Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, one of the most revered scholars in Islamic history, was born in Baghdad in the year 164 AH (780 CE), during the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate. His full name was Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani, and he descended from the noble Arab tribe of Shayban. Although his family originally came from Basra, he was raised in Baghdad—then a flourishing center of scholarship, culture, and intellectual activity.
His father passed away when he was very young, leaving him in the care of his devout and steadfast mother. She played a pivotal role in shaping his character, instilling in him strong values of faith, patience, discipline, and sincerity.
Pursuit of Knowledge
From an early age, Imam Ahmad immersed himself in the pursuit of knowledge. He began by memorizing the Qur’an, and studied Arabic language, grammar, poetry, and Islamic jurisprudence. As he grew older, his focus shifted predominantly to the study of Hadith (Prophetic traditions), which became the foundation of his scholarly legacy.
Driven by an unrelenting thirst for authentic knowledge, he traveled extensively across the Islamic world. His journeys took him to Kufa, Basra, Mecca, Medina, Yemen, and Syria, where he learned from the most reputable Hadith scholars of his time. His dedication was so intense that he once walked from Baghdad to Yemen solely to study under the renowned Hadith scholar Abdur Razzaq al-San'ani.
Over the course of his life, Imam Ahmad studied under more than 280 scholars, gaining a vast and reliable understanding of Hadith and Islamic law. Among his most influential teachers was Imam al-Shafi‘i, from whom he inherited a meticulous approach to jurisprudence and a deep respect for textual evidence in deriving legal rulings
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