An Introduction to the Hanbali Madhhab

Ibn Taymiyyah said about al-Imām Ahmad, “He was the virtuous imam, and the
complete leader with hom Allah clarified the truth, rejected falsehoods, clarified
the correct methodology, and repudiated the innovations of innovators,the
heresies of heretics, and the doubts of the doubtful.” [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyab
（3/312)] Al-Subkī said,“He was the virtuous imām and the leader of a way of thought.He
was patient during the midst of his inquisition. He was the teacher and exemplar
of Ahl al-Sunnah.” [ȚTabaqāt al-Shāfiiyyah al-Kubrā(2/27)] Al-Shäfi’ī said of him,“Ahmad is an imām in eight characteristics: He is an imām
in hadīth, an imām in jurisprudence, an imām in language, an imām in Qur’ān,
an imam in poverty, an imām in asceticism, an imām in abstinence, and an imam
in Sunnah.”［Tabaqāt al-Hanābilah of Ibn Abī Yalā (I/s)] Al-Ustādh Ad-ham al-Junaydī stated,“Ibn Badrān was skilled in all rational,
literary,and mathematical sciences. He was encyclopedic in his knowledge of law
and grammar. He was truly an authority. He was a virtuous sbaykb,forsaking the
vanities of this world, austere in his dress, home, and life.”［Alam al-Adab wa
l-Fan(I/224-225)] Al-Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Bayțār said, “He had high aspirations and many
efforts in reviving the religious and scholarly awakening in the Levant.He
resembled the scholars of the Salafin that he taught in private, preached in public,
authored books, and forsook the vanities of the worldly life. ” [In the introduction
of Munadamat al-Atlal]