Imaam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 

Madrasah Inamiyyah

Imam Ahmad began his quest for the knowledge of hadith at the age of 16. He set out for kufah in the year : 183 a.h. and to basrah in 186 a.h. and to Sufyaan bin 'uyaynah in makkah in :187 a.h. and he went to Imam Abdur Razzaq in San'aa –together with Imam Yahya bin Ma'een- in the year : 197 a.h. [pg. 53]

He is quite renown due to his celebrated work known as : "Musnad Imam Ahmad".

Ibnul Jawzi {r.a.} states : " Imam Ahmad traveled the world twice and thereafter he compiled his Musnad" [pg. 54]

Imaam Ahmad {r.a.} says: " I traveled in the search of knowledge and hadith to : Shaam, Morocco, Aljazaair, Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, 'Iraaq, Persia and Khurasaan and then returned to Baghdaad. And when I went to Kufah, I was once at a stage when I only had a brick as my pillow"! [ibid]

Yahya ibn Ma'een narrates a few outstanding incidents that occurred in his journey with Imaam Ahmad to San'aa in Yemen for the sake of benefiting from Imaam Abdur Razzaq.

He says : " When we set out for Imaam Abdur Razzaq to Yemen, we first went for Haj. One day whilst I was in tawaaf, I spotted Imaam Abdur Razzaq. So I greeted him and said to him : " Here is your brother Imaam Ahmad ibn Hambal !" He replied : " May Allah keep him alive and steadfast for verily I have heard every good about him". Then I said to Imaam Ahmad : "Allah has shortened our distance, granted us abundance of wealth and he has saved us from a month long journey". Imaam Ahmad said : "In Baghdaad I had intended to hear { hadith } from Abdur Razzaq in San'aa, by Allah I shall never change my Intention".

Yahya says : "When we went to Sa'aa, Imaam Ahmad's wealth became exhausted so Imaam Abdur Razzaq offered him a large sum of money but he refused to accept it. Then he asked him to take it as a loan, but he still refused. He also refused our wealth that we had offered him. When we checked on him we found that he use to sell belts and eat of it's profit".

Imaam ibnul Jawzi {r.a.} states in his book : Manaaqibul Imaam Ahmad" that once Imaam Abdur Razzaq mentioned Imaam Ahmad and tears came to his eyes. He then said : "He came to us and stayed for approximately 2 years. I once came to know that his money finished so I took him by his hand behind the door and when we were alone I said to him : "Verily I do not accumulate a lot of wealth. When we sell the crops the money gets used up in something or the other yet I have found 10 dinaars by the women folk of the house, so take it and I hope that before you spend it we would have acquired more. He replied : " Oh Abdur Razzaq ! if I ever accepted anything from people I would have accepted from you" [ pg. 235-236]

Ibnul Jawzi then narrated from Imaam Ishaaq ibn Raahuyah {1} He said :" When Imaam Ahmad went to Abdur Razzaq and his expenditure became exhausted, his compatriots offered to assist him he refused and instead he had hired himself out as a porter until he reached San'aa."

Ahmad bin Sinaan Al-Waasity says:" I have heard that Imaam Ahmad on one occasion pawned his shoes by a baker in lieu of food that he had taken from him"!!

Haafiz Ibn Katheer {r.a.} while discussing the hardships that Imaam Ahmad undertook in his student days mentions : " And his clothes were stolen while he was in Yemen so he stayed in his room. When his companions became aware of this they offered him gold coins but he refused. Infact he only took 1 Dinaar with the condition that he will become their scribe! { he took it as a payment for his effort}

{ The lesson to learn from this aspect of the life of such a great Imaam is that he had remained independent from everyone besides Allaah Ta'ala.

Let us also follow his footsteps in that if we are poverty stricken we would rather earn our money through our own effort instead of accepting handouts from people.

After all, in this way he became "Imaam ul Muslimeen" { the words of Yahya ibn Ma'een in the previous story…}