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CHAPTER 10

PRAISE OF HIM BY HIS TEACHERS

As you doubtless know, a person’s character is manifest even in youth; the way a life begins gives a good idea of how it is likely to end. In Aḥmad’s case, piety and love of learning were evident in him from the beginning. As a result, his teachers praised him and granted him precedence. 10.1

[Al-Nasāʾī:] When Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal would approach a Hadith transmitter, he would ask the men of learning who were present for their permission to gather Hadith, since they would be hearing the reports because of him. 10.2

Among the teachers who praised him are the following.

YAZĪD IBN HĀRŪN

[Ibn Zanjuwayh:] I remember seeing Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal come to visit Yazīd ibn Hārūn, who was performing the ritual prayer. After finishing his prayer, Yazīd turned to Aḥmad and asked, “What’s your position on things lent for use?” 10.3

“The borrower is liable for them.”

“We cite Ḥajjāj,” said Yazīd, “citing al-Ḥakam: ‘Not liable.’”

Aḥmad replied by reciting: “The Prophet, God bless and keep him, borrowed some suits of armor from Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah. Ṣafwan asked, ‘Are you liable for them?’ and the Prophet, God bless and keep him, said, ‘The borrower is liable for what he borrows.’”⁶³

Having nothing to say in reply, Yazīd adopted Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s view.

[Ibn Sālim:] We were sitting in Yazīd ibn Hārūn’s Hadith-circle and Yazīd made a teasing remark to his amanuensis. From Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came a clearing of the throat, and Yazīd, striking himself on the forehead, cried, “Why didn’t you tell me Aḥmad was here so I wouldn’t joke?” 10.4

[Ibn Sinān:] I never saw Yazīd ibn Hārūn regard anyone with as much reverence or show anyone as much honor as he did Ibn Ḥanbal. He used to seat Aḥmad beside him when we gathered for Hadith. He maintained a dignified bearing in his presence and wouldn’t tease him. Once when Aḥmad fell ill Yazīd even rode to his house to visit him. 10.5

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I asked Aḥmad how it happened that Yazīd ibn Hārūn visited him when he was ill. He replied: 10.6

[Aḥmad:] It was in Wāsiṭ. I used to sit near him while he taught Hadith, and he knew who I was. One day he recited, “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd said, ‘I heard Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh say …’”

“It doesn’t say ‘I heard Sālim say,’” I told him. “It says, ‘I heard that Sālim said …’”

Yazīd went inside and brought out his notes, and sure enough the text read “that Sālim said.” He asked who had corrected him and the others told him it was me.

“Correct what you’ve written,” he told us. After that, whenever he would take his seat he would say, “Ibn Ḥanbal! Come over here.”

Once when I got sick Yazīd came to visit me. I had guinea worm.⁶⁴ I wasn’t staying in this house we’re in now—at that time it was my uncles who lived here. I had moved out. The house we moved to was outside.⁶⁵

ISMĀʿĪL IBN ʿULAYYAH

[Ibn Abī ʿAwn and Ibn Hishām:] Once when the ritual prayer was starting we heard Ibn ʿUlayyah saying, “Is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal here anywhere? Tell him to come forward!” 10.7

[Ibn al-Mubārak:] Once when I was at Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah’s someone made a remark that made some of us laugh. Ibn Ḥanbal was there too. Later we went to Ismāʿīl and found him looking angry. 10.8

“How could you laugh,” he asked, “with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal there?”

ʿABD AL-RAZZĀQ IBN HAMMĀM

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never saw anyone more astute or more scrupulous⁶⁶ than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.9

[Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī:] Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abān said, “Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and I studied with ʿAbd al-Razzāq. If anyone else asked him a question, he would say, ‘I’m not reciting Hadith for you. I’m reciting only for the sake of these three.’” 10.10

By “these three” he meant Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and Ibn Abān.

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I have never taught anyone like Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.11

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never taught anyone the like of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.12

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] Four of the great scholars of Hadith came to us from Iraq. There was al-Shādhakūnī, who had the most tenacious memory for Hadith. There was Ibn al-Madīnī, who had mastered the differences between reports. There was Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who had the most thorough knowledge of the transmitters. And then there was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who was the best at putting all three kinds of learning together. 10.13

Abū Yaʿqūb added: “After the Emissary, no one had more people travel to learn from him than did ʿAbd al-Razzāq.”

