The Hanbali School of Law

1A life devoted to hadith

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani, may Allah have mercy on him, was born in the year 164 after the Hijra (780 CE) in Baghdad, the flourishing capital of the Abbasid caliphate. His family belonged to the Arab tribe of Shayban. His father died early, so Ahmad grew up as an orphan with his mother, who raised him with great love and opened the path of knowledge for him. As a boy he memorised the Quran, and his teachers soon noticed his seriousness, his humility and his remarkable memory.

While still young he began to collect hadith. His first great teacher in Baghdad was Hushaym ibn Bashir, with whom he studied for several years. But Baghdad alone was not enough. Like many great scholars of his time, he travelled to hear the narrations of the Prophet ﷺ directly from those who preserved them: to Kufa and Basra, to Makkah and Madinah, to Yemen and to Syria. In Makkah he heard from Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, in Yemen from Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, and in Iraq from masters of hadith criticism such as Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi and Waki' ibn al-Jarrah.

One meeting shaped him in a special way: his meeting with Imam al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him. From him Ahmad learned how law is derived from the texts and how the sources relate to one another. The two were bound by deep mutual respect. It is reported that al-Shafi'i said he had left Baghdad and left behind no one more pious or more learned than Ahmad. And Ahmad, it is reported, made supplication for al-Shafi'i throughout his life.

This love of knowledge never left Ahmad. He was once asked how much longer he intended to keep studying, since he was already an imam. His answer became famous: "With the inkpot until the grave." Learning was not a stage of life for him; it was a way of life.

The Musnad

The great work of his life is the Musnad, one of the most extensive hadith collections ever compiled. The word musnad describes its arrangement: the hadith are not ordered by topic, such as prayer or fasting, but by the Companions who narrated them. First come the narrations of Abu Bakr, then those of Umar, Uthman and Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, followed by those of many other Companions, men and women alike.

Ahmad selected from an enormous number of narrations he had heard, and he worked on it for many years. His son Abdullah transmitted the Musnad after him and added material of his own, which scholars still know as "the additions of Abdullah". For Ahmad, the Musnad was more than a book: it was meant to be a collection the Muslims could turn to when they wanted to know what had been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ.

Besides the Musnad, works such as Kitab al-Zuhd (on simplicity and detachment from the world), Fada'il al-Sahabah (on the virtues of the Companions) and works on the criticism of narrators have come down to us from him.

Humility and piety

Whoever reads the accounts of Imam Ahmad meets a man who lived the knowledge he taught. He lived simply, was reluctant to accept gifts from the powerful, and preferred to work, even with his hands, rather than depend on others. He disliked having his own legal opinions written down, because he did not want them to stand beside the words of the Prophet ﷺ. He wanted people to look to the sources, not to him. This very humility is one reason people loved him so deeply.

2The trial (al-Mihna)

No part of his life is as well known as the period of the Mihna, "the trial". We tell it here calmly and as history, because above all it reveals the character of a scholar.

In the last years of the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun, a theological doctrine was declared the official position: that the Quran is created. Scholars and judges were questioned and required to affirm this doctrine. Many agreed under pressure – some out of conviction, some to avert harm – and later scholars regarded them with understanding. Imam Ahmad, however, held to what he understood as the belief of the early Muslims: the Quran is the speech of Allah, and it is not created.

The trial continued under the caliphs al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq. Ahmad was imprisoned, interrogated and, under al-Mu'tasim, flogged. The accounts describe that he did not respond in anger or with curses. Later he forgave those who had harmed him, saying in effect that he did not wish any Muslim to be punished on his account. Under the caliph al-Mutawakkil the Mihna finally came to an end.

What can we learn from this story? Not hostility towards rulers or people, but steadfastness, patience and forgiveness. Allah says: "Among the believers are men who have been true to what they promised Allah" 33:23. And: "O you who believe, be patient, excel in patience and remain steadfast" 3:200. For many generations Imam Ahmad became a model of how to hold to the truth calmly and with dignity, without hatred in one's heart.

3Students, sons and the transmission of the school

Imam Ahmad did not write a systematic book of law himself. His school grew out of the countless questions people asked him and out of his answers, which his students recorded with great care. These collections are called Masa'il ("questions"). Among those who transmitted such answers were:

• his sons Salih, who later became a judge in Isfahan, and Abdullah, who passed on the Musnad;
• Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, author of the well-known hadith collection Sunan Abi Dawud;
• Ishaq ibn Mansur al-Kawsaj, Abu Bakr al-Athram, Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi and Harb al-Kirmani.

A generation later Abu Bakr al-Khallal set out to gather these scattered answers. He travelled to the students and to their students and compiled a large collection of Ahmad's statements. His student Ghulam al-Khallal continued this work. Then Abu al-Qasim al-Khiraqi wrote a short handbook, the Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi, which became one of the most important foundational texts of the school.

So the school did not grow out of a single book, but out of a living chain of teachers and students – a beautiful picture of how knowledge is passed on in Islam: from heart to heart and from hand to hand.

