Founder of the Hanbali school of thought, Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal attained the heights of scholarly knowledge at a young age and he was widely acclaimed by contemporaries in the Islamic world. He traveled far and wide to study Hadith and Fiqh. The task of collecting Ahadith took him to Kufa, Basra, Makkah, Madinah, Yemen and Syria. Many a journey was covered on foot and without sufficient resources to cover the travel cost. His most famous work is Al-Musnad that contains about 30,000 Ahadith. Imam Hanbal’s greatness is not only due to his scholarly achievements. When faced with the task of standing up for the truth which meant challenging the ruler of the time, he demonstrated extreme courage and determination. He was persecuted, lashed, imprisoned and put in solitary confinement, but he never wavered from his stance. History remembers him as a courageous and dedicated intellectual whose work has benefited Muslims for centuries.
