Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal may Allah raise his rank 

Today’s khutbah was about an honorable Imam and a righteous scholar, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal may Allah have mercy and blessings upon him.
He meets with the kinship of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) at Nizar one of his great grandfathers.
He was born in Rabi^ Al-Awwal in 164H. His mother came from a city called Maroo to Baghdad while she was pregnant with him. Then his father who was a soldier died, so his mother raised him  in an Islamic and proper way.

He started acquiring the knowledge about religion in 179H. He first heard from Hashim then Ibrahim Ibn Sa^d, Yazid Ibn Haroun and the honorable Imam Muhammad Ibn Edris ash-Shafi^iyy.