Memoirs from the Life of Imâm Ahmad

Memoirs from the Life of Imâm Ahmad
By Muhammad al-Sharîf





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In an interesting book, Wadaa' ar-Rasul li 'Ummatihi, Shaykh al-Qahtaani recalls the final words that Rasulallâh said on his deathbed.

After living a life of Jihâd, Dâ'wah, and Ibâdah, Rasulallâh, sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam, gathered the people around him on his deathbed and said, "I have left two things that you shall not go astray after them so long as you stick to them: the Book of Allâh and My Sunnah."

After Rasulallâh, sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallam, moved onto ar-Rafîq al-'Alâ, the Ummah was tested with humans that tried to corrupt, discredit, or amputate the Sunnah from Islâm.

And from the depths of the Ummah's men and women, Allâh ta'ala - from His mercy to the Ummah of Muhammad - raised up warriors that would stand in the face of the most vicious of the enemies of the Sunnah.

From those people that Allâh ta'ala raised was a young boy named Ahmad. Ahmad lived in Baghdad over a thousand years ago. On those cold wintery nights, his mother - the blessed Mu'minah that she was - would wake long before Fajr to warm the water for her son. Then - again long before Fajr - she would wake him to make Wudhû, then she would wrap him in shawls and off through the molten dark alleys of Baghdad they would carefully make their way to the Masjid.

There was no male to escort him (he was an orphan), so Ahmad's mother would take him that early so that he could get a good seat in the hadîth halaqah after Fajr. Then she would wait for him long after the sun rose to safely escort him back home. Her son grew up to be one of these warrior defenders of the Sunnah, one of the four Imâms of this Dîn, Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

In his collection, al-Musnad alone, he narrated from over 280 teachers.

He grew up under the shade of the Sunnah and he lived the Sunnah. It was reported that he said, "I've never written a hadith that I did not try to implement."

And he raised his children like this too. When you see other fathers throwing a baseball with their young Muslims that Allâh entrusted them with, remember this example:

Abdullâh, Imâm Ahmad's son, taught his students that when he was young his father would play with him, "Take any chapter you wish from the Musannaf of Wakî'. Ask me any hadîth and I'll tell you the chain of narrators, or tell me any chain of narrators and I'll tell you the hadith!"

He was challenged in his Deen like few other humans have been challenged. His name remains engraved in our admiration till today - across hundreds of years, across thousands of miles, across thousands of nations - because of his love for the Sunnah and his stand against those that would seek to corrupt it.

Reading through his life, I came across an event that brought back sad memories. How do you feel when your father is swore at in public. Imâm Ahmad once prayed 'Asr and he sat with his son in the Masjid alone with another man by the name of Muhammad ibn Sa'îd Al-Khuttalî. Al-Khuttalî then remarked, "Did you (O Ahmad) tell the people to boycott Zayd ibn Khalaf?" Imam Ahmâd replied, "I received a letter from his people asking about his affair, so I replied explaining his Madhhab and what he has innovated (in the Sunnah) and commanded that they not sit with him.." Al-Khuttalî exploded in Imâm Ahmad's face, red with anger, "I'm going to make sure you go back to prison. I'm going to have them crush your ribs." The vulgarity grew louder and louder. Imâm Ahmad turned to his son, "Don't reply to what he says and don't speak to him."

Imâm Ahmad took his sandals - al-Khuttalî swearing from behind his back - and told his son, "Tell the neighbors to not speak to him nor to reply him." Imâm Ahmad stepped away as Al-Khuttalî continued in the backround cursing and shouting profanity.

When the Khalifah al-Mu'tasim heard that Imâm Ahmad had not agreed with him and his court Muftîs on a specific issue, they brought him and questioned him in the courtyard of the Khalifah. They would debate with him and like a gladiator with a spear he would hit back with bigger and stronger arguments. The Muftîs would shout, "O Khalifah, he has done Kufr!" Until the Al-Mu'tasim was convinced and in came the executioners.

They stripped Imâm Ahmad and each of the strongest guards would take turns lashing Imâm Ahmad until he fell unconscious. Regardless of his state, they continued the lashing. The sun went down that day and Imâm Ahmad had not relented in his faith. That day he became an icon for all followers of Sunnah.

Qutaybah said, "If you ever see someone that loves Imâm Ahmad, know that they are a follower of the Sunnah."

Al-Hasan ibn Arafah narrated, "I visited Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal after he was whipped and tortured. I said to him, "O Abu Abdillâh, you have reached the station of the Prophets!" He said, "Keep quiet. Verily, I saw nothing more than people selling their Dîn. And I saw scholars that were with me sell their Faith.

So I said to myself, 'Who am I, what am I. What am I going to say to Allâh tomorrow when I stand in front of Him and He asks me, "Did you sell your Dîn like the others did?" So I looked at the whip and the sword and chose them.

And I said, "If I die I shall return to Allâh and say: 'I was told to say that one of Your Characteristics was something created but I did not.' After that, it will be up to Him - either to punish me or forgive me."

Al-Hasan ibn Arafah then asked, "Did you feel pain when they whipped you?" He said "Yes, I felt the pain up to 20 lashes then I lost all feeling (They whipped him over eighty times). After it was over I felt no pain and that day I prayed Dhuhr standing."

[In fact he prayed as the blood soiled his clothes.]

Al-Hasan ibn Arafah started weeping when he heard what had happened. Imâm Ahmad questioned him, "Why are you crying? I did not lose my Îman. After that why should I care if I lose my life."

Qul lan yuseebana illa maa kataballaahu lana, huwa Mowlaana, wa ala Allâhi falyatawakkalil mutawakkilun.

Before - when Imâm Ahmad was being led off to the Khalifah - people had tried to dissuade him from a most certain execution. His student: Al-Marrudhî had told him, "O teacher, Allâh says, Do not kill yourselves." Imâm Ahmad had replied, "O Marrudhî, go outside and tell me what you see." Al-Marrudhî went to the wall of the Khalifah's court and saw an ocean of students with their pens and scrolls in their hands.

Al-Marrudhî asked some of them, "What are you waiting here for?" They said, "We are waiting to see what Ahmad will say and then transcribe it." Al-Marrudhî went back to Imâm Ahmad and told him what he had seen.

"O Marrudhî," he said, "what shall I gain by misguiding all those people?"

Imâm Ahmad lived a life of poverty. When others eat lavishly remember there were days - as 'Abdur-Razzaq recalls - that Imâm Ahmad would make a mistake in Salâh. When 'Abdur-Razzaq inquired further he learnt that Imam Ahmad had not eaten for 3 days.

In this life of poverty, hardship and trials, Abdullâh asked his father one day, "Abi when will we ever relax?" His father, one of the greatest revivers of the Sunnah, a role model for all Muslims, looked him in the eye and said, "With the first step we take into Jannah."

Rahim Allâhu Al-Imam Ahmad.