letter came from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. “There’s no one in the two towns”—meaning Basra and Kufa—“dearer to me than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal,” I heard him say, “or anyone I admire more.” 10.23
[Ḥamdān ibn ʿAlī:] Abū l-ʿAwāmm al-Bazzāz (the draper) told me, “Once we were at Abū l-Walīd’s when we heard them saying, ‘Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s here!’ 10.24
“Abū l-Walīd, who had been sitting at ease, sprang up and then said nothing at all until Aḥmad had sat down. Aḥmad asked him to recite some Hadith, and he did.”
I think [al-Bazzāz] added that Abū l-Walīd turned to face Aḥmad.
“I remember,” continued al-Bazzāz, “saying”—to himself, that is—“that all of us are senior men of learning, but the only one that Abū l-Walīd treats with deference is Aḥmad!”
ḤUSAYN AL-JUʿFĪ
[Ibn Samāʿah:] We were at Ibn Abī ʿUmar al-ʿAdanī’s in Mecca. All of us except for him were talking about Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. After we had gone on for a while he broke his silence and said, “Those who could give Aḥmad his due are no longer with us. When he went to study Hadith with Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī, he brought a letter”—that is, a letter of recommendation. “But al-Juʿfī said, ‘Aḥmad, there’s no need to put a patron between us. You can appeal to me using whatever name you want, but you’re a better man than anyone you name.’” 10.25
ʿABD AL-RAḤMĀN IBN MAHDĪ
[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] I heard Aḥmad ibn Sinān al-Qaṭṭān (the cotton merchant) report that he saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal approaching ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī—or perhaps it was when Aḥmad had gotten up and left the circle—and heard Ibn Mahdī say, “No one knows the Hadith transmitted by Sufyān al-Thawrī better than that man there.” 10.26
[Ibn Mahdī:] Every time I look at Ibn Ḥanbal I can’t help thinking of Sufyān al-Thawrī. 10.27
[Ibn Shammās:] We were at ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī’s when Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal had just left—or was approaching—and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “Anyone who wants to know what al-Thawrī carried in his head should ask that man there.” 10.28
[Ibn Mahdī:] “That boy”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—“was almost an exemplar while still in his mother’s womb.” 10.29
YAḤYĀ IBN SAʿĪD AL-QAṬṬĀN
[Al-Qaṭṭān:] “I never had another student as good as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” 10.30
[Al-Qaṭṭān:] My two best students were Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. 10.31
[Al-Qaṭṭān:] “I never had another student as good as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.” 10.32
[Al-Karābīsī:] When Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal went to Basra, Ibn al-Shādhakūnī came to resent him, and made some remark about him to Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, who said, “Let me have a look at him.” 10.33
After he had seen him, al-Qaṭṭān said to Ibn al-Shādhakūnī, “Shame on you, Sulaymān! Have you no fear of God? That’s one of our sages you’re talking about.”
[Al-Qaṭṭān:] Of the ones who came from Baghdad, no one was dearer to me than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.34
[Ibn al-Madīnī:] Yaḥyā, Aḥmad, and Khalaf came to study with Ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān. He asked me who Yaḥyā was. 10.35
“That’s Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn,” I told him.
“What about that one?”
“That’s Khalaf.”
“What about that one?”
“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”
“If any of them is the one,” he said, “it’s him.”
[Aḥmad:] I never met anyone else like Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd. 10.36
ABŪ ʿĀṢIM AL-NABĪL, WHOSE PROPER NAME WAS AL-ḌAḤḤĀK IBN MAKHLAD
[ʿAbd Allāh:] A group of Hadith-men once gathered at the circle of Abū ʿĀṣim al-Daḥḥāk ibn Makhlad. 10.37
“All of you claim to have religious understanding,” he said, “but do any of you have it?” With that he began to rebuke them.
“One of us does,” they said.
“Who?”
“He’s on his way.”
When my father arrived, they said, “That’s him!”
Abū ʿĀṣim looked at him and said, “Come up front.”
“I don’t like to step over people,” he said.
“Now there’s a man who understands!” said Abū ʿĀṣim. “Make room for him!”
They moved aside and he came in. Abū ʿĀṣim asked him to sit in front of him. Then he asked him a question, which he answered. He asked him another question, and he answered that one too, and then a third, and then many, and he answered them all.
“This is a sea creature,” said Abū ʿĀṣim, “not a land animal!” Or he may have said, “This is a sea creature that walks on land!”68
[Abū ʿĀṣim:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came to see me. I heard people saying “Ibn Ḥanbal’s here! Ibn Ḥanbal’s here!” 10.38
“Show me this Ibn Ḥanbal,” I said, and they pointed him out.
“You there!” I said. “I have a bone to pick with you. You came to my town and didn’t present yourself so we could show you the welcome you deserve.”
“Abū ʿĀṣim,” he said, “you’ll be doing more than enough if I can trouble you to teach some Hadith.”
I could see that he was modest, earnest, and well-mannered, and would go as far as any man.
[ʿAbbās:] I heard Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl say, at the mention of Ibn Ḥanbal, that he had met him. Then he turned around and asked, “Who do you consider the leading Hadith-men in Baghdad today?” 10.39
They listed Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Khaythamah, al-Muʿayṭī, al-Suwaydī, and other Hadith-men.
“What about here in Basra?”
We named ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn al-Shādhakūnī, Ibn ʿArʿarah, Ibn Abī Khadduwayh, and so on.
“What about Kufa?”
We named the two sons of Abū Shaybah, Ibn Numayr, and some others.
Abū ʿĀsim heaved several sighs—making a sound like “ah, ah, ah”—and said, “Every one you mentioned has come here to see me, and I’ve met them all. None of them is a match for that young fellow Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”
ʿAbbās added that Abū ʿĀṣim was saying this even before Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was tried by the Inquisition.
[Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr:] When I took my leave of Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl, he said to me, “Convey my greetings to that righteous man Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” 10.40
ABŪ L-YAMĀN AL-ḤAKAM IBN NĀFIʿ
[Abū l-Yamān:] I used to think Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal resembled Arṭaʾah ibn al-Mundhir.69 10.41
YAḤYĀ