The Life of Ibn Hanbal

359 Pages·3.774 MB·English

by  Ibn al-Jawzi

THE LIFE OF IBN ḤANBAL
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LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE
EDITORIAL BOARD
GENERAL EDITOR
Philip F. Kennedy, New York University
EXECUTIVE EDITORS
James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University
EDITORS
Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University
Julia Bray, University of Oxford
Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania
Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi
Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago
Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Chip Rossetti
DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Stuart Brown
ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR
Gemma Juan-Simó
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LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR
The Library of Arabic Literature series offers Arabic editions and English translations
of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth
centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era
to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including
poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history, and historiography.
Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars
and are published in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, and
are also made available as English-only paperbacks.
The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative, though not necessarily
critical, Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations. Its
ultimate goal is to introduce the rich, largely untapped Arabic literary heritage to both
a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.
The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York
University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.
Philip F. Kennedy
General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature
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ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK
This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover
predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed, but
paragraph numbering has been retained to facilitate cross-referencing with the
hardcover. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the
English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where
appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation
is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to
the hardcover.
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THE LIFE OF IBN ḤANBAL
BY
IBN AL-JAWZĪ
TRANSLATED BY
MICHAEL COOPERSON
FOREWORD BY
GARTH FOWDEN
VOLUME EDITOR
TAHERA QUTBUDDIN
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Copyright © 2016 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ibn al-Jawzi, Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali, approximately 1116–1201 author. |
Cooperson, Michael translator.
Title: The life of Ibn Hanbal / by Ibn al-Jawzi ; translated by Michael Cooperson ; foreword by Garth
Fowden.
Other titles: Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. English
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028108 (print) | LCCN 2016029914 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479805303 (pb : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781479886241 (e-book) | ISBN 9781479870394 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad ibn Muòhammad, 780–855. | Islamic law—Biography.
Classification: LCC KBp310.12653 126513 2016 (print) | LCC KBP310.12653 (ebook) | DDC
297.1/4092 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028108
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen
for strength and durability.
Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward
Typeset in Adobe Text
Manufactured in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
Letter from the General Editor
About this Paperback
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Notes to the Introduction
THE LIFE OF IBN ḤANBAL
Chapter 1: Ibn Ḥanbal’s Birth and Family Background
Chapter 2: His Lineage
Chapter 3: His Childhood
Chapter 4: The Beginning of His Search for Knowledge and the Journey He
Undertook for That Purpose
Chapter 5: The Major Men of Learning Whom He Met and on Whose Authority He
Recited Hadith
Chapter 6: His Deference to His Teachers and His Respect for Learning
Chapter 7: His Eagerness to Learn and His Single-Minded Pursuit of Knowledge
Chapter 8: His Powers of Retention and the Number of Reports He Knew by Heart
Chapter 9: His Learning, His Intelligence, and His Religious Understanding
Chapter 10: Praise of Him by His Teachers
