Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Muslim theologian and jurist

• Born: December 780
• Birthplace: Baghdad (now in Iraq)
• Died: July 855
• Place of death: Baghdad (now in Iraq)

Ibn Ḥanbal sought to conjoin jurisprudence closely with the study of texts recording the teachings and practices of the Prophet Muḥammad. Ibn Ḥanbal's ideas and his example of steadfast resistance to political persecution inspired the formation of the fourth classical school of Islamic law Hanbalism.

Early Life

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (ahk-mahd ihb-ehn KAHN-behl), who generally became known by the surname Ibn Ḥanbal, handed down from his grandfather, was descended from the Arab tribe of Banū Shayban, which had played a notable part in the conquest of Khorāsān. The parents of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal moved from Merv, on the northeastern frontiers of Iran, to Baghdad shortly before he was born in 780. His father, who had pursued a military career, died when Aḥmad was about three years old; a small family estate, however, provided for many of his needs during his early years. Aḥmad's education centered particularly on grammar and religious texts; he displayed a marked interest in accounts of the Prophet Muḥammad and his mission. By 795, such concerns prompted him to commence a series of travels across Arabia, Yemen, and Syria; within Iraq he also visited Al-Kūfa and Basra. Over a period of about eleven years, beginning at the age of twenty-three, he performed five pilgrimages to Mecca. During this time he became acquainted with a number of specialists on Islamic law and history; these contacts helped him to begin to define his own position.

Early legal theory, which had developed alongside the exegesis of Muslim traditions, was associated with schools that followed the teachings of major scholars. In addition to the Qur՚ān, many jurists accepted precedent established by custom (sunnah). Sayings attributed to the Prophet had been passed along from his contemporaries to their descendants and students until eventually they were transcribed; these were also regarded as authoritative. The Hadith, or tradition, thus was also applied to the settlement of disputes at law. Some care, however, had to be taken when sources of doubtful veracity were presented. Other forms of legal reasoning were based on the process of consensus (ijma) that had evolved during the Prophet's time; some jurists accepted a wider consensus, recognizing the opinions of later scholars as well. Argument from analogy was used when a precedent for a given situation had not yet been established. Among some specialists, it was held permissible for judicial authorities to formulate an opinion (ra՚y) on matters for which precedent and texts were lacking. The first school of law, the Hanifite school, founded by Abū Ḥanīfah (c. 699-767), allowed considerable latitude in forms of legal reasoning; this school had gained influence particularly in Iraq and Syria. During the course of his studies, Ibn Ḥanbal encountered proponents of Hanafi law; as his own views became more definite, he rejected such teachings.

Other legal doctrines were somewhat more narrowly concerned with the reconciliation of religious writings and teachings with the requirements of judicial decision making. Theologian Mālik ibn Anas (c. 715-795) had contended that, after the Qur՚ān, traditions recorded in Medina, where the Prophet's work as a statesman had commenced, should be accorded preponderant weight; similarly, the consensus of Muslim scholars should be construed in the light of the practices sanctioned in that city. The Malikite school had become important particularly in western Arabia, where local memories and interests supported such views.

The teachings of Abū ՙAbd Allāh ash-Shāfՙī (767-820), whom many regarded as the founder of systematic jurisprudence (fiqh), established criteria by which the preeminence of original revealed authority could be upheld. In making distinctions between strong and weak traditions, he attempted to resolve problems of inconsistency that had arisen when sources of varying degrees of authenticity were cited as evidence of the Prophet's position on an issue. When further opinion was needed, Shāfՙī insisted on a consensus of the Muslim community in its entirety. His doctrines had acquired a notable following in Baghdad and Cairo, where he lived and taught. It is known that Ibn Ḥanbal met him in about 810, while both of them were in Iraq, and that Ibn Ḥanbal had access to some of Shāfՙī's works. It has been claimed that at one time Shāfՙī commended Ibn Ḥanbal for his piety and learning in the traditions. Although Ibn Ḥanbal's teachings in some ways resembled those of Shāfՙī, in other ways they were more like those of ՙAbd al-Malik, particularly in his reliance on available traditions and unwillingness to accept other authority as legally binding.

