ABSTRACT
IBN-HANBAL (800-855): Founder of the Hanbalite school of Moslem law, the most conservative of the schools, Ibn-Hanbal lived in Bagdad during the loose and merry days of Harun al Rashid, and was shocked by the loose living. Blaming the situation on loose thinking, Ibn-Hanbal became an uncompromising opponent of “opinion,” insisting upon adherence to the literal words of the Koran, with only secondary reliance upon Tradition (Hadith, which is the recollection of Mohammed’s words and deeds as attested to by various authorities). He was imprisoned, scourged, and put in chains for his stubbornness in refusing to deny the eternity of the Koran. Hanbalite rulings are generally followed today in Saudi Arabia. IBN MASKAWAIH (960-1030): Known for his theory of Ethics, Abu Ali ibn Maskawaih was treasurer and friend of Sultan Adudaddaula. In his view, the soul is a simple, incorporeal substance which is conscious of its own existence. It possesses an inborn rational knowledge, independent of the senses, which supervises and regulates the senses, comparing and distinguishing the objects presented by sense-perception, and judging the true from the false.
