780-855
Legal Scholar

Defining Islam. The period in which 'Ahmad Ibn Hanbal lived was filled with ideological controversies about the precise definition of Islam, a discussion that the declining khilafah was unable to dominate. Ibn Hanbal contributed greatly to the emergent Sunni orthodoxy by helping to define the religion, fighting what he saw as heresy, and supporting the hadiths (traditions of the Prophet) as a central source of doctrine and practice alongside the Qur'an. Like the other founding figures of Sunni Islam, he was concerned with establishing firm Sunni conformity to agreed-upon principles.

Life and Works. Born in Baghdad, where his father was one of the Khurasani soldiers who were the chief support of the Abbasid khilafah, Ibn Hanbal spent most of his life in his native city, and does not appear to have traveled much. Thus, he did not meet most of the imams...