the world with persecution and hearts with turmoil for many long years. Then Allah Most High raised up against them a beacon of the faith, endowed with patience and firm conviction: Abū Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ibn Hilāl ibn Asad al-Shaybānī. He girded himself for the struggle and refused to succumb to the trial. He freely relinquished worldly comforts but jealously guarded his religion, refusing humiliation for the sake of a comfortable life. In Allah’s cause, he cared nothing for how few his peers were and forgot how few supporters he had, until he demolished what they had made firm and tore apart what they had stretched out.

As for the position of the group that spoke of divine decree, it sought to enter into a dispute over