1-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

1-His lineage:
He is Ahmad son of Muhammad son of Hanbal son of Hilal son of Asad son of Idris son of ʿAbd Allah son of Hayyan son of ʿAbd Allah son of Anas son of ʿAwf son of Qasit son of Mazin son of Shayban son of Dhuhl son of Thaʿlabah son of ʿUkabah son of Saʿb son of ʿAli son of Bakr son of Waʾil son of Qasit son of Hanab son of Afsā son of Daʿmi son of Jadilah son of Asad son of Rabiʿah son of Nizar son of Maʿd son of ʿAdnan1.

2-His upbringing and education:
His father brought him from Marw while his mother was pregnant, and she gave birth to him in Baghdad in Rabiʿ al-Awwal of the year 164 AH. His father died when he was three, so his mother raised him. In his youth he used to attend the study circle of the judge Abū Yusuf, but he soon left that and turned to the study of hadith when he was sixteen. He performed the pilgrimage several times, lived near the Kaʿbah twice, then travelled to ʿAbd al-Razzaq in Yemen and wrote hadith from him. He journeyed through many lands and regions, hearing from the leading scholars of his age, all of whom revered and honored him2.

Ibn al-Jawzi said: “Ahmad—may Allah have mercy on him—began seeking knowledge from the shaykhs of Baghdad, then travelled to Kufah, Basrah, Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Syria, and the Jazirah. He wrote from the scholars of every city.” He then listed the names of the senior scholars he met and transmitted from, arranging them alphabetically from alif to ya