Ahmad Ibn Hanbal: Nobility in face of trials

Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal’s رحمه الله legacy is multifold. As a master of ḥadīth, his Musnad is a lasting reservoir for scholars all over the islamic world, and as a jurist, his strict adherence to Qur’an, authentic Sunnah, and the ways of the Companions became the foundation of the Ḥanbalī Madhab. Yet his most inspiring legacy is the moral leadership he provided to an Islamic community which was growing weary of the Caliphs, who, with their limited knowledge and unlimited powers, tried to drive the world of Islamic theology and persecuted the scholars of the matter, regularly. Imam Ahmed’s life teaches us to chose evidence over qiyas and coercion, patience over fear and panic, and forgiveness over bitterness.  His name is forever associated with steadfastness in adversity and a scholarship that stayed independent of power.

Early Life

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (164-241 AH) was originally from Basrah but he grew up in Baghdad, the capital of Abbasid Caliphs, which was the epicenter of all streams of islamic and non islamic scholarship. The discussions and comparisons around Arabic, Persian, Greek and Eastern philosophies were intense and controversial. His father was a soldier of Merv and died when Imam Ahmed was still very young. He was raised in poverty by his mother, who was a great influence over his life. She had him memorize Qur’an at around age ten, she would wake him before Fajr, heat water for his wuḍū’ on cold Baghdad nights, dress him, and even walk with him to the masjid because the roads were dark and the mosque was far. She passed away when Imam Ahmed was forty years of age, she stayed a key inspiration in his life and he did not marry till she was alive, in order to serve her dedicatedly.

Much of his childhood was dedicated in gaining knowledge, memorizing Quran and Hadith, he became a scribe at the age of fourteen. As a young boy, he was known for his politeness, good manners and high moral character. As a scribe, he would refused to write down anything objectionable. 

A knowledge Seeker

During this time in Baghdad, Imam Ahmed came in contact with many renowned Hadith, Arabic and Fiqh scholars and he was ever willing to learn, memorize, ponder over and scrutinize. His key teacher during this time was Qadi Abu Yusuf, a student of Abu Hanifah and a renowned teacher of Jurisprudence in his time. Abu Yusuf was the chief judge of Baghdad and his circle was regularly visited by Hadith scholars, Judges, and known theologians. The atmosphere was always lit with discussions on scholarly topics and Imam Ahmed became an avid contributor to the discussions. 

He regularly visited any circle of scholar who visited Baghdad, always seeking opportunities to learn. When Imam al-Shafi came to Baghdad and taught there, Imam Aḥmad attended his gatherings and were instantly amazed by the clarity and comprehension of Imam Shafi’s teachings.He was strongly influenced  from Imam Shafi, and got benefited from his fiqh method and legal reasoning—especially how Imam Shafi produced proofs and organized legal principles. They have developed a personal liking and appreciation for each other, which stayed throughout their lives. When Imam Shafi left Baghdad, he said:

“When I left Baghdad, I left behind no one more virtuous, learned, and knowledgeable than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”

His Travels

Imam Ahmed  also travelled widely, in order to find the best teachers of his time and to learn from them. He is known to have learnt from hundreds of teachers. He traveled to Basrah, Hijaz, Yemen, and Kufa, multiple times. He performed Hajj five times, out of which three times on foot. Imam Ahmed spent most of his life in poverty, he never chased the wealth of the world, in fact , he is known to have refused every single opportunity to gain monetary benefit from state. During one of these pilgrim, he spent only thirty dirhams for the whole journey, in another one, he lost the way and he just stood on the road, asking passerby- “ O Slaves of Allah ! Show me the way..”. The hardships which he endured during these travels proves his keen desire to learn and to exert himself to achieve his goals. He suffered illness, poverty, hunger during his travels, but he always said, “How slight is the hardship compared to the benefits I gain from these journeys.”

Imam Ahmed did not stop seeking knowledge even when he became famous and respected. His son mentioned his travels to Yemen and Tartus in northern As-Sham by foot. He used to say, “I will seek knowledge until I enter grave.”

His Writings

Imām Aḥmad did not write books in that sense, but his teachings were later compiled by his son and his students into writings. Among his work are 

• Al-Musnad – Al Masnad is one of the greatest book on Hadeeth, he started writing it when he was thirty six years of age. From more than seven hundred thousand Ahadeeth  which he heard during his travels, Imam Ahmed included thirty thousand, which he narrated from two hundred and eighty three of his teachers. It is organized  into compilations of the Hadith narrated by each companion of Prophet (Peace be Upon him) 
• Masail al-Imam Aḥmad -It is not one single book, but a collection. Students gathered his responses to thousands of questions on fiqh, creed, worship, and conduct. These “masail” preserve Imām Aḥmad’s teachings as transmitted through his many disciples. 
• Uṣūl al-Sunnah – The foundation of Sunnah is a book of Islamic creed as taught by Imam Ahmed
• Al-Radd ʿalā al-Zanādiqah wa’l-Jahmiyyah – It is a compilation of Hadith which are used for the Refutation of the Heretics and Jahmīs.

