Al-Kaafi fi fiqh al-Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal is a book of Hanbali Fiqh written by Imaam Ibn Qudamah.
Al-Kaafi is one of the marvels of Islamic literature. It is from the series of literal accomplishments offered by the author, al-Imaam Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi. It is the third book in a series of four books that Ibn Qudamah wrote in order to gradually take a student of knowledge through the different levels of understanding.
‘Umdah for the elementary level
al-Muqni’ for the middle-school level
al-Kaafi for the high-school level
al-Mughni for the university level
Al-Kaafi was authored with the goal of acquainting the student with the sources of the Law and the methodology for extrapolating rules from the revelation. It brings forth the differing opinion with their evidence and explains what is preferred.
Al-Kaafi is a blessed book that contains a huge amount of benefit for the reader even though it is only four volumes. This is the perfect level for the student of knowledge since it deals with evidence but it is not as detailed as al-Mughni. It is very self-explanatory and that might explain why it has not been explained by any scholar in a separate book form, unlike al-`Umdah or al-Muqni`. [1]
Ibn Qudamah (أبن قدامة) was a distinguished scholar of Islam. He was a major pillar of the Hanbali madhhab and the author of numerous famous books, He was born in Palestine in 541 Hijri, He memorized the entire Quran at an early age, then continued to memorize by heart huge manuscripts of Islamic knowledge.
Al-Haafidh Ibn Kathir said about him: "He was the Shaikh ul Islaam, an Imaam, a Scholar, outstandingly proficient. There was not found in his time or before it by a long span of time, anyone possessing more Fiqh than him." [2]
Al-Haafidh Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said about his books: "He generated benefit to all the Muslims on a general level, and to the scholars of the (Hanbali) Madhab on a specific level. These books spread widely and grew very popular, according to the nobility of his intention and sincerity when writing them." [3]
The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and traditionist, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and later institutionalized by his students. One who ascribes to the Hanbali school is called a Hanbali, Hanbalite or Hanbalist. It is the smallest and adheres the most strictly to the traditionalist school of theology out of the four major Sunni schools, the others being the Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i schools.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī was a 9th-century Muslim muhaddith who is widely regarded as the most important hadith scholar in the history of Sunni Islam. Al-Bukhari's extant works include the hadith collection Sahih al-Bukhari, al-Tarikh al-Kabir, and al-Adab al-Mufrad.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. The most highly influential and active scholar during his lifetime, Ibn Hanbal went on to become "one of the most venerated" intellectual figures in Islamic history, who has had a "profound influence affecting almost every area" of the traditionalist perspective within Sunni Islam. One of the foremost classical proponents of relying on scriptural sources as the basis for Sunni Islamic law and way of life, Ibn Hanbal compiled one of the most significant Sunni hadith collections, al-Musnad, which has continued to exercise considerable influence on the field of hadith studies up to the present time.
Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Juzayy Al Gharnati, better known as Ibn Juzayy was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim scholar of Arab origin. He was a distinguished Maliki jurist, legal theoretician, Quran commentator, Quran reciter, hadith scholar, historian, scholar in Arabic, poet, preacher, orator, and a literary figure. He achieved notoriety at a young age, known as a major scholar of his day. He is famed for authoring classical works and for achieving martyrdom during his jihad against the Spanish Christian crusade.
Sahih al-Bukhari is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari in the musannaf format, the work is valued by Muslims, alongside Sahih Muslim, as the most authentic after the Qur'an.
Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī Muwaffaq ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad , better known as Ibn Qudāmah, was an Arab Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, and ascetic from the Palestine region. Having authored many important treatises on Islamic jurisprudence and religious doctrine, including one of the standard works of Hanbali law, the revered al-Mughni, Ibn Qudamah is highly regarded in Sunni Islam for being one of the most notable and influential thinkers of the Hanbali school of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence. Within that school, he is one of the few thinkers to be given the honorific epithet of Shaykh of Islam, which is a prestigious title bestowed by Sunnis on some of the most important thinkers of their tradition. A proponent of the classical Sunni position of the "differences between the scholars being a mercy," Ibn Qudamah is famous for saying, "The consensus of the leaders of jurisprudence is an overwhelming proof, and their disagreement is a vast mercy."
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal is a collection of musnad hadith compiled by the Islamic scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal to whom the Hanbali fiqh (legislation) is attributed.
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Māhdī al-Shāfiʿī, commonly known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī or "the lecturer from Baghdad", was a Sunni Muslim scholar known for being one of the foremost leading hadith scholars and historians at his time. He is widely considered an important authority in hadith, fiqh and history.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Rajab, commonly known as Ibn Rajab,, was a muhaddith, scholar, and jurist. Notable for his commentary on the forty hadith of Imam Al-Nawawi, he was also the initial author of Fath al-Bari.
Abd al-Ghani ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi was a classical Sunni Islamic scholar and a prominent hadith master. He was born in 1146 CE in the village of Jummail in Palestine. He studied with scholars in Damascus; many of whom were from his own extended family. He studied with the Imam of Tasawwuf, Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. He was the first person to establish a school on Mount Qasioun near Damascus. He died in 1203 CE.
Yahya ibn Ma'in was a classical Islamic scholar in the field of hadith. He was a close friend of Ahmad ibn Hanbal for much of his life. Ibn Ma'in is known to have spent all of his inheritance on seeking hadith to the extent he became extremely needy.
al-Istibsar is the fourth hadith collection of the Four Books of Shia Islam. it was compiled by Persian scholar al-Tusi It includes the same subjects as Tahdhib al-Ahkam but in a shorter form.
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, biography, exegesis, poetry, and the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, the most valued of which being his commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, titled Fath al-Bari. He is known by the honorific epithets Hafiz al-Asr "Hafiz of the Time", Shaykh al-Islam "Shaykh of Islam", and Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith "Leader of the Believers in Hadith".
Abu Nuʿaym al-Isfahani was a medieval Persian Shafi'i scholar and one of the leading hadith scholars of his time. His family was an offshoot of the aristocratic House of Mihran.
ʾAḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Yazīd al Baghdādī better known as Abū Bakr al Khalāl, was a Medieval Muslim jurist.
Abū Sufyān Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ ibn Malīḥ al-Ruʾāsī al-Kilābī al-Kufī (745/47–812) was a prominent hadith scholar based in Kufa. He was one of the principal teachers of the major Sunni Muslim jurist Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Abu al-Barkat Majd ad-Din ibn Taymiyya was Muslim scholar muhaddith, traditionalist theologian, judge and Hanbali jurisconsult. He was the father of Shihab al-Din Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyya and the grandfather of Taq al-Din Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya.
Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Saffārīnī also written as Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Saffarini Al-Hanbali, was a Palestinian Hanbali cleric, jurist, muhaddith, writer and historian. His full name was Shams al-Din Abu al-Aun Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Salim bin Sulayman al-Saffarini Nablusi.
Abdul Haqq Al Hashemi (1884–1972) was a Islamic scholar, orator and author in the Indian Subcontinent in the 20th Century. Al-Hashemi was a Muhaddith, a scholar of Hadith who was influential in Saudi Arabia and the Indian Subcontinent, in particular the southern region of Punjab, his region of birth. He was a teacher of many modern-day scholars.