Ahmad bin Hambal

 

Ahmad bin Hambal

Ahmad bin Hanbal (781 – 855 AD, 164 – 241 AH) (Arabic حنبل‏‏ ) was a hadith expert and Islamic theologian. She was born in Marw (currently Mary in Turmekistan, northern Afghanistan and northern Iran) in the city of Baghdad, Iraq. The full chewing of Abu Abdillah: Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hambal bin Hilal bin Asad Al Marwazi Al Baghdadi/ Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal also known as Imam Hambali.

The Beginning of Studying

The first knowledge he mastered was the Qur'an until he memorized it at the age of 15, he was also proficient in reading and writing perfectly until he was known as the most beautiful person in his writing. Then, he began to concentrate on studying the science of hadith at the early age of 15 years.

He has studied Hadith since childhood and to study this Hadith he has moved or migrated to Sham (Syria), Hijaz, Yemen and other countries so that he eventually became a pious, pious, and ascetic scholar. Abu Zur'ah said that he had memorized his 12 books by heart. He memorized up to a million hadiths. Imam Shafi'i said about Imam Ahmad, " After I left Baghdad, there was no one I left there who was more commendable, more pious and more knowledgeable than Ahmad bin Hambal ". Abdur Rozzaq Bin Hammam who is also one of his teachers once said, " I have never seen anyone as faqih and as virtuous as Ahmad Bin Hanbal "

Physical state

Muhammad bin 'Abbas An-Nahwi said, I once saw Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, it turned out that his body was neither too tall nor too short, his face was handsome, there was still a black beard on his beard. He likes to dress thick, white and turban and wear cloth. Another said, “Her skin is brown (tan)”

Family

He married at the age of 40 years and got abundant blessings. He gave birth to pious children from his wives, who inherited his knowledge, such as Abdullah and Salih. In fact, both of them very much narrated knowledge from their father.

Intelligence

His son, Salih said, my father once told me, "Husyaim died when I was twenty years old, at that time I had memorized what I heard from him".

Abdullah, his other son said, My father once told me, "Take any book of Mushannaf Waki' you want, then ask what you want about the matan and I'll tell you the sanad, or vice versa, you ask about the sanad and I'll tell you the matan".

Abu Zur'ah was once asked, "O Abu Zur'ah, who is stronger in memorizing? You or Imam Ahmad bin Hambal?” He replied, "Ahmad". He is still asked, "How do you know?" He replied, "I found that at the front of his book the names of the narrators were not listed, because he memorized the names of the narrators, while I was unable to do so." Abu Zur'ah said, "Imam Ahmad bin Hambal memorized one million hadiths".

Cleric's Praise

Abu Ja'far said, "Ahmad bin Hambal is a very shy man, very noble and very good in his relationships and manners, thinks a lot, nothing is heard from him except the mudzakarah of hadith and mentions righteous people with respect and calm and with beautiful expressions. When he meets a human, he is very cheerful and turns his face to him. He was very humble towards his teachers and respected them.”

Imam Ash-Shafi'i said, "Ahmad bin Hambal is the Imam in eight matters, the Imam in hadith, the Imam in Fiqh, the Imam in language, the Imam in the Qur'an, the Imam in poverty, the Imam in zuhudan, the Imam in wara' and Imam in the Sunnah".

Ibrahim Al-Harbi said, "I saw Abu Abdillah Ahmad bin Hambal as if Allah combined the knowledge of the former and the latter from various disciplines".

Abdullah bin al-Maimuni said, "Nothing is more glorious that my eyes have seen, than Imam Ahmad bin Hambal. There is no one from the hadith experts who most glorifies the prohibitions of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam if he thinks so, and no one is stronger in following them than Ahmad."

Abu Bakr as-Sijistani said, "I have met 200 teachers of knowledge, none of whom resemble Imam Ahmad bin Hambal. He really explores knowledge, and if it is mentioned a science, he is an expert."

