THE LIFE OF IBN ḤANBAL
LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE
EDITORIAL BOARD
GENERAL EDITOR
Philip F. Kennedy, New York University
EXECUTIVE EDITORS
James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University
EDITORS
Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University
Julia Bray, University of Oxford
Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania
Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi
Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago
Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Chip Rossetti
DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Stuart Brown
ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR
Gemma Juan-Simó
LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR
The Library of Arabic Literature series offers Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history, and historiography.
Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars and are published in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, and are also made available as English-only paperbacks.
The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative, though not necessarily critical, Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations. Its ultimate goal is to introduce the rich, largely untapped Arabic literary heritage to both a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.
The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.
Philip F. Kennedy
General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature
ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK
This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed, but paragraph numbering has been retained to facilitate cross-referencing with the hardcover. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to the hardcover.
THE LIFE OF IBN ḤANBAL
BY
IBN AL-JAWZĪ
TRANSLATED BY
MICHAEL COOPERSON
FOREWORD BY
GARTH FOWDEN
VOLUME EDITOR
TAHERA QUTBUDDIN
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Copyright © 2016 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ibn al-Jawzi, Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali, approximately 1116–1201 author. | Cooperson, Michael translator.
Title: The life of Ibn Hanbal / by Ibn al-Jawzi ; translated by Michael Cooperson ; foreword by Garth Fowden.
Other titles: Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. English
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028108 (print) | LCCN 2016029914 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479805303 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781479886241 (e-book) | ISBN 9781479870394 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad ibn Muòhammad, 780–855. | Islamic law—Biography.
Classification: LCC KBp310.12653 126513 2016 (print) | LCC KBP310.12653 (ebook) | DDC 297.1/4092 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028108
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward
Typeset in Adobe Text
Manufactured in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
Letter from the General Editor
Chapter 1: Ibn Ḥanbal’s Birth and Family Background
Chapter 4: The Beginning of His Search for Knowledge and the Journey He Undertook for That Purpose
Chapter 5: The Major Men of Learning Whom He Met and on Whose Authority He Recited Hadith
Chapter 6: His Deference to His Teachers and His Respect for Learning
Chapter 7: His Eagerness to Learn and His Single-Minded Pursuit of Knowledge