Glimpses of Shi'ism in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal

Abstract

Abu ‘Abdilla-h Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal Shayba-ni- (166-241 AH/780-855 CE) [^1] is the founder of one of the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence and his book al-Musnad [^2] is considered among the most comprehensive and early collections of hadi-th. It contains some 30,000 sayings attributed to the Prophet and the period of its writing makes it among the foremost of the siha-h al-sittah (six authentic books) of the Sunni sect. One of the characteristics of this work is the wide space given to hadi-th concerning the merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, most of which are confirmed from the viewpoint of Shi‘ite Muslims as well. Compared to the other hadi-th compendiums of the Sunnis, the Musnad’s emphasis on this subject is so pronounced that it has attracted the attention of orientalists and other researchers. The writer of this article has attempted to focus on this particular point of the Musnad and its author by selecting some of the hadi-th mentioned in this bulky compendium with a short explanation wherever necessary.