Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal

Abstract

(born 780, Baghdad, Abbasid caliphate [now in Iraq]-died 855, Baghdad) was a Muslim theologian, jurist, and martyr for his faith. He was the compiler of the Musnad, a collection of sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad arranged by isnād, and the formulator of the Ḥanbalī school, the most strictly traditionalist of the four orthodox schools of Islamic law. His doctrine influenced such noted followers as the 13th-14th-century theologian Ibn Taymiyyah as well as the Wahhābī and Salafi reform movements. Life Ibn Ḥanbal belonged to the Arab tribe of Shaybān through both parents. He was still an infant when his father died at age 30. When Ibn Ḥanbal was 15, he began to study the traditions (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad. Seeking to learn from the great masters of his day, he traveled to the cities of Kūfah and Basra in Iraq; to Mecca, the Hejaz, and Medina in Arabia; and to Yemen and Syria. He made five pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, three times on foot. Ibn Ḥanbal led a life of asceticism and self-denial, winning many disciples. He had eight children, of whom two were well known and closely associated with his intellectual work: Ṣālih (died 880) and ʿAbd Allāh (died 903). The central fact of Ibn Ḥanbal's life is the suffering to which he was subjected during the inquisition, known as the miḥnah, ordered by the caliph al-Maʾmūn. But for this great trial, and the unflagging courage he displayed in the face of his persecutors, Ibn Ḥanbal would most likely have been remembered solely for his work on Hadith. As it is, he is recognized to this day not only as an expert on Hadith but also as one of the most venerated fathers of Islam and as a staunch upholder of Muslim orthodoxy. The inquisition was inaugurated in 833, when the caliph made obligatory upon all Muslims the belief that the Qurʾān was created-a doctrine of the Muʿtazilah, a rationalist Islamic school that claimed that reason was equal to revelation as a means to religious truth. The caliph had already made public profession of this belief in 827. Theretofore, the sacred book had been regarded as the uncreated, eternal word of God. The inquisition was conducted in Baghdad, seat of the Abbasid caliphate, as well as in the provinces. It lasted from 833 to 848, a period involving the reign of four caliphs, ending during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, who returned to the traditionalist view. At the risk of his life, Ibn Ḥanbal refused to subscribe to the Muʿtazilī doctrine. He was put in chains, beaten, and imprisoned for about two years. After his release, he did not resume his lectures until the inquisition was publicly proclaimed at an end. Some orthodox theologians, to survive the ordeal, had recanted, and later claimed the privilege of dissimulation, taqiyyah, as a justification for their behaviour. This is a dispensation granted in the Qurʾān to those who wish to avail themselves of it when forced to profess a false faith while denying it in their hearts. Other theologians, following the example of Ibn Ḥanbal, refused to repudiate their beliefs. In 833 Ibn Ḥanbal and another theologian, Muḥammad ibn Nūḥ, who had also refused to recant, were cited to appear for trial before the caliph al-Maʾmūn, who was in Tarsus (now in Turkey) at the time. They were sent off in chains from Baghdad, but, shortly after beginning their journey, the caliph died, and Ibn Nūḥ died on their trip back to the capital. Ibn Ḥanbal was ordered to appear before the new caliph, al-Muʿtaṣim. He was on trial for three days. On the third day, after the learned men disputed with him, there followed a private conference with the caliph, who asked Ibn Ḥanbal to yield at least a little so that the caliph might grant him his freedom. Ibn Ḥanbal made the same reply he had been making from the beginning of the inquisition: he would yield when given grounds for modifying his faith-grounds derived from the sources he regarded as authoritative, namely the Qurʾān and Hadith. Losing patience, the caliph ordered that he be taken away and flogged. Throughout the flogging, the caliph persisted in his attempts to obtain a recantation but to no avail. Ibn Ḥanbal's unflinching spirit was beginning to have its effect upon the caliph, but the latter's advisers warned that if he desisted from punishing the theologian, he would be accused of having opposed the doctrine of his predecessor al-Maʾmūn, and the victory of Ibn Ḥanbal would have dire consequences for the reign of the caliphs. The caliph's treatment of Ibn Ḥanbal had to be suspended nevertheless because of the mounting anger of Firefox