The year | Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ibn Muhammad Harun al-Khalal
Abu Bakr Al-Khalal (235 AH - 311 AH) is Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Harun bin Yazid Al-Baghdadi, nicknamed Al-Khalal. He is the pious jurist, scholar, and hadith master, the sheikh of the Hanbalis and their scholar. He collected and arranged the jurisprudence of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. He traveled to Persia, the Levant, and Al-Jazira in search of the jurisprudence of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, his fatwas, and his answers. Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi said in Tarikh Baghdad: Al-Khalal collected the sciences of Ahmad and sought them out, traveled for them, wrote them down, and composed books about them. No one was more comprehensive than him.
Imam Al-Dhahabi said about him: The Imam, the scholar, the memorizer, the jurist, the sheikh of the Hanbalis and their scholar. He traveled to Persia, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula seeking the jurisprudence of Imam Ahmad, his fatwas, and his answers. He wrote from the great and the small, until he wrote from his students. He collected and memorized, and before him the Imam did not have an independent school of thought until he followed the texts of Ahmad, wrote them down, and proved them after the three hundred. So may God have mercy on him.
The book "As-Sunnah" in our hands by Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Harun Al-Khalal (may Allah have mercy on him) is one of the most famous and comprehensive books of Ahl al-Sunnah in the chapters of belief, faith, and methodology. Its author (may Allah have mercy on him) was interested in tracking and collecting the words of the Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him), in the chapter of belief. He arranged it in a good order, gave it chapters, and commented on parts of it in a way that would remove ambiguity or suggest differences, etc. Al-Khalal filled this book with religious texts and sayings of the righteous predecessors, and he did not limit it to the words of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him). This book is considered one of the most comprehensive books of Ahl al-Sunnah and its isnads in the chapters of belief, and scholars throughout the ages have continued to draw from its source. As Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) described it in "Ijtima’ al-Juyush", page 306, it is a great book that no scholar can do without. The author has included in it some other doctrinal letters such as: the book of Imam Ahmad, may God have mercy on him, on faith and the response to the Murji’ah, the book of Imam Ahmad, may God have mercy on him, on the response to the Zanadiqa and the Jahmites regarding their doubts about the ambiguous verses of the Qur’an, the book of Al-Marwadhi, may God have mercy on him, on the issue of the pronunciation of the Qur’an and whether it is created or not, and other doctrinal letters and books that have increased the value of this book.