Ahmad ibn Hanbal / Christopher Melchert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Melchert, Christopher.

Contributor:

James A. Crawford Memorial Fund.

Series:

Makers of the Muslim world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ibn òHanbal, Aòhmad ibn Muòhammad, 780-855.

Ibn òHanbal, Aòhmad ibn Muòhammad.

Muslim scholars--Biography.

Muslim scholars.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 143 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oneworld, [2006]

Summary:

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780-855) was the forefather of the Hanbali, the last of the four principal Sunni schools of jurisprudence. Maintaining that the Qur'an was uncreated and the direct word of God, Ibn Hanbal believed that the holy text should be read literally, rejecting any possibility for metaphorical or revisionist interpretation. Such was his influence that among the overwhelming majority of religious leaders in the centuries that followed his death, his name was synonymous with Islamic orthodoxy.

Investigating a wide range of sources and viewpoints, this pioneering study profiles Ibn Hanbal's life, work, theology, and extensive collection of hadith, yet presupposes little specialist knowledge. Examining the fact that even during his lifetime, his followers were revising his doctrines in favour of a more commodious Islam, it questions whether Ibn Hanbal has been misrepresented, and offers an insightful introduction to one of the founders of Sunni Islam.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Life 1

Religious knowledge 4

Family man 4

Ahmad's character 6

The Inquisition 8

Chapter 2 Hadith 19

The character of hadith 19

The age for collecting hadith 22

Writing down hadith 24

Ahmad's quest for hadith 33

The Musnad 39

Hadith criticism 48

Chapter 3 Law 59

The spectrum of opinion in the ninth century 59

Hanbali literature 66

Ahmad's jurisprudence 70

The Hanbali school of law 79

Chapter 4 Correct Belief 83

Who is in, who is out? 84

What Ahmad believed 88

Rejected theological parties 89

Politics 93

Ahmad the fundamentalist? 98

Sunni theology after Ahmad 101

Chapter 5 Piety 103

Ahmad and the renunciant tradition 104

An ideal within the range of most men 108

Ahmad's practice 113.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-134) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the James A. Crawford Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1851684077

9781851684076

OCLC:

70173862