The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

[Al-Marwazī:] Only four men, all of them from Marv, remained steadfast throughout the Inquisition: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, Muḥammad ibn Nūḥ, and Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād. 78.1

Abū l-Ḥusayn ibn al-Munādī mentions the following men as having remained steadfast as well: Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn, ʿAffān, al-Buwayṭī, Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways al-Madanī, Abū Muṣʿab al-Madanī, and Yaḥyā l-Ḥimmānī.

[Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq:] The first to be called for interrogation was ʿAffān. The next day, after his return, I was there, as were all of us, including Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn asked ʿAffān to tell us what Isḥāq had said to him and how he had answered. 78.2

“I did nothing to dishonor you or your associates,” he said, meaning that he had not said what Isḥāq wanted him to say.

“So what was it like?” “Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm called me in. When I got there, he read out the letter that al- Maʾmūn had sent to al-Raqqah from northern Iraq. In the letter it said, ‘Test ʿAffān, and call on him to say that the Qurʾan is such-and-such. If he does so, confirm him in his position. If he refuses, cut off his stipend.’” Al-Maʾmūn had been paying ʿAffān five hundred dirhams a month.

“When the letter had been read out, Isḥāq asked me to state my position. By way of reply, I recited «Say, He is God, the One, the ṣamad»463 through to the end, then asked, ‘Is that created?’ “Isḥāq said, ‘Listen, elder, the Commander of the Faithful says he’ll cut off your stipend, and if he does I will too.’ “I told him that God says «In heaven is your sustenance, and also that which you are promised.»464 He had no reply to that and let me go.” Aḥmad and those of our associates who were there were heartened by this report.

[Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥusayn:] I was working for ʿAffān, holding the reins of his mule, when he was called in for trial. When he went in, he was asked to agree to what they said but he wouldn’t. They told him they would keep back his stipend, which came to a thousand dinars a month, but he said, «In heaven is your sustenance, and also that which you are promised.»465 78.3

When we got back, the women of the house, and everyone else there, started berating him. There were about forty people living in that house. Then we heard a knock on the door. In came a man who looked to me like a seller of ghee or oil carrying a thousand dirhams in a bag. “You’ve supported the faith,” he said to ʿAffān, “and may God support you! You’ll be getting a bag like this every month.”

[Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar:] Of all the elders’ gatherings I’ve seen, the greatest was the one I saw in Kufa during the Inquisition. After the letter with the doctrine in it was read aloud, Abū Nuʿaym spoke up and said, “I’ve heard reports from 870-some teachers, from al-Aʿmash on down, but I never met anyone who held that view”—that the Qurʾan is a created thing—“nor saw anyone espouse it without being accused of heresy.” 78.4

Hearing this, Aḥmad ibn Yūnus rose and kissed Abū Nuʿaym’s head, saying, “May God reward you on behalf of Islam!” [Muḥammad ibn Yūnus:] When Abū Nuʿaym was taken in to the governor, he said, “I’ve seen all the elders in Kufa—that’s more than seven hundred, from al- Aʿmash on down—say that the Qurʾan is the speech of God, and my neck means as little to me as this button.” 78.5

At that, Aḥmad ibn Yūnus rose and kissed him on the head even though there had been bad blood between them and said, “May God reward you for the great elder you are!” [Ibn Abī Shaybah:] When the Inquisition came to Kufa, Aḥmad ibn Yūnus told me to go find Abū Nuʿaym and let him know. When I found him and told him, he said, “It’s just a flogging.” Then he tore a button off his garment. “My head means less to me than this button.” 78.6

[Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq:] I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—say, “Two elders stood up for God better than anyone else”—or “nearly everyone else”—“ever has: ʿAffān and Abū Nuʿaym.” 78.7

He was referring to their refusal to capitulate.

[Muḥammad ibn Saʿd:] Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād was from Marv. He pursued Hadith extensively in Iraq and western Arabia before settling in Egypt, where he stayed until he was summoned to Iraq during the caliphate of al-Muʿtaṣim. He was questioned regarding the Qurʾan but refused assent to what was demanded of him. He was then jailed in Samarra, where he died, still in prison, in 228 [842–43]. 78.8

[Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿArafah:] Among those who died in 228 [842–43] was Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād, who perished in chains in a dungeon because he refused to say that the Qurʾan was a created thing. He was dragged by his chains and thrown into a pit, and died without being wrapped in a shroud or having anyone pray over his body. This was the doing of Ibn Abī Duʾād’s man.466 78.9

He was taken away during the Inquisition and pressured to espouse the claim that the Qurʾan is a created thing. When he refused, he was jailed in Baghdad and died in prison. He was a renunciant and a man who understood the Law. 78.10