Life's Work

Descriptions of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal characterized him as having an impressive bearing and demeanor; those around him evidently were taken with his air of great learning and dignity. One biographical chronicle describes him as a man of middle height; his hair was reddish from being tinted with henna (a common practice at that time). He was married twice and, in addition to having six children by a concubine, he was the father of one son by each of his wives; these two sons, Salih and ՙAbd Allāh, later played instrumental roles in the dissemination of their father's doctrines. In his personal habits Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal displayed an exemplary devotion to the principles he taught. It was said that, in the absence of traditions that would authorize him to do so, he refused to eat watermelon. He was painstakingly scrupulous in his piety; he fasted often and, following a schedule that left little time for sleep, he prayed at length during the mornings and evenings and at other set times.

Ibn Ḥanbal's teachings uniformly emphasized the primacy of revealed authority, and he stalwartly opposed rationalistic innovations that would permit greater scope for interpretation in questions of law and theology. He denounced conceptions that appealed to sources of judgments beyond the established law of the Qur՚ān and the traditions. In particular, his views clashed with those of the Mutazilites, members of a dogmatic school whose political and theological ideas reveal Hellenistic influence. The various thinkers associated with this school contended that free will rather than determinism should be accepted as a principle of humanity's place in the universal scheme. One of the critical questions for the Mutazilites was the problem of whether the Qur՚ān had been created; they maintained that it had. On a more immediate level, they posited notions of divine origins that could be used to elevate political rulers beyond the level granted them by previous doctrines. An important political implication of Mutazili ideas was that theological and judicial issues were subject to review on the part of the state. In 827, Caliph al-Ma՚mūn, anxious to shore up his government against dissension and external challenges, officially adopted tenets of the Mutazilites as a means of underscoring his authority on matters of faith.

Although the philosophical impulses that were at the source of Mutazili beliefs were of a liberal sort, in urging that reason be consulted on difficult questions of theology, the attempt to transform this position into a political creed produced an unfortunate episode known as the mihnah (inquisition or trial). While other thinkers bowed to the wishes of the caliph, Ibn Ḥanbal steadfastly refused to assert that the Qur՚ān had been created. In 833, he and another man were taken in chains and summoned before the caliph, who was then at Tarsus in southern Anatolia. Along the way it was learned that al-Ma՚mūn had died during a campaign against the Byzantine Empire. Ibn Ḥanbal was returned to Baghdad, where he was kept successively in three prisons. The new caliph, al-Muՙtaṣim (r. 833-842), was unwilling to abandon the policies of his predecessor. The caliph called Ibn Ḥanbal before him and interrogated him on the origins of the Qur՚ān; after he would not yield on this question, Ibn Ḥanbal was scourged and returned to prison.

Eventually, however, he was set free. The scars that remained on his body were taken by his followers as testimony to his willingness to suffer in the cause of his convictions. After al-Wathīq became caliph in 842, Ibn Ḥanbal, after a few public lectures, remained in relative seclusion; he neither took part in nor encouraged an insurrection that broke out in 844. The inquisition continued for a time, and some prominent individuals were executed or died in prison. All along, however, public opinion had opposed the state's intervention in matters of conscience, and efforts to enforce such policies increasingly had aroused consternation and disapproval. Shortly after the accession of al-Mutawakkil (822-861), in 847, the government relented; thereafter, the mihnah was abandoned and the caliph reaffirmed conventional Sunnism. Ibn Ḥanbal was officially honored by invitations to assist in the education of the young prince al-Muՙtazz, but because of his age and declining health, he excused himself from such a position.

Ibn Ḥanbal composed a number of works that became the basis for the school of law that bears his name. The statement that he preferred a weak tradition to a strong analogy has often been cited in connection with his teachings. For some time his renown as a traditionist surpassed his reputation as a jurist. His most extensive effort, the Musnad, was a collection of traditions that, with exacting care, he had traced back to their original sources. Long after it was compiled, the first printed edition of this work appeared in six volumes, containing an estimated twenty-eight or twenty-nine thousand traditions. Other writings recorded his ideas on religious and political questions; some were cast in the form of dialogues, in which he answered questions put to him by students with expositions of law according to the traditions. In short discourses, he also expounded his positions on faith and prayer; a polemical work, which he evidently wrote while he was in prison, was meant to define and refute certain heresies. Some materials were also collected and edited by his sons and followers. By the time Ibn Ḥanbal died in Baghdad, in July of 855, he had won the admiration of many people; hundreds of thousands of people were said to have joined his funeral procession.

