ShakeShakaBrah on Nostr: How did the Hanbali School become an individual school? It should have been that the ...

How did the Hanbali School become an individual school?

It should have been that the Hanbali School be a part of the Shaf'ie school. Afterall Imam Ahmad was a prodigy student of Imam Shaf'ie and they had a very strong bond and great relationship. However there are many historical reasons why that wasn't the case. I will highlight just a few:

1. The Jami' of the Masail of Imam Ahmad: These are a collection of all of the position of Imam Ahmad as it relates to all kinds of fields in Islamic Sciences. A cursory reading into the Jami', one will clearly see that Imam Ahmad is performing Ijtihad (his own independent reasoning), unilaterally issuing fatwa or legal verdicts without an attempt to show that his reasoning goes back to his teacher Imam Shaf'ie. Also the sheer amount of Masail in this compendium also shows he was very independent in his judgments. These Masail were specifically and intentionally compiled after Imam Ahmad's demise, showing that there was a considerable following and there were students who valued and prized his statements.

2. The Mihna: Imam Ahmad's ordeal with the Mu'tazila and the Caliph Mamun led to "Celebrity" status. He was able to single handedly take down the authority of the Calpih on a matter that was completely based on speculative theology. This led to being championed by the people, effectively giving him raising him in status.

3. The Mufradat literature: These are other compendiums that were collected to show Imam Ahmad's independent reasonings in Fiqh. This was specifically collected and authored by later Hanabilah of the Early Period to dismiss the charge that Imam Ahmad wasn't a Faqih and also that he was just a Muqallid or follower of Imam Shaf'ie. These show how he went against the verdicts of previous Imam's and a justification for why these verdicts are correct based on Usul/Nusus (Legal Principles/Divince Texts).

4. The Hanbali School wasn't just a Fiqhi school that led to it becoming a madhab in Fiqh. It was also a school in theology and a very popular one at that. Speculative Theology (Kalam) was a movement that picked up, and those that rejected this school were from the Ahlul Hadith which were largely comprised of the Hanabilah. They were very vocal in their dismissal of Kalam. Of course Imam Abul Hasan Al-Ash'ari tried to merge the two schools (Mu'tazila and the Ahlul Hadith), which eventually became it's own school. Hanbalism as a creed is deeply rooted in Islamic History and takes different names. Also, Hanbali principles necessitate consistency in Aqida and Fiqh. If one is to stick to the Dhahir or Apparent meaning of a text in Aqidah, then it only makes sense that one would stick to this principle throughout in Fiqh as well, although in Fiqh we are to actualize and implement, so there is a toolset in place to help understand the Fiqh so as to implement it.

Lastly, the Fiqh lies in it's intellectual pursuit and the differences of positions of the Mujtahid Imam's (Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'e and Ahmad) allow for this variety, by enforcing the future Faqih to learn this variety, underpinnings, reasonings, and cultural/historical contexts that gave rise to their positions. Fiqh is an all-encompassing field.

As Imam Shaf'ie said, "I study history so that I can inform my Fiqh"