[Al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān:] I saw al-Buwayṭī mounted on a mule with a manacle around his neck and a fetter on his legs. The manacle and the fetter were joined by an iron chain. Suspended from the chain was a brick weighing thirty-five pounds.467 He was saying, “God created the world by saying ‘Be.’ If ‘be’ is created, then one created thing brought another created thing into being.” He went on: “By God, I’ll die with this very chain still on me, so that when I’m gone, people will know that men died in irons for this cause. If they put me before him”—meaning al-Wāthiq—“I’ll speak my mind.” [ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad:] Al-Buwayṭī lived a life of pious self-denial. During the Inquisition, he was taken from Egypt to Iraq, where he refused to capitulate and was clapped into irons and thrown in jail. He died, in prison and in fetters, in 232

[846–47]. 78.11

The Little Market of Naṣr in Baghdad is named after his father. His grandfather, Mālik ibn al-Haytham, was one of the leaders of the Abbasid revolutionary movement. Ibn Naṣr himself was a man of piety and rectitude who called upon others to do right. He heard Hadith from Mālik ibn Anas, Ḥammād ibn Zayd, and Hushaym, among others.

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and others transmitted on his authority. 78.12

Ibn Naṣr was accused of seeking the caliphate, but when he was arrested and brought before al-Wāthiq, the latter said, “Never mind what you were arrested for.

What do you have to say about the Qurʾan?” 78.13

“It’s the word of God,” said Ibn Naṣr.

“But is it a created thing?” “It’s the word of God.” “Well then: Can you see God on the Day of Resurrection?” “That’s what the reports say.” “Hah!” said al-Wāthiq. “You mean He’ll be visible as if he were a finite object with a body?” Al-Wāthiq then called for the sword and the leather mat. At his command, Ibn Naṣr, still in chains, was sat upon. Next a rope was put around his neck and he was stretched out. Finally al-Wāthiq marched up to him and hacked off his head. At his command, the severed head was sent to Baghdad and displayed for several days on the East Side and then on the West.

[Al-Marrūdhī:] At the mention of Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “God have mercy on him! How generous he was: he gave up his life!” 78.14

[Ismāʿīl ibn Khalaf:] Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was my friend. After the Inquisition killed him and displayed his head, I heard that the head was reciting the Qurʾan. So I went and spent the night in a spot overlooking the head, which was guarded by men on horse and men on foot. As soon as everyone had dozed off, I heard the head reciting «Do people think that once they say, “We believe,” they will be left alone and not be put to the test?»468 When I heard it, I shuddered. 78.15

Later I dreamed of seeing him draped in fine silk and heavy brocade469 with a crown on his head. “Brother,” I asked him, “how have you fared?” “God has forgiven me,” he answered, “and admitted me to the Garden. But I did spend three unhappy days first.” “Why?” “The Emissary of God came to visit me, but when he passed the stake where my head was he averted his eyes. Finally I asked him whether I had died for the truth or for a falsehood.

“‘For truth,’ he said. ‘But it was a member of my family who killed you, so whenever I pass you I feel ashamed.’” [Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan:] The night after Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was killed, one of my associates saw him in a dream. He asked him how God had judged him. 78.16

“It felt as if I had dozed off for a moment,” he replied, “and then I saw God smiling at me.” Al-Khaṭīb reports: Ibn Naṣr’s head remained on display in Baghdad, and his body crucified in Samarra, for six years before his remains were finally taken down. The head and body were brought back together in Shawwāl of ’37 [851–52] and buried in al-Mālikiyyah, a cemetery on the East Side. 78.17

Those arrested during the Inquisition include al-Ḥārith ibn Miskīn, Abū ʿAmr al- Miṣrī. 78.18

He heard reports from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah and others, and followed Mālik in his judgments of the Law. He was a reliable transmitter of Ḥadith. During the Inquisition, he was taken to Baghdad by order of al-Maʾmūn, who jailed him when he refused to espouse the creed of the created Qurʾan. He remained in jail until the accession of al- Mutawakkil, who released all the detainees.

Another victim of the Inquisition was ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Mushir, Abū Mushir, al- Dimashqī l-Ghassānī, who was sent to al-Maʾmūn in al-Raqqah. 78.19

[Muḥammad ibn Saʿd:] Abū Mushir al-Ghassānī was sent from Damascus to al- Raqqah to meet with ʿAbd Allāh [al-Maʾmūn] ibn Hārūn, who asked him about the Qurʾan.

“It’s the speech of God,” he said, refusing to say it was created.

Al-Maʾmūn called for the sword and the mat. Seeing that he was going to be beheaded, Abū Mushir said, “It’s created!” Al-Maʾmūn spared his life but said, “If you had said that before I called for the sword, I would have sent you back home to your family. But if I let you go now you’ll say you were coerced. Take him to Baghdad and lock him up until he dies!” Abū Mushir was accordingly sent from al-Raqqah to Baghdad in Rabīʿ II 218

[April–May 833], and remained in jail only a short time before he died on the first day of Rajab ’18 [July 23, 833]. A great many people in Baghdad witnessed the removal of his body for burial.

[The author:] Of those who refused to capitulate, some were overlooked or ignored while others were imprisoned and forgotten. None received as much attention as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, a man of standing whose story was especially memorable. 78.20