Biography of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal: The Scholar and Defender of Sunnah

“And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allāh,

from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.” (Quran 35:28)

Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of Allah ﷻ.

“In the name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.”

“[All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Lord of the worlds -” (Quran 1:1-2)

May Allah's peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Welcome, my brothers and sisters, to a new episode on the biography of a scholar.

My meeting with you today is about one of the imams of the religion,

and a prominent figure among the pious of the Ummah.

He is one of the righteous Sheikhs of Islam.

He is the Imam and scholar of the people of Iraq,

by whom its landmarks found comfort, and whose good reputation spread throughout its lands,

and who clothed the religion with a brilliant light.

Allah made him a sharp sword against the people of innovation,

Through him, Allah protected the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ,

and defended its domains. He authenticated the matn and the isnad,

and distinguished the mursal from the musnad,

and differentiated between the connected and the severed,

He categorized the narrators, and counted the weak and the trustworthy among them.

He explained the obscure, and corrected the negligent,

He had fields of knowledge that served as a gateway to the Sharia.

and a crown on the head of the Ummah. He was extremely firm [in knowledge],

highly trustworthy, and the scholars unanimously agreed on his virtue.

He is the Muhaddith of the jurists and the jurist of the Muhadditheen,

he is the Muhaddith of the jurists and the jurist of the Muhadditheen.

He is the undisputed Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah,

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (RH).

The historian of Islam, al-Dhahabi, says in his biography of Imam Ahmad:

"He is the true Imam and the genuine Shaykh al-Islam."

Imam Ahmad (RH) is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ibn Hilal ibn Asad al-Shaybani.

He (RH) was born in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal in the year 164 AH.

Imam Ahmad (RH) grew up as an orphan in his mother's care, as his father died young.

Imam Ahmad became known as Ibn Hanbal, even though we noticed in his lineage that...

Hanbal was not his father, but rather his grandfather.

This was because his grandfather was more well-known and famous than Imam Ahmad's father.

His grandfather served as the governor of Sarakhs, part of Khorasan, during the Umayyad era.

He also supported the Abbasid call when it first emerged and gained prominence,

whereas Imam Ahmad's father was a mujahid who was not famous.

He died in the prime of his youth,

so people began to call him Ahmad ibn Hanbal, attributing him to his grandfather.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was of pure Arab origin, belonging to the tribe of Shayban.

Shayban is from the tribe of Bakr ibn Wa'il,

a well-known tribe whose lineage meets with that of the Prophet ﷺ

at Nizar ibn Ma'ad ibn Adnan.

Ibn al-Athir (RH) said:

"There is none among the Arabs of a nobler home, a more protected neighbor, or greater in number than Shayban."

Of course, Imam Ahmad's (RH) mother played the role of both father and mother,

and she took great care of him.

His mother's name was Safiyyah bint Maymunah al-Shaybani.

Imam Ahmad's (RH) mother raised him in a righteous manner,

raising him on virtues and the love of knowledge,

to the point that Imam Ahmad recalls things from his childhood and how his mother treated him.

He says, "My mother used to dress me, wake me up, and warm the water for me before the Fajr prayer,

when I was only ten years old.

She would put on her khimar, cover herself with her hijab, and take me to the mosque,

because the mosque was far away.

Allahu Akbar! This is the righteous mother.

This is the mother whose upbringing bore the fruit of this giant among the giants of the people of knowledge.

Imam Ahmad says, "When I reached sixteen...

...years of my life, my mother said to me, 'Go seek Hadith,

for traveling to seek Hadith is a migration to Allah ﷻ.'

He said, "She gave me as travel provisions ten loaves of barley bread,

and put a pouch of salt with them, and said, 'O my son,

indeed, when Allah ﷻ is entrusted with something, He never loses it,

so I entrust you to Allah ﷻ, Whose trusts are never lost.'"

La ilaha illa Allah! What an upbringing, and what a great soul!

In any case, Imam Ahmad (RH)

carved his path in seeking knowledge from an early age.

Indeed, the start of his scholarly journeys was in the year 186 AH.

He traveled to places far and near, enduring all kinds of hardships,

bearing a harsh life, and crossing deserts and wastelands.

He traveled to Kufa, Basra, Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, Ash-Sham, and Al-Hijaz.

