Part of Ramadan events and lessons (series completed)
· Lesson 22 of 31
Ramadan events and lessons | Episode (22) | Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal released from prison
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Transcript
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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A summary of the book:
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*Ramadan: Events and Lessons*.
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The release of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal from prison.
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The date: the twenty-fifth of Ramadan,
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in the year 221 AH.
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The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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his Companions, and the righteous generations after them
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adhered to the sound and pure creed,
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which was untainted by any blemish.
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They believed regarding Allah and His Book
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precisely what Allah stated about Himself and His Book,
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without resorting to distortion or allegorical misinterpretation,
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nor anthropomorphism or denial of divine attributes.
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Eventually, departure from this sound creed
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began to creep into the Ummah little by little.
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Among the sources of this deviation
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from that pure path
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was ignorance of the true reality of Islam
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and of Arabic, the language of the Qur'an.
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This occurred when there entered into Islam
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some non-Arabs, such as freedmen,
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who retained remnants of their former beliefs.
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For instance, al-Ja'd ibn Dirham and his student Jahm ibn Safwan
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were among the freedmen,
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and they introduced a disastrous evil among the Muslims
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by disseminating deviant ideas that undermined
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the sound creed of the Muslims,
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such as the heretical doctrine of the createdness of the Qur'an.
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Certain people took up these ideas from them.
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Then came the translation of books from the Greeks,
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the Romans, the Persians, and the Indians,
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which only aggravated the situation and compounded the affliction.
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Thus, the rift widened and deviant creeds spread throughout the Ummah.
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What further entrenched these ideas in some minds
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was their adoption by certain Abbasid caliphs,
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who patronized their leading proponents and subjected the people to the Inquisition.
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Among those doctrines that deviated from the truth
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was the assertion that the Qur'an is created,
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which the Mu'tazilites adopted as their creed
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and proclaimed publicly among the people.
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Then came the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun,
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who kept company with the judge Ibn Abi Du'ad
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and embraced from him the doctrine of the createdness of the Qur'an.
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He championed it and propagated it with force and severity,
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testing and persecuting people over it.
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When al-Ma'mun died,
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he bequeathed to his brother al-Mu'tasim to maintain Ibn Abi Du'ad's companionship.
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Thus, the official adoption of this doctrine continued.
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After al-Mu'tasim came his son al-Wathiq,
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and the situation remained unchanged,
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until the ordeal finally ended in the reign of al-Mutawakkil.
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Among the scholars who refused to submit to these three caliphs
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in adopting the doctrine of the createdness of the Qur'an
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was Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani, may Allah have mercy on him.
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He was imprisoned on that account and flogged with whips.
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On the twenty-fifth of Ramadan,
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in the year 221 AH,
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he was released from prison.
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It was a momentous day over which the Muslims rejoiced exceedingly.
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Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal:
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Aspects of his fragrant biography.
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His name, lineage, and birth, may Allah have mercy on him:
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He is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ibn Hilal
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ibn Asad al-Shaybani,
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Abu 'Abdillah, originally from Marw, then settled in Baghdad,
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one of the eminent leading imams.
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He was born in Baghdad in Rabi'
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in the year 164 AH,
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and was raised as an orphan.
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His father had brought him from Marw while his mother was pregnant with him,
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and she gave birth to him in Baghdad.
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His father passed away when Ahmad was only three years old,
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so his mother took full care of his upbringing.
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His knowledge and memorization, may Allah have mercy on him:
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Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, was a mountain of memorization
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and an ocean of knowledge.
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Allah combined in him retentive strength of memory, sound understanding,
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and deep insight into the objectives and meanings of the texts.
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He was a master of hadith memorization, a hadith expert, and a scholar of fiqh.
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'Abdullah ibn Ahmad said:
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"Abu Zur'ah said to me:
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'Your father memorized one million hadiths.'"
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'Abdullah also said:
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"My father said to me:
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'Pick any book you wish from the Musannaf collections of Waki';
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if you wish, ask me about the text
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and I will give you the chain of transmission,
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and if you wish, give me the chain of transmission and I will provide
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the text.'"
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His etiquette and asceticism, may Allah have mercy on him:
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Ahmad's knowledge and deep understanding,
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along with his practical application of that knowledge,
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left a profound, beautiful mark on his actions, words, and states.
