was from the descendants of Dhuhl ibn Shaybān—this is a mistake. Al-Khaṭīb corrected the two of them, saying: “He is actually from the descendants of Shaybān ibn Dhuhl ibn Thaʿlaba.” He then added, “Dhuhl ibn Thaʿlaba (1) was the uncle of Dhuhl ibn Shaybān ibn Thaʿlaba.”

Accordingly, one should simply refer to him as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bukhārī attributed him to both clans together. As for Ibn Mākūlā, despite his sharp eye in such matters, he too erred. He recorded the lineage as “Māzin ibn Dhuhl ibn Shaybān ibn Dhuhl ibn Thaʿlaba,” and no one followed him in that.

Muḥammad—the father of Abū ʿAbd Allāh—was among the troops stationed at Marw. He died young, at roughly thirty years of age, and Aḥmad was reared an orphan. It is also said that his mother left Marw while pregnant with him.

Ṣāliḥ reported that his father told him, “I was born in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the year 164 AH.” Ṣāliḥ further said, “My father was brought, still an infant, from Marw; his own father died young, so his mother took charge of him.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad and Aḥmad ibn Abī Khaythama said that he was born in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir.

Ḥanbal said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say, “I began seeking hadith in the year 179 AH. While I was in the study-circle of Hushaym I heard of the death of Ḥammād ibn Zayd.”

Ṣāliḥ also related that his father said, “My mother pierced my ears and placed two pearls in them. When I grew older I removed them; she kept them (2) until she later handed them to me, and I sold them for about thirty dirhams.”

Abū Dāwūd said: I heard Yaʿqūb al-Dawraqī relate that he heard Aḥmad say, “I was born in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year 164 AH.” (3)