The Formation of Hanbalism: Piety into Power

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) was the eponymous founder of a school of law, and an influential intellectual who led the Baghdadi masses during the Inquisition. Owing to his status as a jurist, to the religious ideas he propounded and to his model way of life, he is perceived as one of the pivotal figures in the history of Islam and a revered hero to this day. The ninth-century juror Ahmad Ibn Hanbal was a central figure in early Islam whose influence on succeeding generations is widely recogniz...