Wakīʿ and Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth used to say, “No one the like of that young man has ever come to Kūfa”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

It is reported that Aḥmad once brought Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī a large letter of recommendation on his own behalf. Ḥusayn said, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, do not put a benefactor between you and me. No one can advocate for you with me, for you are greater than any intermediary.” (1)

Al-Khallāl said: al-Marwadhī narrated to us; Khudr al-Marwadhī informed us in Tarsus; I heard Ibn Rāhwayh say, “I heard Yaḥyā ibn Ādam declare, ‘Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is our imām.’”

Al-Khallāl also said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; al-Athram narrated to us; one of those who accompanied Abū ʿAbd Allāh told me that they would gather with Yaḥyā ibn Ādam and, instead of attending to the hadith lesson, would become absorbed in the debate between Aḥmad and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam. Their voices would rise, and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam was the foremost jurist of his time.

Al-Khallāl further related: al-Marwadhī informed us; I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān say, “I saw my father honoring Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal; he even put all his books—or, he said, his hadith collection—at his disposal.”

Al-Qawārīrī quoted Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān as saying, “No one comparable to these two has ever come to us: Aḥmad and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. Of all those who have arrived from Baghdad, none is dearer to me than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said: I heard my father remark, “The day I left Basra was hard on Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd.”

ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAbbās reported: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī—while speaking of the hadith scholars—say, “The one who knows Sufyān’s hadith best is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”

He then turned