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I’ve taught Hadith to three men so worthy that I don’t care if I never teach anyone else. There was Ibn al-Shādhakūnī, who had such a retentive memory; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who knew the transmitters so well; and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who renounced so much. 10.14

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] If that man—meaning Aḥmad—survives, it won’t matter that the rest of us are gone. 10.15

[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never saw anyone like Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.16

[Ibn Zanjawayh:] I told ʿAbd al-Razzāq that I was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s neighbor. 10.17

“If that’s so,” he said, “I’ll come visit you.”

[Aḥmad:] ʿAbd al-Razzāq taught us some Hadith reports on the Mahdī⁶⁷ and when he was done, looked over at me and said, “If not for this fellow here”—or “if not for him” (meaning me)—“I would never have taught you those reports.” 10.18

WAKĪʿ IBN AL-JARRĀḤ

[Wakīʿ:] Of all those who ever came to Kufa, that young man—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—was the best. 10.19

[Ibn Shammās:] I asked Wakīʿ to teach us the Hadith he had learned from Khārijah ibn Muṣʿab. 10.20

“I won’t,” he said. “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal told me not to.”

ḤAFṢ IBN GHIYĀTH AL-NAKHAʿĪ

[Ibn Ghiyāth:] Of all those who ever came to Kufa, that young man—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—was the best. 10.21

ABŪ L-WALĪD HISHĀM IBN ʿABD AL-MALIK AL-ṬAYĀLISĪ

[Al-Bukhārī:] I was in Basra when the news came that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal had been flogged. Abū l-Walīd exclaimed, “If that man had lived in the days of the Children of Israel, they would have made him a legend.” 10.22

[Ibn Makhlad:] I was at Abū l-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī’s when a 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 IBN ĀDAM

[Yaḥyā ibn Ādam:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is our exemplar. 10.42

SULAYMĀN IBN ḤARB

[A man:] Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb once said to me, “Ask Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal what he says about this problem, because he’s our exemplar.” 10.43

ʿAFFĀN IBN MUSLIM AL-ṢAFFĀR (THE COPPERSMITH)

[Al-Mukharrimī:] I heard ʿĪsā ibn ʿAffān say: “Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and Abū Khaythamah”—and others he mentioned—“all used to come and hear Hadith from my father. Then Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came and heard Hadith from him. After he left, my father said to me, ‘He was worth the lot of them,’ referring to how much Aḥmad knew.” 10.44

AL-HAYTHAM IBN JAMĪL, ABŪ SAHL AL-BAGHDĀDĪ

[Abū ʿUthmān:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say: “If that young man”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—“lives long enough, he’ll be God’s proof of Islam for a whole generation.” 10.45

[Ibn Abī l-Ḥawārī:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say, “Every age has a man who serves as a proof of Islam to his generation. Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ is the proof for his time, and I think that if that young man”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—“lives long enough, he’ll be the proof for his.” 10.46

[Yūsuf ibn Muslim:] Haytham ibn Jamīl once made an error while reciting a Hadith citing Hushaym. 10.47

“Some people recite that report differently,” he was told.

“Like who?”

“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”

“I wish my life could be shorter,” said al-Haytham, “and his longer.”

[Asad al-Khashshāb:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say, “I wish God would make Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s life longer and mine shorter.” 10.48

Then he turned to a man who was present and said, “Tell me: Why did you say that I had anything useful to impart to Muslims?”

ABŪ NUʿAYM AL-FAḌL IBN DUKAYN

[Al-Ramādī:] I remember one occasion when we were at Abū Nuʿaym’s studying with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. In those days, when Abū Nuʿaym held Hadith sessions, Aḥmad used to sit on his right and Yaḥyā on his left. One day Yaḥyā came to me with a piece of paper on which he had written some of Abū Nuʿaym’s reports and then, in the spaces between them, copied out reports transmitted by others. “When it’s us there,” he said, “Give Abū Nuʿaym the paper and have him read it.” 10.49

When the session ended and people were leaving, he handed him the paper.⁷⁰ Abū Nuʿaym read the whole thing, then stared at me for a while, and finally looked at Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.

“This fellow here,” he said, gesturing toward Aḥmad, “takes his religion too seriously to do something like this. As for you,” he said, looking at me, “you don’t do this sort of thing. The one who did it,” he continued, “must be this one,” and gave Yaḥyā a kick that knocked him off the stoop. “Who are you trying to fool?” he cried.

Yaḥyā picked himself up and kissed Abū Nuʿaym. “May God reward you on behalf of Islam!” he said. “You are just the sort of man who should teach Hadith. I was only testing you.”

