OverviewA teacher who travelled to collect accounts of Muhammad’s ﷺ words and actions.CategoryScholarPeriodc. 780 – 855 CE
LearningHe studied with Ash-Shafi‘i and travelled to learn from many teachers.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Ahmad ibn Hanbal
His workHis Musnad groups reports about Muhammad ﷺ by the companion who passed them on. Readers can find, for example, accounts told by Abu Bakr or Aisha together.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Ahmad ibn Hanbal
A lasting changeThe Hanbali school of Islamic law is named after him.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Reading the MusnadAhmad’s Musnad is one of the major hadith collections. Reports in it are not all given the same authenticity rating. Traditional large counts of narrations can include repeated reports and different transmission chains; they are not counts of distinct sayings.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Ahmad ibn Hanbal
SourcesOriginal summaries of the cited sources. Qur’anic accounts, later traditions and historical estimates are distinguished; brief profiles do not settle scholarly disagreements.TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Ahmad ibn HanbalTDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal
