63. His Concubines
Chapter 64. The Number of His Children
Chapter 65. The Lives of His Children and Descendants
Chapter 66. How and Why the Inquisition Began
Chapter 67. His Experience with al-Maʾmūn
Chapter 68. What Happened After the Death of al-Maʾmūn
Chapter 69. His Experience with al-Muʿtaṣim
Chapter 70. His Reception by the Elders After His Release, and Their Prayers for Him
Chapter 71. His Teaching of Hadith After the Death of al-Muʿtaṣim
Chapter 72. His Experience with al-Wāthiq
Chapter 73. His Experience with al-Mutawakkil
Chapter 74. His Refusing Ibn Ṭāhir’s Request to Visit Him
Chapter 75. What Happened When His Two Sons and His Uncle Accepted Gifts from the Authorities
Chapter 76. Some Major Figures Who Capitulated to the Inquisition
Chapter 77. His Comments on Those Who Capitulated
Chapter 78. Those Who Defied the Inquisition
Chapter 80. His Date of Death and His Age When He Died
Chapter 81. How His Body Was Washed and Shrouded
Chapter 82. Those Who Sought to Pray over Him
Chapter 83. The Number of People Who Prayed over Him
Chapter 85. The Crowds That Gathered around His Grave
Chapter 87. Reactions to His Death
Chapter 88. Reaction to His Death on the Part of the Jinns
Chapter 89. On the Condolences Offered to His Family
Chapter 92. Dreams in Which He Appeared to Others
Chapter 93. Dreams in Which He Was Mentioned
Chapter 94. The Benefit of Visiting His Grave
Chapter 95. The Benefit of Being Buried Near Him
Chapter 96. The Punishments That Befall Anyone Who Attacks Him
Chapter 97. What to Think about Anyone Who Speaks Ill of Him
Chapter 98. Why We Chose His Legal School over the Others
Chapter 99. On the Excellence of His Associates and Successors
Chapter 100. His Most Prominent Associates and Their Successors from His Time to Our Own
IBN ḤANBAL’S BIRTH AND FAMILY BACKGROUND
We cite ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī l-Qāsim al-Karūkhī, who cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī, who cites Abū Yaʿqūb al-Ḥāfiẓ, who cites Abū Bakr ibn Abī l-Faḍl al-Muʿaddal,2 who learned it from Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṣarrām; and3 we cite ʿAbd al-Malik, who cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, who cites Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Mihrawī,4 who learned it from Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb, the notary-witness of Būshanj, who learned it from Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib ibn al-ʿAbbās, who [along with al-Ṣarrām] cites Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq al-Ghasīlī as saying: 1.1
[Al-Ghasīlī:] I heard Aḥmad’s son Ṣāliḥ say that he—meaning his father—was born in Rabīʿ I 164 [November–December 780], having left Marv5 carried in his mother’s womb.
[Aḥmad:] I was born in Rabīʿ I 164. 1.2
[Aḥmad:] I was born in the year 164. 1.3
[Al-ʿIjlī:] Aḥmad son of Muḥammad son of Ḥanbal, called Abū ʿAbd Allāh (the father of ʿAbd Allāh), was a full-blooded member of the clan of Sadūs.6 The family had settled first in Basra and later in Khurasan,7 but Aḥmad was born and raised in Baghdad. He was trustworthy and reliable as a transmitter of Hadith reports, and was skilled in using them as a source of law. He sought out reports about the early Muslims and lived according to their example. He was a good and honorable man. 1.4
[Aḥmad:] My mother was pregnant with me when she came from Khurasan.8 I was born in 164. 1.5
[Abū Zurʿah:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s family came from Basra but their district of settlement was Marv. 1.6
[Ṣāliḥ:]