Chapter 11: Teachers and Senior Men of Learning Who Cite Him
Chapter 12: All the Men of Learning Who Cite Him
Chapter 13: Praise of Him by His Peers, His Contemporaries, and Those Close to Him
in Age
Chapter 14: Praise of Him by Prominent Successors Who Knew Him Well
Chapter 15: A Report That the Prophet Elijah Sent Him Greetings
Chapter 16: Reports That al-Khaḍir Spoke in His Praise
Chapter 17: Praise of Him by Pious Strangers and Allies of God
Chapter 18: Allies of God Who Visited Him to Seek His Blessing
Chapter 19: His Fame
Chapter 20: His Creed
Chapter 21: His Insistence on Maintaining the Practices of the Early Muslims
Chapter 22: His Reverence for Hadith Transmitters and Adherents of the Sunnah
Chapter 23: His Shunning and Reviling of Innovators and His Forbidding Others to
Listen to Them
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Chapter 24: His Seeking of Blessings and Cures Using the Qurʾan and Water from the
Well of Zamzam, as Well as Some Hair and a Bowl That Belonged to the Prophet
Chapter 25: His Age When He Began Teaching Hadith and Giving Legal Opinions
Chapter 26: His Devotion to Learning and the Attitudes That Informed His Teaching
Chapter 27: His Works
Chapter 28: His Aversion to Writing Books Containing Opinions Reached through the
Exercise of Independent Judgment at the Expense of Transmitted Knowledge
Chapter 29: His Forbidding Others to Write Down or Transmit His Words
Chapter 30: His Remarks on Sincerity, on Acting for the Sake of Appearances, and on
Concealing One’s Pious Austerities
Chapter 31: His Statements about Renunciation and Spiritual Weakness
Chapter 32: His Remarks on Different Subjects
Chapter 33: Poems He Recited or Had Attributed to Him
Chapter 34: His Correspondence
Chapter 35: His Appearance and Bearing
Chapter 36: His Imposing Presence
Chapter 37: His Cleanliness and Ritual Purity
Chapter 38: His Kindness and His Consideration for Others
Chapter 39: His Forbearance and His Readiness to Forgive
Chapter 40: His Property and Means of Subsistence
Chapter 41: His Refusal to Accept Help Even in Distress
Chapter 42: His Generosity
Chapter 43: His Accepting Gifts and Giving Gifts in Return
Chapter 44: His Renunciation
Chapter 45: His House and Furniture
Chapter 46: His Diet
Chapter 47: His Indulgences
Chapter 48: His Clothing
Chapter 49: His Scrupulosity
Chapter 50: His Shunning Appointment to Positions of Authority
Chapter 51: His Love of Poverty and His Affection for the Poor
Chapter 52: His Humility
Chapter 53: His Accepting Invitations and His Withdrawal upon Seeing Things He
Disapproved Of
Chapter 54: His Preference for Solitude
Chapter 55: His Wish to Live in Obscurity and His Efforts to Remain Unnoticed
Chapter 56: His Fear of God
Chapter 57: His Preoccupation and Absentmindedness
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Chapter 58: His Devotions
Chapter 59: His Performances of the Pilgrimage
Chapter 60: His Extemporaneous Prayers and Supplications
Chapter 61: His Manifestations of Grace and the Effectiveness of His Prayers
Chapter 62: The Number of Wives He Had
Chapter 63: His Concubines
Chapter 64: The Number of His Children
Chapter 65: The Lives of His Children and Descendants
Chapter 66: How and Why the Inquisition Began
Chapter 67: His Experience with al-Maʾmūn
Chapter 68: What Happened after the Death of al-Maʾmūn
Chapter 69: His Experience with al-Muʿtaṣim
Chapter 70: His Reception by the Elders after His Release, and Their Prayers for Him
Chapter 71: His Teaching of Hadith after the Death of al-Muʿtaṣim
Chapter 72: His Experience with al-Wāthiq
Chapter 73: His Experience with al-Mutawakkil
Chapter 74: His Refusing Ibn Ṭāhir’s Request to Visit Him
Chapter 75: What Happened When His Two Sons and His Uncle Accepted Gifts from
the Authorities
Chapter 76: Some Major Figures Who Capitulated to the Inquisition
Chapter 77: His Comments on Those Who Capitulated
Chapter 78: Those Who Defied the Inquisition
Chapter 79: His Final Illness
Chapter 80: His Date of Death and His Age When He Died
Chapter 81: How His Body Was Washed and Shrouded
Chapter 82: On Who Sought to Pray over Him
Chapter 83: The Number of People Who Prayed over Him
Chapter 84: The Praising of the Sunnah and the Decrying of Innovation That Took
Place during His Funeral Procession
Chapter 85: The Crowds That Gathered around His Grave
Chapter 86: His Estate
Chapter 87: Reactions to His Death
Chapter 88: Reaction to His Death on the Part of the Jinns
Chapter 89: On the Condolences Offered to His Family
Chapter 90: A Selection of the Verses Spoken in Praise of Him in Life and in
Commemoration of Him in Death
Chapter 91: His Dreams
Chapter 92: Dreams in Which He Appeared to Others
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