Al-Ḥasan ibn ʻAlī al-Barbahārī was a Muslim theologian and populist religious leader from Iraq. He was a scholar and jurist who is famous for his role in suppressing S̲h̲īʿa missionaries and Mu'tazilism in the Abbasid Caliphate during the 10th–11th (4th–5th AH) centuries. His books include creedal and methodological refutations against certain sects including the Shias, Qadaris, and the Mu'tazilites. Biography Al-Barbahari was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and learned from the students of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In addition, al-Barbahari took Ibn Hanbal's views and championed them. He was also known to be an associate of the Sufi Sahl al-Tustari. Al-Barbahari had several widely known students, including the famed scholar Ibn Battah. His status as an authority within the Hanbali school was not universal, however, and al-Barbahari and his students were often in conflict with Abu Bakr al-Khallal, generally considered to be the sole preserver and codifier of the school. While al-Barbahari contributed little to jurisprudence, he was well known as a polemicist. Defender Of The Sunnah Al-Barbahari was the leader of a number of protests against other sects during the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. His audience was strong in the Hanbalite quarter of the city. He was very influential among the urban lower classes, and exploited popular grievances to foment what often turned into mob violence against religious minorities and supposed sinners. From 921 until his death in 941 CE, al-Barbahari fought for literalist Sunni thought and practice, leading masses of Sunnis in actions to stop the sale of wine and visits to the "tombs of certain religious figures", destroy musical instruments, combat Shiism and Mu'tazilism. Under the influence of al-Barbahari and popular pressure of his followers, the Caliphs Al-Muqtadir and Al-Qahir enforced Sunni "orthodoxy" (according to Athari creed) as the state creed, exiling and imprisoning al-Barbahari's enemies and even burying renowned Muslim historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari—considered a heretic by most Atharis at the time—in secret due to fears of mob violence were a funeral to be held at the public graveyard. The efforts of al-Barbahari and the Baghdad Atharis were put to an end in 935 by the new Caliph Ar-Radi. Al-Barbahari had ordered groups to check any homes suspected of containing wine or musical instruments. The crowds confiscated from shops and physically enforced female entertainers to leave their practices. Ar-Radi ended the favored status of the Atharis. Thought Like other Hanbali, Barbahari strongly opposed bidʻah (religious innovation), defined