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.
TEACHERS AND SENIOR MEN OF LEARNING WHO CITE HIM73
These include: 11.1
MAʿRŪF AL-KARKHĪ
[Ibn Aktham:] I once heard Maʿrūf say, when Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was mentioned: “To me, Ibn Ḥanbal seemed a young man marked by devotion—one who could convey a great deal in a few words. Once I heard him say: ‘If you remember that you’ll be forgotten when you die, you’ll do good deeds and harm no one.’” 11.8
ASWAD IBN ʿĀMIR, KNOWN AS SHĀDHĀN
[Shādhān:] I sent a message to Abū ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—asking his permission to transmit the Hadith reported by Ḥammād, citing Qatādah, citing ʿIkrimah, citing Ibn ʿAbbās, citing the Prophet, God bless and keep him: “I saw my Lord, mighty and glorious …”74 11.9
Aḥmad told the messenger, “Tell him to go ahead. That report has been transmitted by learned men.”
ʿALĪ IBN AL-MADĪNĪ
[ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī:] My master Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal told me not to recite Hadith except from a written document. 11.16
ALL THE MEN OF LEARNING WHO CITE HIM75
WOMEN