He roamed these lands,

He heard of no scholar or narrator of Hadith except that he traveled to him,

and he would rejoice at these benefits,

rushing to them as soon as he heard them, and writing them down (RH).

It was said that he began seeking knowledge in the year in which Imam Malik and Hammad ibn Zayd died,

who were also among the giant, major scholars.

He (RH) said, describing some of his travels:

He said, "Nothing distracted me when I was twenty years old,

when I set out with Al-A'rabi—who was a friend of Imam Ahmad and his companion on the path.

He said, "Al-A'rabi and I set out on foot," meaning they walked on foot.

"And we reached Kufa in the year 183 AH."

"So we came to Abu Mu'awiyah"—and Abu Mu'awiyah al-Darir is well-known as one of the major scholars.

He said, "We came to Abu Mu'awiyah while there was a crowd of people with him, so he gave Al-A'rabi..."

a Hajj for sixty dirhams, meaning to perform Hajj this year.

He said, "So he left and left me in a house alone, and I felt lonely,

with nothing but a bag containing my books.

I used to place it on a brick and lay my head on it,

and I used to study with Waki'."

This is Waki' ibn al-Jarrah, the teacher of al-Shafi'i.

He said, "And I used to study with Waki' the Hadith of al-Thawri."

Once, Waki' mentioned something and said, 'This one has something.'

So I said, 'No.' And he would sometimes mention ten Hadiths, and I would memorize them.

So when he stood up, they would say to me, 'Dictate them to us.'

He (RH) had deeply quenched his thirst and mastered the science of Hadith,

and surpassed all his peers, meaning he surpassed Yahya ibn Ma'in,

this great Imam as well.

He (RH) compiled Al-Musnad, to the point that he (RH) said about it,

"I compiled and selected it from more than seven hundred thousand Hadiths."

Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi (RH) says: "Ahmad used to—

—or rather, Ahmad would cite al-jarh wat-ta'dil from memory when asked, like Al-Fatihah."

And what does this indicate? It indicates this memory,

and this understanding and retention that Allah ﷻ blessed him with.

Of course, Imam Ahmad traveled to the Hijaz five times.

It is said that the first of them was in the year 187 AH,

and on this journey, he met Imam al-Shafi'i (RH),

just as he also met him in Baghdad.

And the age difference between Ahmad and al-Shafi'i was about fourteen years.

He (RH) used to find sweetness and pleasure in the hardship of seeking Hadith,

and in seeking knowledge, because he considered it Jihad.

It is established that acquiring knowledge through

hardship makes it more firmly rooted and better memorized,

because a person exerts material, physical, and mental effort in it,

as it also involves purifying the intention from what may taint or cloud it.

Therefore, seeking knowledge is in the path of Allah. Thus, he (RH) sought knowledge until he reached the level of leadership in religion.

He was once asked about this, and he said, "With the inkwell to the grave."

This became famous from Imam Ahmad: "With the inkwell to the grave."

This is what he (RH) used to say because they reproached him when he was advanced in age.

Whenever he heard of a scholar, he would run to him along with some youths and boys,

They would say, "O Ahmad, have you not had enough?" He would say, "With the inkwell to the grave," and he would say, "I am a student."

a seeker of knowledge until I enter the grave, may Allah ﷻ have mercy on him.

Hanbal said: "I heard Abu Abdullah say: 'I started seeking Hadith in the year 179,

and I heard of Hammad ibn Zayd while I was in the circle of Hushaym.'

And Imam Ahmad said: "I set out to Sufyan in the year 187, and when we arrived, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad (RH) had died."

Subhan Allah, these are names that, when mentioned, anyone with knowledge and familiarity...

...will immediately recall these giants among the scholars.

He said: "I set out to Sufyan in the year 187, and when we arrived, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad (RH) had died,

and I performed Hajj five times, three of them on foot"—meaning on his feet from Iraq to Makkah—

and he said: "On one of them, I spent only thirty dirhams."

And Ibn al-Mubarak, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, arrived in the year 179,

"and that was the first time I heard from Hushaym."

So I went to the gathering of Ibn al-Mubarak, but they said, "He has left for Tarsus."

And I wrote from Hushaym more than three thousand hadiths;

if I had fifty dirhams, I would have gone to Jarir in Rayy.