Abdul Wahhab Al-Warraq said, “Abu Abdullah is our leader, he is a mature person in knowledge. If I am in the presence of Allah someday, and I am asked, "Who are you following?" I would say, "I follow Ahmad bin Hambal." Indeed, Imam Ahmad bin Hambal has proven his knowledge of Islam for 10 years."

His zeal

He wore a cap that was sewn by himself. And sometimes he goes out to work with an ax to work with his hands. Sometimes he also went to the shop to buy a bundle of firewood and other items and then brought it with his own hands. Al Maimuni once said, "Abu Abdillah Ahmad bin Hambal's house is narrow and small".

Wara' and maintain self-respect

Abu Isma'il At-Tirmidhi said, "A man came with ten thousand (dirhams) for him, but he refused". There are also those who say, "Someone gave five hundred dinars to Imam Ahmad but he did not want to accept it". There was also someone who gave three thousand dinars, but he also did not want to accept it.

Tawadhu' with kindness

Yahya bin Ma'in said, "I have never seen anyone like Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, I have been friends with him for fifty years and have never seen him boast the slightest bit of goodness in him."

He (Imam Ahmad) said, "I want to hide in the valley of Mecca until I am not known, I am tested by popularity".

Al Marrudzi said, "I have never seen a poor person in a more noble majlis except in Imam Ahmad's majlis, he is attentive to the poor and somewhat less attentive to the world's experts (rich people), he is wise and does not rush towards the poor. . He was so humble, so high in his composure and so exuberant in his charisma.”

He was once surly because someone praised him by saying, "May Allah reward you with kindness for your service to Islam?" he said, "Don't be like that but say, may Allah reward Islam for his services to me, who am I and what am I?!"

Be patient in studying

When he returned from Abdurrazzaq's place in Yemen, someone saw him in Mecca very tired and tired. Then he asked to speak, then Imam Ahmad said, "This is lighter than the faidah I got from Abdurrazzaq".

Be careful in giving fatwas

Zakariya bin Yahya once asked him, "How many hadiths must a person master to become a mufti? Is one hundred thousand hadiths enough? He replied, "Not enough". Until finally he said, "Is five hundred thousand hadiths enough?" he answered. "I hope so".

The straightness of his aqidah as the standard of truth

Ahmad bin Ibrahim Ad-Dauruqi said, "Whoever you know denounces Imam Ahmad then doubt his religion". Sufyan bin Waki ​​'also said, "Ahmad on our side is a trial, whoever criticizes him then he is a wicked person".

Slander Time

Jahmiyyah's understanding did not dare to be open about the caliphate of Al Mahdi, Ar-Rashid and Al Amin, even Ar-Rashid had threatened to kill Bisyr bin Ghiyats Al Marisi who said that the Qur'an was a creature. But he continued to hide during the caliphate of Ar-Rashid, only after he died did he reveal his heresy and call people to this error.

At the time of Caliph Al Ma'mun, the Jahmiyyah succeeded in making the Jahmiyyah ideology the official teaching of the state, one of which was to declare that the Qur'an was a creature. Then the ruler forced all his people to say that the Qur'an was created, especially the scholars.

Whoever wants to obey and submit to this teaching, then he is saved from torment and suffering. For those who refuse and insist on saying that the Qur'an Kalamullah is not a creature then he will taste the lashes and beatings and imprisonment.

Because of the severity of the torment and the severity of the suffering, many scholars who could not stand it, finally said what the unjust rulers demanded, even if only verbally. Many whispered to Imam Ahmad bin Hambal to hide his belief in order to be safe from all torment and suffering, but he replied, "How do you respond to the hadith "Indeed, those before Khabbab, namely the words of the Prophet Muhammad, saw their heads cut off but did not turn them away from their religion" . HR. Bukhari 12/281. then he asserted, “I don't care about prison confinement, my prison and my house are the same”.

Ishaq bin Ibrahim described his toughness and steadfastness in the face of the trials that plagued him, "I have never seen a person who entered the rulers who was tougher than Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, we were in the eyes of the rulers just like flies".

