فإذا بالسيوف قد جُرِّدت وبالرّماح قد رُكزت وبالتِّراس قد نُصبت وبالسياط قد طُرحت فألبسوني قَباء أسود ومنطقة وسيفًا ووقفوني حيث أسمع الكلام.
فأتى أمير المؤمنين فجلس على كرسي وأُتي بأحمد بن حنبل فقال له: وقرابتي من رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم لأضربنّك بالسياط أو تقول كما أقول. ثم التفت إلى جلاد فقال: خُذه إليك! فأخذه.
فلما ضُرب سوطًا قال: بسم الله.
فلما ضُرب الثاني قال: لا حول ولا قُوة إلا بالله.
فلما ضُرب الثالث قال: القُرآن كلام الله غير مخلوق.
فلما ضُرب الرابع قال: {قُل لَن يُصيبَنَا إلاَّ مَا كَتَبَ اللهُ لنَا}. فضربه تسعةً وعشرين سوطًا.
وكانت تِكّة أحمد حاشية ثوب فانقطعت فنزل السراويل إلى عانته فقلتُ: الساعة ينهتك.
فرمى أحمدُ طرفه نحو السماء وحرّك شفتيه فما كان بأسرع من أن بقي السراويل لم ينزل.
قال ميمون: فدخلت إليه بعد سبعة أيّام فقلت: يا أبا عبد الله رأيتك يوم ضربوك قد انحلّ سراويلك فرفعتَ طرفك نحو السماء ورأيتك تحرّك شفتيك فأيّ شيء قلت؟
قال: قلت: اللهّم إِني أسألك باسمك الذي ملأت به العرش إن كنت تعلم أنّي على الصواب فلا تهتك لي سِتْرًا.
We cite Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir, who was informed by al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Faqīh, who cites ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, who heard Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Kātib report that he heard Abū ʿAlī l-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al-Fasawī report that he heard Dāwūd ibn ʿArafah report that he heard Maymūn ibn al-Aṣbagh report:
[Ibn al-Aṣbagh:] I was in Baghdad and heard a clamor. I asked what it was about and people told me that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was being tried. So I went home, collected a substantial sum of money, and bribed my way into the session. Inside the palace, I saw soldiers with their swords drawn, their spears fixed, their shields planted, and their whips at the ready. I was fitted out with a black cloak, a sash, and a sword, and given a seat close enough that I could hear what was being said.
The caliph appeared and seated himself in a chair. Then Ibn Ḥanbal was brought in.
“I swear by my ancestor the Prophet,” said the caliph, “that if you don’t say as I say, I’ll have you flogged!”
Turning to the lictor, he said, “Take him away!”
At the first blow, Aḥmad said, “In the name of God!”
At the second, he said, “There is no might or power except by God!”
At the third, he said, “The Qurʾan is the speech of God, and uncreated!”
At the fourth he said, “«Say: we will suffer only what God has decreed for us!»”110
The lictor had struck him twenty-nine lashes when Aḥmad’s trouser cord—which was made of nothing more than a strip of garment lining—broke. His trousers slipped down as far as his groin.
“He’ll be left with nothing on,” I thought to myself. But then he looked up to the heavens and moved his lips. Instantly the trousers stopped slipping and remained in place.
Seven days later, I went to see him. “Aḥmad,” I asked, “I was there the day they beat you and your trousers came apart. I saw you look up and move your lips. What were you saying?”
He said, “I said, ‘God, I call You by Your name, which has filled the Throne! If You know me to be in the right, do not expose my nakedness.’”
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أخبرنا المحمّدان: ابن ناصر وابن عبد الباقي قالا: أخبرنا حَمْد قال: أخبرنا أبو نُعَيْم الحافظ قال: أخبرنا عبد الله بن جعفر قال: حدثنا أبي قال: حدثنا أحمد بن أبي عُبيد الله قال:
قال أحمد بن الفرَج: حضرت أحمد لمّا ضُرب فتقدّم أبو الدَّنّ فضربه بضعة عشر سوطًا فأقبل الدم من أكتافه وكان عليه سراويل فانقطع خيطه فنزل السراويل فلحظته وقد حرّك شفتيه فعاد السراويل كما كان.
فسألتُه عن ذلك فقال: قلتُ: إلهي وسيّدي وقفتَني هذا الموقف فتهتكني على رؤوس الخلائق؟ فعاد السراويل كما كان.
We cite the two Muḥammads, Ibn Nāṣir and Ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī, who cite Ḥamd, who cites Abū Nuʿaym al-Ḥāfiẓ, who cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, who heard his father report that he heard Aḥmad ibn Abī ʿUbayd Allāh report that Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj said:
[Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj:] I was there when Aḥmad was whipped. Abū l-Dann came up and struck him more than ten lashes. Blood started pouring from his shoulders. He was wearing a pair of trousers, and the cord broke. I noticed that as the trousers began to come down, he said something inaudible and they went back up.
Later I asked him about it, and he told me what he had said: “‘My God and Lord, You’ve put me here, and now You’re going to expose my nakedness to the world?’ That’s when my trousers came back up.”111
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أخبرنا المحمّدان: ابن ناصر وابن عبد الباقي قالا: أخبرنا حمد بن أحمد قال: حدثنا أبو نُعَيم الحافظ قال: حدثنا الحسين بن