Imam Ahmad (RH) heard a little from Ibrahim ibn Sa'd,

and he heard extensively from Hushaym ibn Bashir.

Among the amazing things that happened to Imam Ahmad—and this shows his sincerity in seeking knowledge for the sake of Allah ﷻ—

is that in the year 198 AH, Imam Ahmad intended to go to Hajj.

His companion was Yahya ibn Ma'in, the scholar who was a peer of Imam Ahmad.

They agreed that after Hajj, they would travel to 'Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam al-San'ani in Sana'a, Yemen.

This is how they intended to perform Hajj, then continue the journey to Yemen,

to Sana'a, to meet its scholar, Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam, author of Al-Musannaf.

While they were performing the arrival Tawaf, they saw Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani performing Tawaf.

Yahya ibn Ma'in saw him, and since he knew him, he greeted him and said, "This is your brother, Ahmad ibn Hanbal."

He said, "May Allah ﷻ greet him and make him steadfast, for I only hear good things about him," praising Imam Ahmad.

He said, "We will come to you tomorrow, if Allah ﷻ wills."

Yahya was saying to Abd al-Razzaq, "We will come to you tomorrow, if Allah ﷻ wills, to listen and write."

When he left, what did Imam Ahmad say? He objected to what Yahya ibn Ma'in said.

He said, "Why did you make an appointment with the Sheikh?"

He said, "So we can hear from him. Allah ﷻ has spared you a month's journey there, a month's journey back, and the expense."

Ahmad said, "I would not spoil my intention for what you say.

We will go and hear from him, then go after Hajj to hear from him in Sana'a."

On the way, his funds ran out, so he hired himself out to some porters

and refused all help from anyone else, may Allah ﷻ have mercy on him.

Allahu Akbar! Such high resolve and sincere intention in seeking knowledge.

Imam Ahmad (RH), following the way of scholars, took many Sheikhs,

and studied under a large group of scholars, but surpassed them all in number.

He surpassed his peers and contemporaries in having many Sheikhs,

and he also surpassed them in another trait: frequent travel to near and far lands,

and he spared no effort to reach these scholars of Hadith.

Of course, as I mentioned a short while ago, his teacher Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah and Jarir ibn 'Abd al-Hamid narrated from him,

and he learned from Yahya al-Qattan, al-Walid ibn Muslim, Ghundar,

Judge Abu Yusuf, Waki' ibn al-Jarrah, Ibn Numayr,

'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi,

Yazid ibn Harun, 'Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, al-Shafi'i (RH), and many others.

Indeed, as for Imam Ahmad's teachers,

it is perhaps very difficult to enumerate them, but these are the most prominent.

As for Imam Ahmad's students,

I believe we also all agree that they cannot be counted due to their vast number,

because Imam Ahmad (RH) qualified to teach at an early age,

and he traveled throughout the lands; in every land, students would gather around him and learn from him.

But the most prominent of Imam Ahmad's students...

...is Imam al-Bukhari (RH), the author of al-Sahih.

He is one of the most prominent students of Imam Ahmad.

Also, Imam Muslim, the author of al-Sahih, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Naysaburi.

Also, Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, the author of al-Sunan.

Also among his students were his two sons, Salih and Abdullah.

By the way, Salih was older than Abdullah. Abdullah was the one who compiled the Musnad.

But Salih was older, and it was even said that Imam Ahmad was given the kunya Abu Abdullah.

Others say Abdullah was the eldest, as Imam Ahmad's kunya was after him.

In general, among the things that also distinguished Imam Ahmad...

...is that some of his teachers and peers narrated from him, such as 'Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani...

Also narrated from Imam Ahmad: al-Hasan ibn Musa al-Ashyab,

Abu Abdillah al-Shafi'i — they also narrated from

Imam Ahmad (RH),

but Imam al-Shafi'i usually does not name [his sources].

Indeed, it is well-known of Imam al-Shafi'i that he always says,

when he wants to keep a name anonymous, he says, "The trustworthy one narrated to me,"

as was his method, may Allah ﷻ have mercy on him.

And he might not mean Imam Ahmad unless context clues also indicate that.

Ali ibn al-Madini, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ahmad ibn Salih al-Misri,

Abu Qudamah, Abu Zur'ah, Abbas al-Duri,

Baqiyy ibn Makhlad,

Abu Bakr al-Athram, Abu Bakr al-Marwazi.

