Ahmad ibn Hanbal was a Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam.
The most highly influential and active scholar during his lifetime, Ibn Hanbal went on to become "one of the most venerated" intellectual figures in Islamic history, who has had a "profound influence affecting almost every area" of the traditionalist perspective within Sunni Islam. One of the foremost classical proponents of relying on scriptural sources as the basis for Sunni Islamic law and way of life, Ibn Hanbal compiled one of the most significant Sunni hadith collections, al-Musnad, which has continued to exercise considerable influence on the field of hadith studies up to the present time.
A manuscript of Ibn Hanbal's legal writings, produced October 879
In Islam, the ulama, also spelled ulema, are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
Scholars at an Abbasid library. Maqamat of al-Hariri. Illustration by Yahyá al-Wasiti, Baghdad, 1237.
Endowment Charter (Waqfiyya) of the Hürrem Sultan Mosque, Madrasa and Imaret (soup-kitchen). AD 1556–1557 (AH 964). Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
Seyh-ül-Islâm, watercolour, ca. 1809
Iranian Shaykh ul-Islam Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi (1627–1699)