Hanbali

Hanbali (Arabic: حَنْبَلَى ) is one of the four schools (madhhabs) of fiqh, or religious law, of Sunni Islam. It was started by Ahmad ibn Hanbal; his understanding of Islam has a lot of influence in Saudi Arabia.

A Hanbali imam leading prayer

Creed

The creed of the Hanbali madhab is generally based upon the Athari school of aqeedah. The terms Hanbali aqeedah and Athari aqeedah are used interchangably by people of knowledge.^[1] The creed of the Hanabilah tend towards Tafwid, the belief that the kayf (how) is left to Allah.^[2]

Beliefs

• Allah rises above the arsh, but its quality is unknown.^[3]
• The rejection of things that were inspired by Greek ideas about nature and abstract thinking, due to the Salaf rejecting them.^[4]
• Iman is speech and action, it goes up and down.^[5]
• The Qur'an is the speech of Allah, it is uncreated from every single aspect.^[5]
• The pre-decree is from Allah, the good and evil from it is from Allah.^[5]
• The best of the Muslim nation after Muhammad ﷺ is Abu Bakr, then Omar, then Osman, then Ali.^[5]
• The ten people who Muhammad ﷺ said will go to heaven, will go to heaven as he has spoken the truth.^[5]
• Invoking mercy upon the companions of Muhammad ﷺ and avoiding speaking about their arguments.^[5]
• Allah has a grasp over everything with his knowledge.^[5]
• There is nothing like Allah, he sees everything and hears everything.^[5]
• Allah will be seen in heaven by the people who are allowed into heaven.^[5]
• People will hear Allah's speech however he wills.^[5]
• Heaven and hell are real things and both have been made and will never go away.^[5] Heaven is a reward for the allies of Allah who he loves, while hell is a punishment for those who did not follow his rules/authority, except those who Allah shows mercy towards.^[5]
• The bridge over hellfire is a real thing.^[5]
• The scale on judgement day is a real thing and it has two pans.^[5] The weighing of the good and bad deeds of people is a real thing.^[5]
• The lake which Muhammad ﷺ has been given out of respect is a real thing.^[5]
• The intercession on the day of judgement is a real thing, and it is considered true that the people who only believed in Allah will be taken out of hell due to the intercession.^[5]
• The punishment of the grave is a real thing.^[5]
• Munkar and Nakir are angels and are real.^[5]
• The angels who copied/wrote down things are real.^[5]
• The dead becoming alive again is a real thing.^[5]
• Those who do major sins are at the will of Allah.^[5]
• The people who pray towards the Kaaba are not to be considered non-Muslims, and their hidden things are only known to Allah.^[5]
• It is obligatory to do jihad and hajj with Muslim rulers at all times.^[5]
• We do not allow fighting back to rulers, and we do not fight in bad times.^[5] We hear and follow the rulers that Allah brought, and we do not disobey them.^[5]
• We follow the sunnah and the rest of the believers, we do not contradict each other, and we do not differ and split from each other.^[5]
• The charity required for wild animals and farm animals should be paid to the Muslim rulers.^[5]
• The people are considered Muslims per regulations and inheritance, and we do not who they are truly are in front of Allah.^[5] Whoever claims he is a believer is someone who brings new things.^[5] Whoever claims that he is a believer in the eyes of Allah has lied.^[5] Whoever claims he is truly a believer in Allah is correct.^[5]
• The Murjiah are misguided people who bring new things.^[5]
• The Qadariyyah are misguided people who bring new things.^[5] Whoever from them says Allah does not know what will happen before it actually happens are not Muslim.^[5]
• The Jahmiyyah are not Muslims.^[5]
• The Rafidah rejected Islam.^[5]
• The Khawarji shoot out of Islam.^[5]
• Whoever says that the Qur'an is created is a non-Muslim with a belief that removes him from the religion.^[5] Whoever feels uncertain about that such a person is not a Muslim and he has knowledge to understand that he isn't Muslim is also not a Muslim.^[5]
• Whoever feels uncertain about the speech of Allah and doesn't say anything regarding it due to his uncertainty saying, "I don't know if it is created or not", such a person is from the Jahmiyyah group.^[5] As for one who doesn't say anything because he doesn't know at all, he is taught and accused of being a person who brings new things, but he is not called a non-Muslim.^[5]
• Whoever says their speech of the Quran is created is from the Jahmiyyah group.^[5]
• They do not allow sitting with people who argue over religion and did not allow reading books by them.^[5]