All of these are students of Imam Ahmad (RH).

Musa ibn Harun, and indeed, a great many others.

I think it is very difficult for me to go through all these great names.

Perhaps the last of them is the well-known Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi (RH).

Imam Ahmad, my brothers and sisters, was granted by Allah Ta'ala an extraordinary memory.

He was indeed a sign of Allah ﷻ in memorization,

so much so that Abdullah, the son of Imam Ahmad, said: "Abu Zur'ah al-Razi said to me:

'Your father memorizes a million hadiths.' He was asked, 'How do you know?'"

He said, 'I reviewed with him, and I tested him on the chapters.'"

Al-Dhahabi said: "This is an authentic report regarding the vast knowledge of Abu Abdullah."

They counted in that repeated narrations, athar, and fatwas of the Tabi'un,

And what was interpreted, and the like, because this number is huge.

Rather, they mean the hadiths, the narrations, and repeated hadiths that, of course, came through multiple chains and routes,

and repeated narrations through multiple chains and routes,

as well as the fatwas of the Companions (RA) and the Tabi'un,

and also what was interpreted of the Quran.

...the exegesis of the Companions (RA) and the Tabi'un.

As for the strong marfu' texts, they do not even amount to a tenth of that.

This is why Hanbal says—sorry, Imam Ahmad is actually Hanbal's uncle.

You always hear "Hanbal said, Hanbal said." Hanbal is not Imam Ahmad's son; he is his nephew.

So Imam Ahmad is the uncle of this Hanbal,

who narrated the Masa'il of Imam Ahmad.

He also has a book on the Mihna (Inquisition) of Imam Ahmad. It is a very good book.

Hanbal said: "I heard Abu Abdullah say: I memorized everything I heard from him..."

Ibn Abi Hatim said: Said ibn 'Amr asked: "O Abu Zur'ah, do you have a better memory or Ahmad?"

He said, "Rather, Ahmad." I said, "How did you know?"

He said, "I found that his books did not have, at the beginning of the parts..."

He says, "I found that Imam Ahmad's books did not have, at the beginning...

...of the parts, the names of those who narrated [them],"

He memorized every part from those he heard it from,

while I am not capable of that. He says, "I am not capable of this."

Of course, Imam Ahmad was praised by the scholars of his era and those after him,

rather, until our day and the Day of Resurrection.

And this is success granted by Allah ﷻ.

Therefore, let me take you on a quick tour, not...

a complete tour of the scholars' praise,

and I have chosen some of the prominent, exemplary figures

who praised Imam Ahmad (RH),

from those whom people attested to their precedence and superiority.

Al-Shafi'i (RH) said about Imam Ahmad:

"I saw a youth who, when he says, 'He narrated to us,'

all the people say, 'He spoke the truth.'"

I asked, "Who is he?" He said, "Ahmad bin Hanbal."

Waki' and Hafs bin Ghiyath

used to say: 'None has come to Kufa like that young man,'

meaning Imam Ahmad.

It is said that Ahmad came to Husayn al-Ju'fi with a large letter

interceding on Ahmad's behalf. So Husayn said: 'O Abu Abdillah,

do not place between me and you a favor — for no one intercedes with me on your behalf

except that you are greater than him.'

Because they used to intercede even in seeking knowledge, by sending students to the scholars.

Yahya al-Qattan said,

“None like these two ever came to us: Ahmad bin Hanbal and Yahya bin Ma'in.

No one who came to me from Baghdad was more beloved to me than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

'Amr ibn al-'Abbas said: "I heard 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi,

when Hadith scholars were mentioned, say: 'The most knowledgeable of them in the Hadith of al-Thawri is Ahmad ibn Hanbal.'

He said: "Then Ahmad approached, and Ibn Mahdi said:

'Whoever wants to look at what is between the shoulders of al-Thawri—meaning Sufyan ibn Sa'id al-Thawri—

whoever wants to look at what is between the shoulders of al-Thawri, let him look at this man,' meaning Imam Ahmad."

Qutaybah said: "The best of the people of our time is Ibn al-Mubarak, then this young man," meaning Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

"And if you see a man who loves Ahmad, know that he is a person of Sunnah."

