Hakikat Kitabevi Publications No: 10 answer to an enemy of islam

“The scholar of
Quraish will fill the world with knowledge,” appeared on al-Imâm
ash-Shâfi’î. When ’Abdullah inquired of his father, Ahmad ibn
Hanbal, the reason why he prayed very much for al-Imâm ash-
Shâfi’î, his father said, “O my son! Al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î’s place
among people is like that of the sun in the sky. He is a healer of
souls.” In those days, 
Muwatta’ contained 9500 hadîths, and later
it was abbreviated to the present one which contains some 1700
hadîths. He won the nickname 
Nâsir as-Sunna (helper of the
religion). It was astonishing that he founded a new madhhab in
such a short time as four years. More than 40 books have been
written revealing his biography and his superiority.
4) Imâm Ahmad ibn Hanbal ash-Shaibânî al-Marûzî
(rahmatullâhi ’alaih) was born in Baghdad in 164 A.H. [780] and
died there in 241 [855]. He was an imâm in both the sciences of
hadîth and fiqh. He was also skillful in the subtleties and inner
essence of the Sunna. He was famed for his zuhd and wara’. He
went to Kûfa, Basra, the blessed cities of Mecca and Medina,
Yemen, Damascus and Mesopotamia in order to collect hadîths.
He learned fiqh from al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î, who learned hadîth
from him. Ibrâhîm al-Harbî said, “I saw Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Allâhu ta’âlâ has given him every branch of knowledge.” Qutaiba
ibn Sa’îd said, “If Imâm Ahmad had lived during the time of ath-
Thawrî, al-Awzâ’î, Mâlik and Laith ibn Sa’d, he would have
surpassed them all.” He memorized a million hadîths. Al-Imâm
ash-Shâfi’î sent him a letter from Egypt. He wept when he read it.
When he was asked why he wept, he said, “He dreamt of
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Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) who commanded him, ‘Write a letter
including my greetings to Abû ’Abdullah Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He
will be asked if the Qur’ân al-kerîm is a creature. Tell him not to
answer the question.’ ” 800 000 men and 60 000 women attended
his funeral. On the day he passed away, 20 000 Jews, Christians
and Magians embraced Islam.
These four a’imma of Ahl as-Sunna were the best ones of the
second century of Islam as praised in the hadîth ash-sherîf. All of
them are among “those” in the âyat,