In an interesting book, Wada’ Ar-Rasul li ‘Ummatihi, Sheikh Al-Qahtani recalls the final words that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said on his deathbed.

After living a life of ibadah, da’wah, and jihad, the Prophet (peace be upon him) gathered the people around him on his deathbed and said, “I have left two things and you shall not go astray after them so long as you stick to them: the Book of Allah and my Sunnah.”

After the Prophet (peace be upon him) passed away, the Ummah was tested by people who tried to corrupt, discredit, or amputate the Sunnah from Islam. So, Allah – from His Mercy to this Ummah – raised up warriors that would stand in the face of the most vicious enemies of the Sunnah. Among those people that Allah raised was a young boy named Ahmad.

Ahmad lived in Baghdad over a thousand years ago. On cold winter nights, his mother, the blessed Mu’minah that she was, would awake long before Fajr to warm the water for her son. Then, again long before Fajr, she would wake him up to make Wudhu. Then she would wrap him in shawls and off through the molten dark alleys of Baghdad they would carefully make their way to the masjid.

There was no male to escort him (he was an orphan), so Ahmad’s mother would take him that early all by herself so he could get a good seat in the Hadith Halaqa after Fajr. Then she would wait for him long after the sun rose to safely escort him back home. Her son grew up to be one of these warrior defenders of the Sunnah, one of the four Imams of this religion, Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal.

In his collection, Al-Musnad alone, he narrated from over 280 teachers. He grew up under the shade of the Sunnah and he lived the Sunnah. It was reported that he said, “I’ve never written a Hadith that I did not try to implement.”

He raised his children like this too. When you see other fathers throwing a baseball with their young Muslim children, remember this example: Abdullah, Imam Ahmad’s son, taught his students that when he was young, his father would play with him by saying, “Take any chapter you wish from the Musannaf of Wakee.’ Ask me any Hadith and I’ll tell you the chain of narrators, or tell me any chain of narrators and I’ll tell you the Hadith!”

He was challenged in his religion like few other humans have been challenged. Reading through his life, I came across an event that brought back sad memories. Imam Ahmad once prayed Asr and he sat down with his son in the masjid alone with another man by the name of Muhammad Bin Sa’eed Al-Khuttalee. Al-Khuttalee then remarked, “Did you (O Ahmad) tell the people to boycott Zayd Bin Khalaf?”

Imam Ahmad replied, “I received a letter from his people asking about his affair, so I replied explaining his madhhab and what he has innovated (in the Sunnah) and commanded that they not sit with him…”

Al-Khuttalee exploded in Imam Ahmad’s face, red with anger, “I’m going to make sure you go back to prison. I’m going to have them crush your ribs…”

The vulgarity grew louder and louder. Imam Ahmad turned to his son, “Don’t reply to what he says, and don’t speak to him.” Imam Ahmad took his sandals – Al-Khuttalee swearing from behind his back – and stepped away.

When Caliph Al-Mu’tasim heard that Imam Ahmad did not agree with him and his court Muftis on a specific (but important) issue, they brought him and questioned him in the courtyard of the Caliph. They would debate with him and like a gladiator with a spear, he would hit back with bigger and stronger arguments. The Muftis would shout, “O Caliph, he has committed Kufr!”

Al-Mu’tasim called the executioners. They stripped Imam Ahmad and each of the strongest guards would take turns lashing Imam Ahmad until he fell unconscious. Regardless of his state, they continued the lashing. The sun went down that day and Imam Ahmad had not relented in his faith. That day he became an icon for all followers of Sunnah.

Qutaybah said, “If you ever see someone who loves Imam Ahmad, know that he is a follower of the Sunnah.”

Al-Hasan Bin Arafah narrated that when he visited Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal after he was whipped and tortured, the Imam told him, “Verily, I saw nothing more than people selling their religion and I saw scholars that were with me sell their faith. So I said to myself, ‘Who am I? What am I? What am I going to say to Allah tomorrow when I stand in front of Him and He asks me if I sold my religion like the others did?’ So I looked at the whip and the sword and chose them.”

Al-Hasan then asked, “Did you feel pain when they whipped you?”

He replied, “Yes, I felt the pain up to 20 lashes then I lost all feeling (they whipped him over 80 times). After it was over I felt no pain and that day I prayed Dhur standing.”
And in fact, he prayed as the blood soiled his clothes.

Al-Hasan ibn Arafah started weeping when he heard what had happened. Imam Ahmad questioned him, “Why are you crying? I did not lose my Iman. After that why should I care if I lose my life.”

Earlier when Imam Ahmad was being led off to the Caliph, people had tried to dissuade him from an almost certain execution. His student, Al-Marrudhi, had told him, “O teacher, Allah says, ‘Do not kill yourselves.’”

Imam Ahmad replied, “O Marrudhi, go outside and tell me what you see.”

Al-Marrudhi went to the wall of the Caliph’s court and saw an ocean of students with their pens and scrolls in their hands. He asked some of them, “What are you waiting here for?”
They said, “We are waiting to see what Ahmad will say and then transcribe it.”

Al-Marrudhi went back to Imam Ahmad and told him what he had seen. “O Marrudhi,” he said, “what shall I gain by misguiding all those people?”

Imam Ahmad lived a life of poverty. He would not even have food to eat. In this life of poverty, hardship, and trials, Abdullah asked his father one day, “My father, when will we ever have a respite?”

His father – one of the greatest revivers of the Sunnah, a role model for all Muslims, whose contribution continues to benefit students a thousand years on – looked him in the eye and said, “With the first step we take into Jannah.”