Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) Practiced Tawaswswul

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) approved of, and practiced, tawaswswul.  Imam Ahmad (r.a.) used to make tawaswswul through the Prophet (s.a.w.) a part of every du’a, according to Imam ‘Ala’ ad-Din Abi Hassan ‘Ali ibn Sulayman al-Mardawi (r.a.).  He wrote, in his al-Inswaf fi Ma’rifat ar-Rajih min al-Khilaf ‘ala Madzhab al-Imam al-Mubajjal Ahmad ibn Hanbal, “The correct position of the madzhab is that it is permissible in one’s supplication to use as means a pious person, and it is said that it is desirable.  Imam Ahmad said to Abu Bakr al-Marwazi, ‘Let him use the Prophet (s.a.w.) as a means in his supplication to Allah.’” 

To corroborate, this same report is found in Imam Ahmad’s (r.a.) Kitab al-Manasik, narrated by his student, Imam Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi (r.a.).  The lengthy wording of the tawaswswul according to the Hanbali madzhab, as established by Imam Abu al-Wafa’ ‘Ali ibn ‘Aqil (r.a.), in his Tadzkirah, was cited fully by Imam Muhammad Zahid ibn Hasan al-Kawtsari (r.a.), in his appendix to Imam Taqi’ ad-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd al-Kafi as-Subki’s’s (r.a.) as-Sayf as-Saqil fi ar-Radd ‘ala ibn Zafil. 

Furthermore, as recorded in Imam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi (r.a.), in Shu’ayb al-Iman, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad (r.a.) said that he heard his father, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) say, “I performed haj five times: thrice on foot and twice riding,” or the other way around.  Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) said, “Once, when I was on foot, I lost my way.  I started to say, ‘O slaves of Allah, show me the way.’  I kept on repeating this until I came back on track.”