[Ibn Manṣūr:] When Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn went to study with ʿAbd al-Razzāq, I went along with them as their servant. After we returned to Kufa, Yaḥyā said to Aḥmad, “I want to test Abū Nuʿaym.” 10.50

“No you don’t,” said Aḥmad. “The man can be trusted.”

“This is something I have to do,” said Yaḥyā. Taking a piece of paper, he wrote out thirty reports he had heard from Abū Nuʿaym. After every ten, he slipped in a report he had heard from someone else. Then they went to see Abū Nuʿaym.

When they knocked, Abū Nuʿaym came out and sat down on an earthen stoop next to the door. Taking hold of Aḥmad, he seated him to his right, then took hold of Yaḥyā and seated him to his left. I sat down on the ground next to the stoop. Then Yaḥyā took out his sheaf of papers⁷¹ and began reading out the reports. Abū Nuʿaym said nothing about the first ten, but when Yaḥyā read the eleventh, he said, “That’s not one of mine. Cross it out!”

Then Yaḥyā read the next ten. Abū Nuʿaym said nothing until Yaḥyā read the second of the reports he had slipped in. When he heard it he said, “That’s not one of mine. Cross it out!”

Then Yaḥyā read the next set, including the third report he had slipped in. When he heard it, Abū Nuʿaym’s expression changed. Turning to Yaḥyā, he said, “This fellow here”—meaning Aḥmad, whose arm he was still holding—“has too many scruples to do what you’ve done. And this one”—meaning me—“doesn’t know enough. So that leaves you, smart-ass!” With that, he lifted his leg and kicked Yaḥyā off the stoop. Then he got up and went back inside his house.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave the man be?” said Aḥmad to Yaḥyā. “Didn’t I tell you he was reliable?”

“By God,” replied Yaḥyā, “that kick was worth the trip we took.”

QUTAYBAH IBN SAʿĪD

[Al-Marwazī:] I heard Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd say, “In our generation the best men are Ibn al-Mubārak and that young fellow.” 10.51

“Which young fellow?” asked Abū Bakr al-Rāzī.

“Ibn Ḥanbal.”

“He’s the senior man of learning in Iraq, and you’re calling him a young fellow?”

“He was young when I met him,” said Qutaybah.

[Qutaybah:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh are the only two exemplars in the world. 10.52

[Qutaybah:] If you find that someone admires Ibn Ḥanbal, you can be sure that he upholds the sunnah. 10.53

[Qutaybah:] If you find that someone admires Ibn Ḥanbal, you can be sure that he upholds the sunnah and stands with the community.⁷² 10.54

[Qutaybah:] If you find that someone admires Ibn Ḥanbal, you can be sure that he’s on the path. 10.55

[Qutaybah:] If Aḥmad had lived in the time of al-Thawrī, Mālik, al-Awzāʿī, and al-Layth ibn Saʿd, he would have been the foremost among them. 10.56

[Ibn Shabbuwayh:] I heard Qutaybah say, “If Aḥmad had lived in the time of al-Thawrī, Mālik, al-Awzāʿī, and al-Layth ibn Saʿd, he would have been the foremost among them.” 10.57

“You’d rank Aḥmad with the Successors?” I asked.

“With the greatest of them,” said Qutaybah.

[Al-Naysābūrī:] I was once talking with Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd and mentioned Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā, Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.58

“Of the ones you named,” he said, “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is the greatest.”

[Ibn Shabbuwayh:] I heard Qutaybah say, “If not for al-Thawrī, being scrupulous would have died out, and if not for Ibn Ḥanbal, people would have added things to our religion.” 10.59

“You’d rank Aḥmad with the Successors?” I asked.

“With the greatest of them,” said Qutaybah.

[Ibn Ṭarkhān:] I heard Qutaybah say, “If not for al-Thawrī, being scrupulous would have died out; and if not for Ibn Ḥanbal, people would have added whatever they wanted to our religion.” 10.60

Somebody said, “Abū Rajāʾ, you’d count Aḥmad with the Successors?”

“With the greatest of them,” said Qutaybah.

[Al-Rāzī:] I heard Qutaybah say, “As soon as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal dies, the reprehensible innovations will start.” 10.61

ADDENDUM

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was also praised by many men of learning, equal in rank to his teachers, with whom he did not study. One was Abū Mushir al-Dimashqī. 10.62

[Ibn al-ʿAbbās:] I asked Abū Mushir if he knew anyone who could keep our community’s religion safe.

“I can’t think of anyone,” he replied, “except one young man out east,” meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

[The author:] A good many more reports like this will appear—God willing—in the course of this book.