamic calligraphy
Title Sheikh ul-Islam
Born 781 CE/164 AH[1]
Baghdad, Iraq[2] [3]
Died 855 CE/241 AH (aged 74-75)[1]
Baghdad, Iraq[4]
Ethnicity Arab
Era Islamic Golden Age
Region Iraq
Occupation Scholar of Islam
Religion Islam
Jurisprudence Ijtihad
Creed Athari[5]
Main interest(s) Fiqh, Hadith, Aqeedah[4]
Notable idea(s) Hanbali madhhab
Notable work(s) Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ḥanbal Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shaybānī (780–855 CE / 164–241 AH) (Arabic: احمد بن محمد بن حنبل ابو عبد الله الشيباني‎) was an important Muslim scholar and theologian. He is considered the founder of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence. Ibn Hanbal is one of the most celebrated Sunni theologians, often referred to as "Sheikh al-Islam,"[8] honorifics given to the most esteemed doctrinal authorities in the Sunni tradition. Ibn Hanbal personified the theological views of the early orthodox scholars, including the founders of the other extant schools of Sunni fiqh. Hanbal was a strong spokesman for the usage of hadiths.[9]

Biography

Early life and family

Legal writings, produced October 879.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal's family was originally from Basra, Iraq, and belonged to the Arab Banu Shayban tribe.[10] His father was an officer in the Abbasid army in Khurasan and later settled with his family in Baghdad, where Ahmad was born in 780 CE.[2]

Ibn Hanbal had two wives and several children, including an older son, who later became a judge in Isfahan.[8]

Education and Work

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal studied extensively in Baghdad, and later traveled to further his education. He started learning jurisprudence (Fiqh) under the celebrated Hanafi judge, Abu Yusuf, the renowned student and companion of Imam Abu Hanifah. After finishing his studies with Abu Yusuf, ibn Hanbal began traveling through Iraq, Syria, and Arabia 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, the al-Musnad. After several years of travel, he returned to Baghdad to study Islamic law under Al-Shafi'i. He became a mufti in his old age, but is remembered most famously, as the founder of the Hanbali madhab or school of Islamic law, which is now most dominant in Saudi Arabia, Qatar as well as the United Arab Emirates.[11][12][13] Unlike the other three schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi), the Hanbali madhab remained largely traditionalist or Athari in theology.[14]

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.[15]

Death

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal died in 855 CE 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.[16]

The Mihna

Main article: Mihna

Ibn Hanbal was famously called before the Inquisition or Mihna of the Abassid Caliph al-Ma'mun. Al-Ma'mun wanted to assert the religious authority of the Caliph by pressuring scholars to adopt the Mu'tazila 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'tazila doctrine of a created Qur'an—although some Orientalist sources raise a question on whether or not he remained steadfast[17] Ibn Hanbal's stand against the inquisition by the Mu'tazila (who had been the ruling authority at the time) led to the Hanbali school establishing itself firmly as not only a school of fiqh (legal jurisprudence), but of theology as well.[18]

Due to his refusal to accept Mu'tazilite authority, ibn Hanbal was imprisoned in Baghdad throughout the reign of al-Ma'mun. In an incident during the rule of al-Ma'mun's successor, al-Mu'tasim, ibn Hanbal was flogged to unconsciousness. However, this caused upheaval in Baghdad and al-Ma'mun was forced to release ibn Hanbal.[15] After al-Mu’tasim’s death, al-Wathiq 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-Wathiqu's death and the ascent of his brother al-Mutawakkil, who was much friendlier to the more traditional Sunni beliefs, that ibn Hanbal was welcomed back to Baghdad.

Works

The following books are found in Ibn al-Nadim's Fihrist:

Quotes

Historical views

Ibn Hanbal has been extensively praised for both his work in the field of prophetic tradition and his defense of orthodox Sunni dogma. Abdul-Qadir Gilani stated that a Muslim could not truly be a wali of God except that they were upon Ibn Hanbal's creed; despite praise from his contemporaries as well, Yahya ibn Ma'in noted that Ibn Hanbal never boasted about his achievements.[8]

His juristic views were not always accepted. Qur'anic exegete Muhammad ibn Jarir 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.[20] Likewise, Andalusian scholar Ibn 'Abd al-Barr 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.[21] Thus, while Ibn Hanbal's prowess in the field of tradition appears to be undisputed, his status as a jurist has not enjoyed the same reception.

Early Islam scholars

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "مناهج أئمة الجرح والتعديل". Ibnamin.com. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  2. 1 2 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"
  3. ↑ The History of Persia by John Malcolm – Page 245
  4. 1 2 3 A Literary History of Persia from the Earliest Times Until Firdawsh by Edward Granville Browne – Page 295
  5. ↑ Spevack, Aaron (2014). The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bajuri. State University of New York Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4384-5370-5.
  6. ↑ "CLASSICAL BOOKS / Hadeeth / Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (al-Jaami' as-Saheeh)". Fatwa-online.com. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  7. ↑ Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
  8. 1 2 3 Foundations of the Sunnah, by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, pg 51-173
  9. ↑ Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History, Ira M. Lapidus, p 162
  10. ↑ H. A. R. Gibb et al., eds. (1986). "Aḥmad B. Ḥanbal". Encyclopaedia of Islam. A-B 1 (New ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. p. 272. ISBN 90-04-08114-3. Aḥmad B. Ḥanbal was an Arab, belonging to the Banū Shaybān, of Rabī’a,...
  11. ↑ "Imam Ahmad Ibn #longliveasaptia Hanbal". islamawareness.net.
  12. ↑ al-Dhahabi, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’ 9:434-547 #1876 and Tadhkira al-Huffaz 2:431 #438
  13. ↑ "Islamic schools of thought (madhabs).". tripod.com.
  14. ↑ Halverson, Jeffry R. (2010). Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 34. The Hanbalite madhhab, in contrast, largely maintained the traditionalist of Athari position.
  15. 1 2 "Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal".
  16. ↑ Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, pp.136-137. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810861615.
  17. ↑ Brill, E.J., ed. (1965-1986). The Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. 7. pp. 3.
  18. ↑ Williams, W. Wesley (2008). Tajalli Wa-Ru'ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an and early Sunni Islam. p. 229. ISBN 0549816887.
  19. ↑ Tabaqaat al-Hanaabilah (1/184)
  20. ↑ Yaqut al-Hamawi, Irshad, vol. 18, pg. 57-58.
  21. ↑ Camilla Adang, This Day I have Perfected Your Religion For You: A Zahiri Conception of Religious Authority, pg. 20. Taken from Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. Ed. Gudrun Krämer and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2006.

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