Significance

It has commonly been maintained that Ibn Ḥanbal founded not simply the fourth and last but also the most rigid and least influential among the classical schools of Islamic law. Nevertheless, his work was extremely important sometimes in ways that belied the usual preconceptions. As a traditionist, he provided important material for the studies of leading scholars in that field, including al-Bukhārī (810-870) and Muslim al-Ḥajjāj(c. 817-875). For centuries Hanbali doctrines were widely taught, particularly in Baghdad, but also in Damascus and to some extent in Egypt; in portions of Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and some outlying Muslim lands such ideas were received avidly. The important theorist Ibn ՙAqīl (1040-1119) demonstrated the breadth and range of inquiry possible within a highly traditionalist framework. Among leading works in jurisprudence that set forth the applications of Ibn Ḥanbal's teachings were treatises by Muwaffaq al-Dīn ibn Qudāmah (1146-1223) and Ibn Taymīyah (1263-1328). During later medieval times, the Hanbali school may have declined in importance. Later, the Ottoman Empire made use of the Hanafi interpretation of Muslim law, limiting the propagation of other doctrines in central Islamic lands. In Arabia, the Wahhabi movement of the eighteenth century depended largely on Hanbali ideas in Ibn Taymīyah's formulation for doctrinal support; later still, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia adopted this school of law in its official practice. Muslim reform movements, notably in Egypt, have been indebted to Hanbali teachings. In the twentieth century, legislation in other Arab countries on certain points has borne the imprint of Ibn Ḥanbal's juridical conceptions.

Bibliography

Ahmed, Ziauddin. “Ahmad b. Hanbal and the Problems of ՙIman.” Islamic Studies 12 (1973): 261-270. This brief consideration of Ibn Ḥanbal’s conception of religious faith takes particular note of the differences that arose on this count among the various Muslim schools of law.

Ahmed, Ziauddin. “Some Aspects of the Political Theology of Ahmad b. Hanbal.” Islamic Studies 12 (1973): 53-66. Ibn Ḥanbal was willing to tolerate imprisonment and suffering partly because he rejected open rebellion against established authority; this brief study examines the bearing his views about succession to the caliphate and political legitimacy had on his own life and thought.

Coulson, Noel J. A History of Islamic Law. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964. In this important survey of stages in the development of legal theory and practice, the author considers representative problems in jurisprudence to illustrate the uses of doctrine and sources among the various schools of law.

Edge, Ian, ed. Islamic Law and Legal Theory. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Discusses Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory. Also includes a chapter with sources on Islamic legal theory published in English. Bibliography, index.

Fyzee, Asaf A. A. Outlines of Muḥammadan Law. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. This volume is useful as a comprehensive study of Islamic jurisprudence. Bibliography, index.

Hurvitz, Nimrod. The Formation of Hanbalism: Piety into Power. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. A biographical study of Ḥanbal and his foundational work during the formative years of Islam. Bibliography, index.

Khadduri, Majid. The Islamic Conception of Justice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. The theory and practice of Muslim jurisprudence are considered in the light of many facets of legal and philosophical thought that have developed since early times. This study by a leading specialist discusses the applications of methods and texts to issues surrounding major movements in Islamic law.

Makdisi, George. “The Hanbali School and Sufism.” Humaniora Islamica 2 (1974): 61-72. Although it has commonly been maintained that the Hanbali school rejected mystical forms of thought, the author points out that several eminent jurists found means to reconcile concepts of religious inspiration with Ibn Ḥanbal’s doctrines.

Patton, Walter Melville. Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna: A Biography of the Imâm Including an Account of the Mohammedan Inquisition Called the Mihna, 218-234 A.H. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1897. This work, based on original materials, has maintained a favorable reputation as an important and detailed study.

Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law. 1964. Reprint. New York: Clarendon Press, 1982. This sound and thorough work, which is recognized as a standard treatment of the subject, deals first with historical developments and then considers applications of law. The positions of the classical law schools are discussed in connection with patterns of influence and doctrine.

Watt, W. Montgomery. Islamic Philosophy and Theology: An Extended Survey. 2d ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995. A brilliant study by one of the most celebrated of Occidental authorities, this work places Islamic theologians and philosophers within the mainstream of Muslim thought. Bibliography, index.