and ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah; yet Aḥmad was the most learned of them in jurisprudence.¹

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd said, “If you see a man who loves Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, know that he is a follower of the Sunnah and the united community.”²

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī—may Allah have mercy on him—stated:

“Our doctrine, and the religion by which we worship Allah, is to hold fast to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), together with what has been transmitted from the Companions, their Followers, and the leading hadith scholars. To all of this we cling. We likewise affirm what Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—may Allah brighten his face—affirmed, and we oppose whoever opposes his position. For he was the virtuous Imām, the consummate leader through whom Allah made the truth manifest when misguidance appeared, clarified the path, and suppressed the innovations of the innovators, the deviations of the deviant, and the doubts of the doubters. May Allah’s mercy be upon that foremost Imām and great instructor.³

Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī said, “If you hear anyone speak ill of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, suspect him with regard to his Islam….”

Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ declared, “Aḥmad is, for us, a touchstone: whoever reviles Aḥmad is, in our estimation, a flagrant sinner….”

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ṭarkhābādhī al-Hamadhānī said, “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is a criterion; through him….”