His Trials

The Mutazilah started the discussion about the nature of Quran during the life time of Caliph Haroon Al Rasheed with great zeal. Haroon Al Rasheed did not encourage this discussion and was against the belief that Quran was created by Allah (rather than being Allah’s speech), but his son and the next Caliph Al Mamoon, got influenced by this belief and started propagating it in the influence of Mutazilites.  He assembled the scholars of Hadith and islamic jurisprudence, including Imam Ahmed to his court and warned all of them to accept this belief and declare their affirmation for it. Most of the scholars fearfully affirmed the position in order to save themselves from the torture. Imam Ahmed along with just one other scholar (who dies soon afterwards), were chained and imprisoned because of their refusal to accept the position of Caliph Mamoon. 

Caliph Mamoon died within a year of this incident. However, Al Mutasim, the next Caliph was more brutal in his persecution. 

Imam Ahmed, may Allah be pleased with him, was chained and beaten severely until he became unconscious, he was put in prison, where he was flogged repeatedly, he would bleed and deep wounds were formed all over his body and face. He was hanged from his heel and mercilessly beaten in public. The more the Caliph tried to humiliate him, the more his prestige and status increased among people. His steadfastness became the talk of Baghdad. 

As the persecution increased, he got weak and could not even walk. People came to him suggesting him to accept the position of Mutazilites, even if he did not believe it to be true, to save himself from the torture.  But he was aware of his position , as a scholar. among muslims. People were just waiting to note down anything he affirmed. It was preferred to him to go through any persecution in this world, than to affirm a thing he did not believe to be true and be a part of propagating any falsehood. 

Caliph Mutasim was getting very desperate to get some word of affirmation from Imam Ahmed, he invited many scholars of Mutazilites to argue with Imam Ahmed. Imam replied to any reasoning presented to them by Mutazilies by saying- “ Bring me the proof from the book of Allah and I will take it”. 

All efforts to persuade him, to threaten him and to torture him were of no avail.

After twenty eight long months of torture and imprisonment, Imam Ahmed was released. He was so wounded and weak that he could not immediately resume his teaching. When Al-wathiq became the caliph after Al Mutasim, he did not resort to torture since it did not have the desired outcome. Al Wathiq banned Imam Ahmed from teaching and meeting people. So during the reign of Al Wathiq, Imam Ahmed stayed in home and did not teach. 

All these trials made Imam Ahmed a symbol of resilience, steadfastness and fortitude. His knowledge and piety became a huge inspiration for people. Once Al-Mutawakkil became the Caliph, the situation changed for Imam Ahmed. His persecution ended and people flocked to him for the sake of learning from him.

His Piety and Ascetism:

Imam Ahmed spent his days and nights in the service of Allah. He used to pray three hundred Rakah during his night Qiyam, which he reduced to half when he became sick. His ascetism was well known, despite being famous and being sought after during his life, he never changed his simple life.

“Nobility is to abandon which you desire, for the sake of that which you fear.”

 He believed that a person should not feel happy about a thing he gained in this world and should not feel sad about losing it. He said, “My happiest day is the one on which I awake and I have nothing.”

He used to say, 

“For everything there is a blessing, the blessing of the hearts is being pleased by Allah, the Almighty, the All-powerful”. 

 He did not behave rudely with anyone, never showed arrogance. He was without malice for anyone, once the guard who tortured him in the prison came to him in repentance and he forgave him, asking him not to repeat his torture on anyone else.

“Intend good, for you will continue to be in good stead as long as you intend good.”

His Death:

Imam Ahmed died at the age of seventy seven, in 241 AH. It was a day of great sadness for the entire islamic world. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children came to bid farewell to their Imam. The streets were filled and the mosques were overwhelmed. His funeral was a unique incident in history, Baghdad had never seen anything like this. The account of number of people who came to the funeral is varied, from eight hundred thousand to a million. All came to honor the person whose knowledge, good character, humility and piety was unmatched. 

Prophet ﷺ  said, “Whosoever is humble towards Allah, Allah will raise him up”, 

this Hadith truly reflects the life of Imam Ahmed Hanbal , for the measure of his humbleness is reflected in the measure of his fame and status.