An Introduction to the Hanbali Madhhab

Ibn Taymiyyah said about al-Imām Ahmad, “He was the virtuous imam, and thecomplete leader with hom Allah clarified the truth, rejected falsehoods, clarifiedthe correct methodology, and repudiated the innovations of innovators,theheresies of heretics, and the doubts of the doubtful.” [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyab（3/312)]Al-Subkī said,“He was the virtuous imām and the leader of a way of thought.Hewas patient during the midst of his inquisition. He was the teacher and exemplarof Ahl al-Sunnah.” [ȚTabaqāt al-Shāfiiyyah al-Kubrā(2/27)]Al-Shäfi’ī said of him,“Ahmad is an imām in eight characteristics: He is an imāmin hadīth, an imām in jurisprudence, an imām in language, an imām in Qur’ān,an imam in poverty, an imām in asceticism, an imām in abstinence, and an imamin Sunnah.”［Tabaqāt al-Hanābilah of Ibn Abī Yalā (I/s)]Al-Ustādh Ad-ham al-Junaydī stated,“Ibn Badrān was skilled in all rational,literary,and mathematical sciences. He was encyclopedic in his knowledge of lawand grammar. He was truly an authority. He was a virtuous sbaykb,forsaking thevanities of this world, austere in his dress, home, and life.”［Alam al-Adab wal-Fan(I/224-225)]Al-Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Bayțār said, “He had high aspirations and manyefforts in reviving the religious and scholarly awakening in the Levant.Heresembled the scholars of the Salafin that he taught in private, preached in public,authored books, and forsook the vanities of the worldly life. ” [In the introductionof Munadamat al-Atlal]