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Asceticism, propriety, piety, and righteous conduct were evident upon him,
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to the extent that for anyone not hearing hadith from him,
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merely looking at him and sitting with him was sufficient;
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and in doing so, immense good was attained.
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Al-Marrudhi said:
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"Abu 'Abdillah said to me:
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'I never recorded a single hadith without acting upon it,
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to the point that when I came across the report that the Prophet, peace be upon him, had himself cupped
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and gave Abu Taybah a dinar,
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I had myself cupped and gave the cupper a dinar.'"
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It is narrated from al-Husayn ibn Isma'il from his father, who said:
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"Around five thousand people or more would gather in Ahmad's assembly;
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approximately five hundred would write down hadiths,
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while the rest learned from him noble character, etiquette, and composure."
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The scholars' praise for him:
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Due to Imam Ahmad's vast knowledge, fiqh, scrupulous piety,
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righteous deeds, and steadfast firmness upon the truth,
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he held an esteemed place in the hearts of the people.
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They loved him, revered him, honored his stature,
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and praised him in the highest terms.
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Among them were the scholars—his teachers, peers, and students—
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as well as anyone who heard of him or met him;
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their tongues were eloquent with praise of him and recognition of his virtue.
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'Abd al-Razzaq said:
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"I have never seen anyone with deeper understanding of fiqh or greater piety than him."
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Yahya ibn Ma'in said:
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"If we were to sit in a gathering solely to praise him,
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we could not enumerate his virtues in full."
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Al-Shafi'i said:
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"I departed from Baghdad
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leaving behind no man more virtuous, more knowledgeable, of deeper understanding in fiqh, or more pious
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than Ahmad ibn Hanbal."
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Before al-Mu'tasim:
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When Imam Ahmad arrived
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and was placed in prison,
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he was brought before al-Mu'tasim several times
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to induce him to agree with his view and retract his statement
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that the Qur'an is the uncreated Word of Allah.
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Present in these sessions with al-Mu'tasim were
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the governor of Baghdad,
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Ishaq ibn Ibrahim,
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the judge Ibn Abi Du'ad,
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and a cohort of jurists and judges
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who upheld the doctrine of the createdness of the Qur'an.
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They, spearheaded by Ibn Abi Du'ad,
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branded Imam Ahmad with heresy, misguidance, and apostasy,
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and incited al-Mu'tasim to torture and kill Abu 'Abdillah,
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assuring him that they would bear the burden of his blood before Allah.
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They would say:
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"O Commander of the Faithful!
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He is misguided, misguiding others, and a disbeliever!"
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Some of them said:
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"O Commander of the Faithful!
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His blood is on my neck;
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execute him!"
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Ibn Sama'ah said:
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"O Commander of the Faithful!
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Strike his neck,
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and his blood is on my neck!"
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Barghuth said:
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"O Commander of the Faithful!
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He is a disbeliever whose blood is lawful to shed;
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strike his neck,
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and his blood is on my neck!"
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Shu'ayb likewise said the same.
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Abu 'Abdillah remarked:
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"None among the group was harsher in declaring me a disbeliever than those two."
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Yet al-Mu'tasim did not heed any of that.
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Al-Mu'tasim and his associates employed three methods with Abu 'Abdillah
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to make him recant his stance in those sessions.
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The first:
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Debate and rational persuasion,
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in which Ahmad refuted them all.
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The second:
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Enticement,
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to the extent that al-Mu'tasim said to him:
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"O Ahmad,
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concede this matter to me,
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and I will make you among my inner circle,
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and one of those who tread upon my carpet."
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But Ahmad would reply:
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"O Commander of the Faithful,
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let them bring me a verse from the Book of Allah
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or an established Sunnah from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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so that I may respond in accordance with it."
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The third:
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Intimidation and torture.
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This was the final method al-Mu'tasim resorted to with Ahmad
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when the first two methods proved futile.
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Ahmad was subjected to severe flogging with whips in al-Mu'tasim's presence,
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to the point that he would lose consciousness
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and his blood flowed and his skin tore.
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Regarding the extreme severity of the flogging inflicted upon him,
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Abu al-Shamis, the repentant flogger, said:
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"I struck Ahmad ibn Hanbal eighty lashes;
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had I struck an elephant with them, it would have collapsed."