Al-Dhahabi, the historian of Islam, said of Imam Ahmad:

"The scholar of the era, the ascetic of the age, the Hadith scholar of the world,

the beacon of the Sunnah, the one who sacrificed himself during the Mihnah. Seldom have eyes seen his like.

He was a leader in knowledge and action."

and adherence to the narrations (athar),

possessing a sober mind, firm truthfulness, and deep-seated sincerity.

To him ended the leadership in fiqh, Hadith, sincerity, and piety (wara').

He is far too sublime to be praised with words, or for me to utter his mention with my mouth.

Allahu Akbar.

Abu al-Wafa 'Ali ibn 'Aqil (RH) said:

“And among the strange things you hear from these ignorant youths”

'is that they say: Ahmad is not a faqih, but only a muhaddith.'

“This is the height of ignorance, because there have”

“issued from him choices built upon Hadiths in a manner that most of them do not know,”

“and there has issued from him such subtle fiqh that you do not see in any of them.”

“He stood alone in what they conceded to him of memorization,”

and shared with them, and perhaps surpassed their seniors — for it was rumored that Imam Ahmad

“is only a muhaddith and not a faqih.” So he refuted...

them with this crushing refutation,

proving that Imam Ahmad is the Faqih of the Muhaddithin and the Muhaddith of the Fuqaha, may Allah ﷻ have mercy on him.

Al-Dhahabi (RH) made a beautiful comment on this issue,

which was adopted by some scholars and some jurists.

He says: I think they imagine him as merely a hadith scholar,

rather they picture him as a hadith scholar of our time.

By Allah, he reached in fiqh especially the rank of al-Layth, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Abu Yusuf,

and in asceticism and piety the rank of al-Fudayl and Ibrahim ibn Adham,

and in memorization the rank of Shu'bah, Yahya al-Qattan, and Ibn al-Madini.

But the ignorant person does not know his own rank, so how can he know the rank of others?

Al-Dhahabi (RH) says: the ignorant person does not know his own rank, so how can he know the rank of others?

Imam Ahmad (RH) was an imam in asceticism, an imam in piety, and an imam in everything.

And this is the testimony of Imam al-Shafi'i (RH).

Ar-Rabi' ibn Sulayman—who was one of the close companions of Imam ash-Shafi'i—says:

ash-Shafi'i said to us: "Ahmad is an imam in eight qualities:"

"An imam in Hadith, an imam in fiqh,

an imam in language, an imam in the Quran,

an imam in poverty, an imam in asceticism,

an imam in piety, and an imam in the Sunnah."

Allahu Akbar! Imam Ahmad (RH) used to say:

"We are poor people, eating our provisions and waiting for our appointed times."

Look, Subhan Allah, at the state Imam Ahmad (RH) was in, despite this immense fame,

such that there was no one left who had not heard of Imam Ahmad (RH).

He would say: "We are poor people, eating our provisions and waiting for our appointed times."

He (RH) would often make this supplication. And this...

This shows you the zuhd of Imam Ahmad, his piety,

and his fear of being tainted by worldly matters.

Imam Ahmad used to say in his supplication:

"O Allah, as You preserved my face from prostrating to other than You, preserve it from begging from other than You."

Allahu Akbar! "O Allah, just as You have preserved my face from prostrating to other than You, preserve it from begging from other than You."

Among his beautiful words that also indicate his great zuhd:

a true zuhd, not a fake or false one.

He used to say: "Hearts become soft by eating what is halal. Hearts become soft by eating what is halal."

Al-Ramadi said: "I heard Abdur-Razzaq, when Imam Ahmad was mentioned, and his eyes welled up with tears."

Abdur-Razzaq al-San'ani says: "Imam Ahmad was mentioned and his eyes welled up with tears,"

and he said: "I heard that his money ran out during the incident when..."

he took to Sana'a. He says, "I was told that his funds ran out,

so I took his hand and stood behind the door when no one was with us, so that no one would see or hear us."

He says: "I stood behind the door when no one was with us,"

and I said to him, 'We do not accumulate dinars when we sell the crops.

We have invested them in something,

but I found ten dinars with the women, so take them,

and I hope you will not have to spend them until something else is arranged.'

He said to me, 'O Abu Bakr, if I were to accept anything from anyone, I would have accepted it from you. Take these dinars back.'

