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Early Life
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani was born in 778 in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. The relatively new city was fast becoming a center of scholarship of all forms. So as a child, Ahmad had numerous opportunities to learn and expand his intellectual horizons. Thus, by the time he was 10 years old, he had memorized the entire Quran and began studying the traditions of Prophet Muhammad , the hadith. Like Imam Shafii, Imam Ahmad lost his father at a very young age. So in addition to spending his time studying fiqh and hadith under some of Baghdads greatest scholars, he also worked in a post office to help support his family. He was thus able to afford studying under one of Imam Abu Hanifas foremost students, Abu Yusuf. From Abu Yusuf, the young Ahmad learned the basics of fiqh such as ijtihad (intellectual decision making), and qiyas (analogical deduction). After becoming proficient in the Hanafi Madhab, Ahmad ibn Hanbal began to study Hadith under some of the greatest Hadith scholars of Baghdad, including Haitham ibn Bishr. He was so eager to expand his knowledge of the sayings and doings of the Prophet that he would regularly be waiting after fajr outside of Imam Ahmad trav eled throughout the Arabian Peninsula in search of knowledge the homes of his teachers, ready to start that days lesson. After studying in Baghdad, he went on to study in Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, and Syria. During this time, he even met Imam al-Shafii in Makkah. Al-Shafii helped the young Ahmad move beyond just memorization of hadith and fiqh, and be able to instead also understand the principles behind them. This collaboration between two of the four great imams clearly shows that the schools of Islamic law are not opposed to each other, but rather work hand in hand. In fact, when
Imam al-Shafii left Baghdad, he was recorded as having said, I am leaving Baghdad when there is none more pious, nor a greater jurist than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
The Mihna
Imam Ahmad was in Baghdad during the time of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun, who reigned from 813-833. Although al-Mamun was vital to the establishment of Baghdad as an intellectual center, he was heavily influenced by a group known as the Mutazila. Mutazili philosophy championed the role of rationalism in all aspects of life, including theology. Thus, instead of relying on the Quran and Sunnah to understand God, they relied on philosophical techniques first developed by the Ancient Greeks. Chief among their beliefs was that the Quran was a created book, as opposed to the un-created literal word of Allah. Al-Mamun believed in the Mutazili line of thought, and sought to impose this new and dangerous belief system on everyone in his empire including the scholars. While many scholars pretended to subscribe to Mutazili ideas in order to avoid persecution, Imam Ahmad refused to compromise his beliefs. Al-Mamun instituted an inquisition known as the Mihna. Any scholars who refused to accept Mutazili ideas was severely persecuted and punished. Imam Ahmad, as the most famous scholar of Baghdad, was brought before al-Mamun and ordered to abandon his traditional Islamic beliefs about theology. When he refused, he was tortured and imprisoned. His treatment at the hands of the political authority was extremely severe. People who witnessed the torture commented that even an elephant could not have handled the treatment that Imam Ahmad was subject to. Despite all of this, Imam Ahmad held to traditional Legal writings based on the Hanbali Madhab written by Abu Dawud in Islamic beliefs, and thus served as an inspiration for the late 800s. Muslims throughout the empire. His trials set the precedent that Muslims do not give up their beliefs regardless what the political authority imposes on them. In the end, Imam Ahmad outlived al-Mamun and his successors until the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ascended in 847 and ended the Mihna. Imam Ahmad was again free to teach the people of Baghdad and write. During this time, he wrote his famous Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a
collection of hadith that served as the basis of his school of legal thought, the Hanbali Madhab. Imam Ahmad passed away in Baghdad in 855. His legacy was not restricted to the school of fiqh that he founded, nor the huge amount of hadith he compiled. Unlike the other three imams, he had a vital role in preserving the sanctity of Islamic beliefs in the face of intense political persecution. Although the Hanbali Madhab has historically been the smallest of the four, numerous great Muslim scholars throughout history were greatly influenced by Imam Ahmad and his thoughts, including Abdul Qadir al-Gilani, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Kathir, and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.
Bibliography: Haddad, Gibril. The Four Imams and their Schools. Muslim Academic Trust, Print. Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print.