logy) were written with a view to expofe their abfurdities, and explode
their d'oftrines.— He is faid to have been the firft who reduced the fcience
o f jurifprudence into a regular fyftem, and made a difcriminatory collection
o f traditions.—A hmed H a n b a l remarks that, until the time of
“ Sh a f e i , men did not know how to diftinguifh between, the traditions
“ that were in force and thofe that were cancelled.”— His firft work
was (as before .mentioned) the Ofool, or fundamentals, containing all
the principles .of the Mujfulman civil and. canon law.— His next literary
productions were the Sonndn and the Mefned, both treatifes on the traditional
law, which are held in high eftimarion among the orthodox.— His
works upon practical divinity are various; and thofe upon theology-confift
of fourteen volumes.— His tomb is ftill to be feen at Cairo, where the
famous Se l a h -ad -deen * afterwards. (A. H. 587) founded a college
for the prefervation of his works and the propagation of his doctrines.—
T h e magnificent mofque and college at Herat in Khorafan were alfo
founded for the fame purpofe, by the Sultan G heeas ad deen, at the
inftance of the Shafe'ites, who at one time were very numerous in the
northern provinces of P erfa .— The feet is at prefent chiefly confined to
Egypt and Arabia-, and however highly they may deem of his authority,
it will appear in thecourfe of the prefent work that his decifions in civil
and criminal jurifprudence are feldom quoted by the doctors of Perfa or
India but with a view to be refuted or rejeted.— He firft ftudied jurifprudence
under the learned Mooslim Bin K h a l id , head Mooftee of Mecca,
and accomplifhed himfelf in the knowledge .of traditions from Maliic
in Egypt.— His principal lcholars were H an b a l and Z oi iaki , the former
of whom afterwards gave his name to a feft.— Shafei is faid to have, been
a perfon of acute difcernm.ent and agreeable converfation.— His reverence
for G od was fucb, that he never was heard to mention his name except
* Yoofaf Bin jtyoob, entitled Selah-ad-dcen (the guard of religion) a native of Cunlijlan,
whorole to empire, and is well known in the hiftory of the Crufades, by the name of S-a l a -
din.— He was a great admirer of Shafei, and a Uriel follower of his rigid difeipline.— He is
therefore reprefented as an inveterate enemy to all {peculations not connected with the K oran
or the traditions; and he is reported to hav'e put to death feveral who prefumed to broach opinions
which were not ftrifily orthodox.
D I S C O U R S E . XXIX
in prayer._His manners were mild and ingratiating, and he reprobated;
all unneceffary morofenefs or feverity in a teacher, it being a faying o f
his, that “ whoever advifed his brother tenderly, and in private, didhinj
“ a (ervice; but that public (eproof could only operate as a reproach.
T he founder of the fourth orthodox feft is Imdm A boo A bdoola-
A hmed Ibn H A N B A L , furnamed Shabdn al Maroo%ee * . He was
born at Bagdad, A . H. 164, (A. C. 786,) where he received his education
under Y ezeed B in -Haroon and Y ehe eya Bin Se y id .— On
Shafei coming to Bagdad, (A. H. 195,) Ibn H an b a l attended the
left u res delivered there by that doftor, and was inftrufted by him in-the
traditions. In procefs of time he acquired a high reputation from his profound
knowledge of- both the civil and fpiritual law, and particularly for
the extent of his erudition with refpeft to the precepts of the P rophet,
of which it is laid that he could repeat above a million. His fame began
to fpread juft at the time when the difputes ran higheft concerning the
nature of the K o r a n , which fome held to have exifted from eternity,
whilft others maintained it to be" created. Unfortunately for Ibn H a n b
a l , the K halif Mota s im was o f the latter opinion, to which this doctor
refufing to fubferibe, he was imprifoned and feverely fcourged by the
R hell i f s order. For this hard ufage, indeed, he afterwards received fome
fatisfaftion from Mo o tw a k k il , the fon of Motasim, who, upon
fucceeding to the Khalifat, iffued a decree of general toleration, leaving
every perfon at liberty to judge for himfelf upon this point. This tolerant
.K&i/jrifet the perfected doftor at liberty, receiving him at his court
with the moft honourable marks of diftinftion, and offering him a com-
penfatory prefent of 1 odo pieces of gold, which, however, he refufed to
accept.— After having attained the rank of a Mooktiddee f and Peijhwa +,
he' retired from the world, and led a reclufe life for feveral years. He
* Meaning probably Shepherd o f the Maroozians, (a name by which the people of a particular
region in Perfut are diftinguiflied). '
j A particular rank among the learned. Literally a an exemplar. ^
I The title bellowed, in Perfut, upon the leader ofafe£t.
d 2 died