Many of you must have heard of Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله, the last of the Four Imaams and the one to whom the Hanbali Madhhab is ascribed to, right? He is also the one who collected and compiled the famous book of hadith, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Imam Ahmad is considered the Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, not because his fiqh positions in some issues are better than the other Imams nor because he is the one of only two scholars in the history of Islam to have memorized one million ahadith (not even the greatest scholars of hadith such as Bukhari or Muslim reached this level).
No. He is considered as such because of his stance, resilience and iron-will.
Al Ma'mun was a caliph from the Abbasid Dynasty who reigned from the years 813 - 833 CE (about 200 years after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم). This was roughly around the period when the Mu'tazila sect emerged, who asserted that, because of the perfect unity and eternal nature of Allah, the Qur'an must therefore have been created, as it could not be co-eternal with God.
In a bid to assert the religious authority of the Caliph and test the loyalty of his subjects, Al-Ma'mun introduced the 'mihna' i.e. an inquisition undergone by elites, scholars, judges and other government officials. It consisted of a series of questions relating to theology and faith. The central question was about the creation of the Qur'an, if the interrogatee stated he believed the Qur'an to be created, he was free to leave and continue his profession.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله (d.241 H) lived during the time of Caliph Al-Ma'mun and being an influential scholar, he too was called before the Inquisition, just like his fellow contemporaries . And this was the decisive event where Allah سبحانه و تعالى favored him above EVERYONE in his time.
Many of the greatest scholars at the time fell and gave into the coercion, unable to withstand the torture and fear of death. And they do have the legislated Islamic excuse of coercion, and are not held accountable for what they said.
Imam Ahmad though, viewed that it was not for everybody to take this excuse. Someone had to protect the deen. Someone had to take the torture. Someone had to be killed perhaps. He was the most severely persecuted, imprisoned as an old man, beaten naked and flogged till he would loose consciousness. And yet he never wavered in his beliefs. Never gave in to the coercion.
The scholars would say after Imam Ahmad, that Allah saved Islam or preserved Islam in the trial that "the Qur'an is created" through Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله.
Just like how Allah preserved the deen through Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq رضي الله عنه when the death of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم threatened to tear the Ummah of Muhammad apart (a number of people apostated and the Ummah was plunged into chaos, and it was Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه who held Islam down).
May Allah grant Imam Ahamd the company of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, his Sahabah and the righteous predecessors in Jannatul-Firdaws. Allaahumma Ameen.
Reference :
- Lecture by Moosaa Richardson - "Understanding the Serious Mistakes of Yusuf Estes" - Troid.ca
- Bulugh al-Maram by Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - Written by Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Sanani
- Where is Allah? by Mahmud Murad
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