Allahu Akbar!

Abdur-Razzaq al-San'ani says: "I have never seen anyone more learned or more pious than Ahmad ibn Hanbal."

And he also used to say, "I was told...

Imam Ahmad (RH) says:

"Regarding myself, no hadith reached me except that I acted upon it,

and I did not act upon it except that I memorized it."

Subhan Allah, the effect of acting upon knowledge.

Abdullah said, "I said to my father: I heard that Abdur-Razzaq offered you dinars."

He said, "Yes, and Yazid ibn Harun gave me five hundred dirhams,

I think, but I did not accept, while he gave Yahya ibn Ma'in and Abu Muslim, and they accepted."

Meaning, showing the difference between him and others.

Al-Marwazi said, "Whenever Imam Ahmad (RH) mentioned death, he would choke up with tears."

Al-Marwazi said, "Whenever Imam Ahmad (RH) mentioned death, he would choke up with tears,"

and he used to say, "Fear prevents me from eating food and drinking."

Ibn al-Jawzi (RH) said, "I heard Abu 'Uthman ibn 'Asim al-Bayhaqi say: I spent a night with Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RH),

and he brought water and placed it. When morning came..."

he looked at the water and it was just as it had been left,

so he said: 'SubhanAllah! A man who seeks knowledge should not be without a nightly devotion.'

'He should not be without a nightly devotion.'

Imam Ahmad, as I mentioned, went to Hajj five times, three of which he made on foot.

And during one of his journeys to Hajj, he lost his way.

And he, may Allah have mercy on him, as I mentioned, would find comfort in the hardship of worship and the pursuit of hadith.

And he was eager to act upon the Sunnah.

Al-Marwazi says Ahmad told me, as mentioned: 'I never wrote a hadith except that I acted upon it,'

'until I came across the narration that the Prophet ﷺ was cupped and gave Abu Taybah a dinar,'

This hadith is of course authentic and established.

Imam Ahmad (RH) said, "I gave the cupper a dinar when I was cupped."

Despite this asceticism, piety, and humility, may Allah have mercy on him, he was attentive

to the cleanliness of his body and the beauty of his clothes,

and he never neglected himself, may Allah have mercy on him.

Abd al-Malik al-Maymuni said, "I do not know that I have ever seen anyone with cleaner clothes,

nor more attentive to himself regarding his mustache, his hair, and his body hair,

nor with cleaner and whiter clothes than Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RH)."

Allah is the Greatest. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (RH), despite this fame and status, was humble.

Salih, the son of Imam Ahmad (RH), said,

"When my father wanted to perform wudu for prayer, he would not let anyone fetch water for him.

He would fetch it himself, and sometimes he would go to the grocer

to buy a bundle of firewood or other items, and carry it to his house."

He used to say, "Nothing equals knowledge when it is purely intended."

Abbas al-Duri said:

"'Ali ibn Abi Fazar, our neighbor, narrated to us,

saying: 'My mother had been paralyzed for about twenty years.

One day she said to me, "Go to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and ask him to pray for me."

"Ask him to pray for me."

Meaning, this paralyzed woman sent her son to Imam Ahmad to ask him to pray for her.

He said: 'So I went and knocked on his door while he was in his hallway—meaning the corridor.'

He said, "Who is this?" I said, "A man whose paralyzed mother asked me to ask you for supplication."

I heard his voice, and he sounded angry. He said, "We are more in need of you praying to Allah for us."

Allahu Akbar! He was saying, "We are more in need of her praying to Allah for us."

He said: 'So I turned to leave, when an old woman came out and said, "I left him praying for her."'

So I came to our house and knocked on the door, and my mother came out walking on her feet!'

And this is among the miracles in which Allah answered the supplication of Imam Ahmad (RH).

Regarding Imam Ahmad's methodology and his principles of reception and inference,

he relied on the Quran and Sunnah, not deviating from them in the slightest.

He also paid great attention to the narrations of the Companions (RA),

which distinguished him greatly from other scholars.

He would not issue a fatwa on any matter unless he had a precedent from a Companion,

a Tabi'i, or one of his teachers among the scholars of ijtihad.

If he found two or more opinions among the Companions (RA), he would choose one

based on what he saw as closest to the evidence of the Quran and Sunnah.