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The day of release:
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When al-Mu'tasim witnessed Ahmad's immense steadfastness,
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he became terrified.
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Ibn Abi Du'ad had previously advised al-Mu'tasim with this counsel
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when he heard some courtiers demanding his execution and offering to bear his blood,
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saying: "No, O Commander of the Faithful, do not do so!
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For if he is killed or dies in your palace,
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the people will say: 'He remained steadfast until he was killed,'
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and the people took him as their Imam
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and remained steadfast upon what they believed.
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Instead, release him right now,
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for if he dies outside your residence,
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the people will be uncertain about what happened to him."
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Ahmad said: "So I was released,
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and before I knew it, I was in a room in a house,
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and the shackles had been removed from my legs."
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That took place on the twenty-fifth of Ramadan
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in the year two hundred and twenty-one.
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Then the Caliph ordered him to be released to his family,
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and al-Mu'tasim summoned Ahmad's uncle,
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then said to the people: "Do you recognize him?"
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They said: "Yes, he is Ahmad Ibn Hanbal."
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He said: "Then look at him;
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is his body not unharmed and sound?"
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They replied: "Yes."
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And when he said: "I have returned him to you unharmed and sound,"
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the people calmed down and grew tranquil.
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Al-Dhahabi said:
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"He only said this—despite his firm grip on the caliphate and his courage—
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because of a grave matter;
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it was as though he feared that Ahmad might die from the flogging,
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causing the common folk to revolt against him.
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And had the common folk of Baghdad revolted against him,
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he might have been helpless against them."
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The Stance of a Man of Great Character:
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After all this tremendous tribulation that Imam Ahmad endured,
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and this severe harm inflicted upon him by al-Mu'tasim and his courtiers,
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the noble character of the truly great manifested in him,
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characteristic of the truthful and righteous believers
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who do not seek vengeance for themselves;
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thus, he issued a general pardon for al-Mu'tasim
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in recognition of the service he had rendered to Islam.
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Ahmad Ibn Sinan said:
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"It reached me that Ahmad Ibn Hanbal
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absolved al-Mu'tasim of any wrongdoing
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on the day the capital of Babak was conquered
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and victory was achieved over him,
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or at the conquest of Amorium.
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So he said:
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'He is absolved of flogging me.'
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And I heard him say:
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'Everyone who has wronged me is absolved,
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except for an innovator.
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And I have absolved Abu Ishaq'—
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meaning al-Mu'tasim—'of any wrongdoing,
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for I saw that Allah says:
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◁Let them pardon and overlook.▷
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“And let not those who possess dignity and ease among you swear not to give to the near of kin and to the needy, and to fugitives for the cause of Allah. Let them forgive and show indulgence. Yearn ye not that Allah may forgive you? Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” (24:22)
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And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded
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Abu Bakr to pardon
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in the story of Mistah."
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Abu 'Abdillah said:
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"And what benefit is it to you that Allah should punish
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your Muslim brother on your account?"
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May Allah have mercy upon Abu 'Abdillah!
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How patient and strong he was
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in the truth, and how steadfast!
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And how magnificent was his pardon and forgiveness
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after everything that happened to him!
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His Death (may Allah have mercy on him):
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After a life filled with abundant goodness,
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great steadfastness upon the truth,
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and the dissemination of knowledge and the Sunnah,
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Abu 'Abdillah departed this life
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to return to the mercy of his Lord.
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His son 'Abdullah said:
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"I heard my father say:
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'I have completed seventy-seven years,
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and have entered my seventy-eighth.'
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Then he was seized by a fever that very night,
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and he passed away on the tenth day."
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His son Salih said:
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"When it was the beginning of Rabi' al-Awwal
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in the year two hundred and forty-one of the Hijrah,
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my father fell ill with a fever on the eve of Wednesday,
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and spent the night feverish,
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breathing with great difficulty.
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I was familiar with his illnesses,
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as I used to nurse him whenever he fell ill.
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So I said to him: 'O my father,
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with what did you break your fast last night?'
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He said: 'With some water left over for me.'
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He said: 'Then he was afflicted by
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the pains of urinary retention and other ailments,
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yet his intellect remained sound.
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Then, on Friday,
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when twelve nights had passed of Rabi' al-Awwal,
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two hours into the daytime...'"
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Ramadan: Events and Lessons