伊玛目艾哈迈德继承了他的老师伊玛目沙斐仪以及更早期诸伊玛目的传统，努力在学生心中培养对伊斯兰教本源的高度尊重，并让他们厌恶僵化地盲从学者的意见。然而，由于在早期伊玛目的一些追随者中，taqlīd（盲目追随）已经开始扎根，艾哈迈德采取了更为激烈的措施。阿布·哈尼法曾劝阻学生记录他的全部见解，而伊玛目艾哈迈德则禁止学生记录他的任何意见。因此，他的教法学派直到他学生的时代才以成文形式编纂成书。

Imaam Ahmad carried on the tradition of his teacher, Imaam ash-Shaafi’ee as well as that of the earlier Imaams by trying to instill in his students a high respect for the sources of Islaam and a disdain for rigid imitation of scholars’ opinions. But, because Taqleed had begun to take root among some of the followers of the earlier Imaams, Ahmad took even more drastic action. Whereas Abu Haneefah discouraged his students from recording all of his opinions, Imaam Ahmad forbade them from recording any of his opinions at all. Thus, his Madh-hab was not compiled in written form until the era of his students.

艾哈迈德对于反对效仿（Taqleed）的警告非常明确，这一点从伊本·盖伊姆记录的他的如下言论中可以看出：

Ahmad was very explicit in his warnings against Taqleed, as is evident in the following saying of his recorded by Ibn Qayyim:

“不要盲目遵从我的裁决，也不要遵从马立克、沙斐仪、奥automatically……” Let me correct that: 不要盲目遵从我的裁决，也不要遵从马立克、沙斐仪、奥扎仪、赛吾里的裁决。你们应当从他们取用裁决的来源处取用。 这是他的另一段言论，由伊本·阿卜杜勒-巴尔所记载。他说：“奥扎尔仪、马立克和艾布·哈尼法的意见仅仅是意见，在我看来它们都是平等的；而判定对错的真正标准在于圣训。”210

“Do not blindly follow my rulings, those of Maalik, ash-Shaafi’ee, al-Awzaa’ee or ath-Thawree, Take (your rulings) from whence they took theirs.”209 Similarly, in another of his statements recorded by Ibn ‘Abdul-Barr. He said, “The opinions of al-Awzaa’ee, Maalik and Abu Haneefah are simply opinions and to me they are all equal, but the real criterion for right or wrong is in the Hadeeths.”210

伊玛目对圣训的偏爱超过个人意见，以至于他宁愿采用弱圣训，也不愿采用推论得出的裁决。

The Imaam’s preference for Hadeeths over opinions was so great that he used to prefer a weak Hadeeth over a deduced ruling.

他对圣训（Sunnah）的尊重，使他在一部名为《大部头圣训集》（al-Musnad Al-Kabeer）的主要著作中收录了三万多条圣训，他也因此对那些胆敢轻视先知穆罕默德ﷺ圣训的人发出了严厉的警告。伊本·al-Jawzee转述说，伊玛目艾哈迈德曾说：“凡拒绝真实可靠的安拉使者ﷺ的圣训者，就濒临毁灭。”211 先知ﷺ曾向他的门徒和一般穆斯林下达过这样的命令：“把你们从我这里听到的传达出去，即使只是一节经文（来自《古兰经》）。”212 目的是让天启的指引能够惠及直到末日的每一代穆斯林。正因如此，伊玛目艾哈迈德竭力抵制任何可能妨碍将天启指引传达给他那一代人及后世之人的事物。

His respect for the Sunnah of the Prophet (s.w.), which he himself collected in a major work of over 30,000 Hadeeths called al-Musnad Al-Kabeer, was so great that he also gave severe warnings to those who would dare disregard a Hadeeth of the Prophet (s.w.). Ibn alJawzee reported that Imaam Ahmad said, “Whoever rejects an authentic Hadeeth of Allaah’s messenger (s.w.) is on the verge of destruction.”211 The Prophet (s.w.) had given the following order to his companions and Muslims in general: “Convey what you have heard from me, even if it is only a verse (from the Qur’aan),”212 in order that divine guidance would be available to all generations of Muslims until the Last Day. Because of that, Imaam Ahmad fought vigilantly against anything which could possibly interfere with the conveyance of divine guidance to his generation as well as those to come.