4The Hanbali method

The Hanbali legal method (usul al-fiqh) is often described as especially close to the texts. The great Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, summarised in his work I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in the principles by which Imam Ahmad answered questions. In simplified form they can be described like this:

1. 1The texts (al-nusus): when there is a clear text in the Quran or an authentic hadith, the ruling follows it.
2. 2The legal answers of the Companions: when a Companion had given an answer and no other Companion was known to have disagreed, Ahmad followed that answer.
3. 3When the Companions differed: he chose the view closest to the Quran and Sunnah and did not go beyond their views. Sometimes he transmitted both views without deciding between them.
4. 4The mursal and the "weak" hadith: if nothing contradicted such a hadith, Ahmad preferred it to analogical reasoning. Care is needed here: this does not mean a fabricated or very weak report. Many scholars explain that the word "weak" (da'if) in Ahmad's time also covered narrations that later hadith scholars would classify as hasan ("good") – reports that do not reach the highest grade but are still acceptable.
5. 5Analogy (qiyas): Ahmad used it when necessary, that is, when none of the previous sources gave an answer. He did not reject it, but he turned to it only at that point.

Alongside these, the school also recognises consensus (ijma'), the principle of safeguarding the public good, and the rule that in everyday matters and contracts permissibility is the default as long as no text forbids something. Hanbali scholars are known for being fairly generous in the area of contracts and conditions: what people agree between themselves is in principle valid, as long as it contains nothing forbidden.

Behind all this lies an attitude that can be described with the verse: "Obey Allah and obey the Messenger … and if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger" 4:59. The Hanbalis wanted to stay as close to the source as possible and to be cautious about putting their own judgement in place of a transmitted word.

5Great scholars of the school

Over the centuries the Hanbali school produced a number of outstanding scholars. Anyone interested in the history of Islamic learning should know some of them:

• Al-Qadi Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' in Baghdad, who organised the school systematically and also wrote on legal theory.
• Ibn Aqil and Ibn al-Jawzi, two remarkably versatile scholars of Baghdad; Ibn al-Jawzi was also a famous preacher whose words moved hearts.
• Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi (541–620 AH), may Allah have mercy on him, whose family came from the region of Nablus to Damascus. His work al-Mughni is a commentary on the Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi and at the same time one of the great comparative works of Islamic law: for each question he presents the views of the Companions, the early scholars and the other schools together with their evidence. To this day scholars of all schools consult al-Mughni. He also wrote the textbooks al-'Umdah, al-Muqni' and al-Kafi, which introduce students to the school step by step, as well as Rawdat al-Nazir on legal theory.
• Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim, whose works are read far beyond the school.
• Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, known among other things for his commentary on al-Nawawi's forty hadith, Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam.
• Al-Mardawi with al-Insaf, in which he orders the views within the school and identifies the authoritative position.
• Al-Hajjawi with Zad al-Mustaqni', a short teaching text, and Mansur al-Buhuti, whose commentaries such as al-Rawd al-Murbi' and Kashshaf al-Qina' are still read in study circles today. Muntaha al-Iradat by Ibn al-Najjar and Dalil al-Talib by Mar'i al-Karmi are also among the well-known textbooks.

Many students today begin with a short text such as Zad al-Mustaqni' or 'Umdat al-Fiqh, study it with a teacher and then move on to the great commentaries – a path that has been walked almost unchanged for centuries.

6What a lay person notices in daily life

The differences between the schools of law concern details, not foundations. If you pray or study with Hanbalis, you may notice a few things you know differently from your own tradition:

• In prayer, Hanbalis – like the Shafi'is – raise their hands not only at the opening takbir, but also before bowing (ruku') and when rising from it.
• According to Hanbali teaching, eating camel meat breaks ritual ablution (wudu'). The basis is a hadith in Sahih Muslim in which the Prophet ﷺ was asked whether one should renew ablution after eating camel meat and answered yes. Other schools understand this hadith differently – a fine example of how sincere scholars can read the same text in different ways.
• In contracts, Hanbalis are often open to conditions agreed upon by the parties.

Such differences are no reason for division. The Companions themselves prayed together even though they acted differently in some details. And the great imams respected one another: Ahmad studied with al-Shafi'i, al-Shafi'i studied with Malik, and all of them loved the Prophet ﷺ.

7The school today

Historically, the Hanbali school was at home above all in Baghdad, later also in Damascus, where Ibn Qudamah's family built a centre of learning in the al-Salihiyyah quarter, and in parts of Palestine. Today it is especially widespread in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and it has a long tradition in other parts of the Gulf region as well. Its books are read at universities and in mosques around the world, and students of every school turn to al-Mughni and the works of its great scholars.

The Amman Message of 2004, endorsed in 2005 by scholars from many countries, explicitly recognises the Hanbali school together with seven other schools of law. In the United Arab Emirates, where the Maliki school has a long tradition, all recognised schools are treated with respect – in the spirit of the middle way (wasatiyyah) that the Quran describes: "And thus We have made you a community of the middle way" 2:143.

8What Imam Ahmad gives us today

Perhaps Imam Ahmad's greatest legacy is not a single legal ruling but an attitude. He loved the words of the Prophet ﷺ so much that he travelled his whole life to hear them. He remained humble although people revered him. He remained steadfast without hating. And he forgave.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "When Allah wants good for someone, He gives him understanding of the religion" (al-Bukhari, Muslim). When you study the Hanbali school – or simply pray together with Hanbalis – you meet this understanding in one of its most beautiful forms. And you realise that the different schools are not walls but paths, all leading to the same goal: to serve Allah sincerely and to follow the example of His Messenger ﷺ.

May Allah embrace Imam Ahmad and all the imams of this Ummah with His mercy, and may He unite our hearts in love for one another.