[Introduction To Usul'l-Sunnah : Introduction of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal - Part 2]
AHMAD IBN HANBAL THE SCHOLAR
Abu Abdulllah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, whose father died when he was three years old, was taken care of by an uncle. At fifteen, he decided to pursue his studies to excellence instead of taking up the career of a bureaucrat. He had a modest estate on the rents of which he survived with two wives. While his two wives gave him a son each.
In time, he turned a renowned scholar of the second Islamic century, excelling in Hadithm theology and jurisdiction. He was from Baghdad where he spent most of his times to Kufa and Basra that he lost the count. He went to Makkah five times, obviously touching on Madinah. He also covered Yemen, Ray, Syrian cities and Egypt in search of direct sources of Hadith, covering roughly 50,000km.
He was one of the trio known for travelling together, the other two being 'Yahya ibn Ma'een and 'Ali ibn Madinee, all teacher of Imam Bukhari. He live a frugal life and worked as a labourer whenever required especially when travelling to raise his expenses, instead of seeking help from anyone, including his friends, acquaintances and colleagues in the journeys.
In his great book, Siyar A'lam an-Nubala, Imam Adh-Dhahabi described Ibn Hanbal as, "The true shaykh of Islam and leader of the Muslims in his time, the master of hadith and proof of the religion."
He was chiefly interested in acquiring knowledge of ahadith and traveled extensively through Iraq, Syria, Arabia and other places in the Middle East studying religion and collecting the ahadith of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. His travel occupied several years of his early life.
After returning home, he became a student of Imam ash-Shafi'i who taught him the subject of Islamic Fiqh and its fundamentals. This and the fact that he was a scholar of hadith, were responsible for his deep devotion to the textual views on Islam, and his opposition to innovation of any kind.
After studying with Imam al-Shafi’i, Imam Ahmad was able to begin to formulate his own legal opinions in fiqh. When Imam Ahmad was 40 years of age in the year 820, his mentor Imam al-Shafi’i passed away. At this point, Imam Ahmad began to teach hadith and fiqh to the people of Baghdad. Students would flock to his lectures, and he especially took care of the poorer ones, keeping in mind his own humble origins.
Among the works of Imam Ibn Hanbal is the great encyclopedia of ahadith called Al-Musnad, compiled during his life time, completed by his son, Abdullah ibn Ahmad, and amplified by supplements. Al-Musnad contains more than thirty thousand ahadith. His other works nclude Kitab as-Salah, on the discipline of making salah and Kitab as-Sunnah, on the matters of 'aqidah as they are understood from the hadith of the Prophet s.a.w and the sayings and commentaries of the Companions of the Prophet s.a.w.
Imam adh-Dhahabi related many of the praises stated by the scholars who knew Ibn Hanbal personally. The biography of Ibn Hanbal spread over at least 113 pages of adh-Dhahabi's Siyar A'lam an-Nubala. Abdullah ibn Ahmad, his son, said: "I heard Ar-Razi say :'Your father memorized a million hadith, which I rehearsed with him according to the topic.' "
'Ali ibn al-Madini, the great Imam of hadith said: "Truly, Allah reinforced this religion with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq the day of the great apostasy (ar-riddah), and He reinforced it with Ahmad ibn Hanbal the day of the Inquisition (al-Mihnah)."
Harmala said: "I heard ash-Shafi'i say: 'I left Baghdad and did not leave behind me anyone more virtuous, more learned, more knowledgeable than Ahmad ibn Hanbal."
Despite being in the capital of the Muslim world, Baghdad, Imam Ahmad refused to be attracted to a life of luxury and wealth. He continued to live on very humble means, and rejected the numerous gifts that people would offer him, instead choosing to live on whatever small amounts of money he had. He especially insisted on not accepting gifts from political figures, ensuring his independence from the political authority which could affect his teachings.
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PART 3 >> IMAM AHMAD'S FIVE BASIC JURISTIC PRINCIPLES
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