Life of Ibn Ḥanbal

Ibn al-Jawzī (Author) Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) was a Baghdadi storyteller, preacher, and prolific Islamic scholar associated with the Hanbali school of jurisprudential thought. He is well known for his exegeses of the Qurʾan and Hadith, including his famous compendium, Al-Taḥqīq.Garth Fowden (Foreword by) Garth Fowden is the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths at the University of Cambridge.Michael Cooperson (Translator) Michael Cooperson is Professor of Arabic in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA. His translations include The Life of Ibn Ḥanbal by Ibn al-Jawzī for the Library of Arabic Literature, and The Author and His Doubles by the eminent Moroccan literary critic Abdelfattah Kilito.

Cooperson's translation is uncommonly deft. On the whole, this translation is a grand success. It will be valuable for teachers to illustrate early Islamic piety, early Islamic law, early Sunni theology, and everyday life in Baghdad. - Christopher Melchert (Journal of Islamic Studies) Michael Cooperson's fluid translation is accompanied by substantial notes and a glossary of names and terms. (Banipal Magazine) Gives readers a unique vantage point into the life and piety of the namesake of the Hanbali school of Sunni law...Ibn al-Jawzi, drawing on earlier reports, reconstructs the life and morality of his hero as a complex, earnest, and playful man; Coopersons dynamic and accessible translation brings this last quality to the surface to an extent that would surprise many modern readers with preconceptions about Hanbalism. (Marginalia) Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in ḥadīth, history, theology, and law, and to anyone who appreciates a good read. (Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt)