“Son of al-Madinī, to whom the doors of this world were flung open, who then bartered away his religion to seize it!
What moved you to embrace a doctrine when, in your own eyes, anyone who proclaimed it was a disbeliever?
Was it some evidence whose soundness dawned on you so that you accepted it, or was it the blossom of this world whose harvest you sought?
I once knew you—may you lose your father—unyielding toward the very thing you are now being summoned to accept.
True loss (1) befalls the one whose religion is struck, not the man deprived of a she-camel and her suckling calf (2).”
Ahmad remarked, “This is one of the strays of that idol”—meaning Ibn al-Zayyāt—“The best of people have been lampooned before, yet satire has never demolished a truth nor erected falsehood. You and we have done our duty to Allah in a way that makes this world seem trifling beside His vast reward.”
He then ordered that five thousand dirhams be given to the man, saying, “Use them for your living expenses and in charity.”
Zakariyyā al-Sājī said: “When Ibn al-Madinī came to Basra, Bundār went to meet him, and ʿAlī kept repeating, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh said… Abū ʿAbd Allāh said…’
Bundār asked publicly, ‘Who is Abū ʿAbd Allāh—Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal?’
He answered, ‘No, Ahmad ibn Abī Duʿād.’
Bundār said, ‘I count the steps I have taken with Allah; this matter was made to appear other than it is to me,’ whereupon he became angry and left.”
Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī said: “Ibrāhīm al-Harbī owned a chest full of Ibn al-Madinī’s narrations yet never related them. He was asked, ‘Why do you not transmit from him?’
He replied, ‘One day I met him carrying his sandals in his hand and his clothes between his teeth. I asked, “Where are you going?” He said, “I am rushing to pray behind Abū ʿAbd Allāh.” I assumed he meant Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal, so I asked, “Who is Abū ʿAbd Allāh?” He said, “Ibn Abī Duʿād.” I swore, “By Allah, I will never narrate a single letter from you.”’”
(1) al-ḥarīb: one who has suffered irreparable loss.
(2) The young camel that has just been weaned.