In the face of tremendous slander and extraordinary torments, he still thinks clearly and does not get emotional, he still takes lessons even though they come from people with less knowledge. He said, "Since the slander I have never heard a sentence more impressive than the sentence spoken by a Bedouin Arab to me, "O Ahmad, if you are killed for the truth then you are a martyr, and if you survive then you live a noble life". Then my heart grew stronger."

Hadith expert as well as Fiqh expert

Ibn 'Aqil said, "I have heard very strange things from ignorant people who say, "Ahmad is not an expert in jurisprudence, but only a hadith expert. This is the peak of ignorance, because Imam Ahmad has opinions based on hadiths that are not known to most people, even he is superior to his seniors".

Even Imam Adz-Dzahabi said, “By Allah, he is in fiqh to the degree of Laits, Malik and Ash-Shafi'i and Abu Yusuf. In zuhud and wara' he was equal to Fudhail and Ibrahim bin Adham, in his memorization he was equal to Shu'bah, Yahya Al Qaththan and Ibnul Madini. But a fool doesn't know his own level, how can he know someone else's level!!

Teacher

Imam Ahmad bin Hambal studied with many scholars, the number of which was more than two hundred and eighty scattered in various countries, such as in Mecca, Kufa, Basrah, Baghdad, Yemen and other countries. Among them are:

Ismail bin Ja'far

Abbad bin Abbad al-Ataky

Umari bin Abdullah bin Khalid

Husyaim bin Bashir bin Qasim bin Dinar As-Sulami

Imam Shafi'i

Waki' bin Jarrah

Ismail bin Ulayyah

Sufyan bin 'Uyainah

Abdurrazaq

Ibrahim bin Ma'qil

The Disciples of Ahmad bin Hanbal

Generally, hadith experts have studied with Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, and studied with him as well as scholars who have been his teachers, the most prominent of which are:

Imam Bukhari

Muslim Imam

Imam Abu Dawud

Imam An-Nas'i

Imam Tirmidhi

Imam Ibn Majah

Salih bin Imam Ahmad bin Hambal

Abdullah bin Imam Ahmad bin Hambal

His nephew, Hambal bin Ishaq

End of life

Imam Ahmad bin Hambal began to get sick on the night of Wednesday, two days from the month of Rabi'ul Awwal in the year 241 Hijri, he was sick for nine days. When his illness started to get serious and the local people started to know about it, they visited him day and night.

His illness was getting worse day by day, on Thursday and before his death he signaled to his family that he should perform ablution, then they performed ablution. When performing ablution, Imam Ahmad recited dhikr and signaled them to intersect his fingers. He breathed his last on a Friday morning coinciding with the 12th of Rabi'ul Awwal 241 H at the age of 77 years in the city of Baghdad. He was buried in the al-Harb cemetery, his body was attended by eight hundred thousand male mourners and sixty thousand female mourners.

Papers

Ahmad bin Hanbal wrote the book al-Musnad al-Kabir which includes as much as the "Musnad" book and is as good as his essay and as good as hadith research. He did not include in his book other than what is needed as evidence. This Musnad contains more than 25,000 hadiths.

Among Imam Ahmad's works is the hadith encyclopedia or Musnad, compiled by his son from lectures (studies) – a collection of more than 40 thousand hadiths as well as Kitab ash-Salat and Kitab as-Sunnah.

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal's works

Kitab al-Musnad, the most amazing work because this book contains more than twenty-seven thousand hadiths.

Kitab at-Tafsir, but Adz-Dzahabi said, "This book has been lost".

Kitab an-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh

Kitab at-Darik

The Book of Hadith Shu'bah

Kitab al-Muqaddam wa al-Mu'akkhar fi al-Qur`an

Answer the Qur'an

Kitab al-Manasik al-Kabir

Kitab al-Manasik as-Saghir

According to Imam Nadim, the following book is also the writing of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal

Kitab al-'Ilal

Kitab al-Manasik

Kitab az-Zuhd

Kitab al-Iman

Kitab al-Masa'il

Kitab al-Asyribah اﻞ

Kitab al-Fadha'il

Book of Ta'ah ar-Rasul

Kitab al-Fara'idh

Kitab ar-Radd ala al-Jahmiyyah