Sometimes, he could not prefer one Companion's opinion over another,

so Imam Ahmad would have two narrations or views on the matter,

as is well known in his fiqh principles (RH).

Along with all this, he was also extremely scrupulous in knowledge and issuing fatwas,

and he used to forbid his students from writing down narrations from him.

If he saw anyone writing down fatwas from him, he would forbid him and say to him:

"Perhaps I will later learn what I did not know and change my fatwa,

so where would I find you to inform you?"

Imam Ahmad (RH) said: "If we narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ

regarding the lawful and prohibited, Sunnahs, and rulings, we are strict with the chains,

but if we narrate from the Prophet ﷺ regarding the virtues of deeds

and what neither establishes nor removes a ruling, we are lenient with the chains."

And when Allah ﷻ knew the sincerity of Imam Ahmad's (RH) intention,

He ordained for him these students and disciples after him to write down his fatwas.

They wrote down from him more than sixty thousand issues.

He also adopted the principle of Istishab, just as he adopted...

meaning, using mursal Hadiths.

And of course, you know that Imam Ahmad has this great book, the Musnad.

The Musnad of Imam Ahmad. Before I start talking about the Musnad of Imam Ahmad,

I will mention what Abu Abdullah Shams al-Din Ibn al-Qayyim (RH) said

regarding Imam Ahmad concerning writing books.

He said: "Imam Ahmad (RH) strongly disliked writing books,

and he preferred keeping Hadith pure, and disliked that opinions be written down,

and was very strict about this.

So Allah ﷻ knew the sincerity of his intention and purpose,

and from his words and fatwas more than thirty volumes were written,

and al-Khallal compiled his texts in al-Jami' al-Kabir,

which reached approximately twenty volumes or more.

His fatwas and legal opinions were narrated

and transmitted generation after generation,

and they became a leading authority and example for Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah across all their ranks.

The scholars, of course, praised Imam Ahmad greatly, as we mentioned.

As for the Musnad, it is undoubtedly one of the greatest collections of the Prophetic Sunnah,

and one of the largest Hadith encyclopedias, if we may call it that.

He began writing the Musnad after returning from his famous journey

to Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam al-San'ani, the scholar of Yemen,

This was in the year 200 AH, when he was thirty-six years old.

He finished compiling and writing it in the year 228 AH.

The Musnad, of course, contains around forty thousand Hadiths.

Of course, some scholars mentioned fewer than that,

but this is not the place to discuss the exact number; however, it is in the tens of thousands.

Imam Ahmad narrated in this Musnad

from two hundred and eighty-three sheikhs,

and from whom nearly ten thousand Hadiths were repeated,

Of these, Imam Ahmad narrated three hundred Hadiths

with a three-narrator chain (thulathiyyat), published — praise be to Allah.

Al-Saffarini, of course, has an effort in this,

and there are also contemporary efforts in this field.

Perhaps someone might ask, "What is the meaning of a thulathi (three-narrator) chain of narration?"

It means that between him and the Prophet ﷺ there are three narrators,

and this, of course, is what is called a high chain of narration, which they were keen on.

Imam Ahmad arranged his book by musnads,

meaning that he placed each Companion's narrated hadiths in this manner.

For example, he starts with a Companion and then lists all of his hadiths,

meaning he grouped each Companion's narrations together,

and gathered all the narrations established from this Companion in that section.

The number of Companions who have Musnads in this great book reached...

...nine hundred and four Companions, nine hundred and four.

Imam Ahmad (RH) structured his Musnad by dividing it into eighteen sub-Musnads,

starting with the ten Companions promised Paradise, then the Musnad of Ahl al-Bayt,

then the Musnads of the Companions, then the Musnads of the Makkans, Madinans, Kufans, Basrans, Shamis, and Ansar, then

at the end: the Musnad of 'Aishah (RA), then the Musnad of the women.

I've taken up too much of your time, but by Allah, the talk is captivating,

and there remains some of the biography of Imam Ahmad (RH), which perhaps you will allow me to leave for the next meeting, by the power of Allah the Almighty,

because what remains relates to a major event that happened to Imam Ahmad (RH).

In sha Allah, we'll cover it in the next meeting, by Allah's power.

And peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah ﷻ and His blessings.