—he adorns your company even when he is absent; yet if he comes near, you behold a face that gladdens you as it draws close.
He teaches this creation the refinements that have eluded them, serving as a refuge and stronghold for that forgotten decorum.
For the sake of Allah he behaves with the utmost beauty whenever he sees someone wronging the people of truth; he never grows weary of affliction.
His nearest brethren—each of them divinely aided and keen-sighted—by Allah’s command rise to the loftiest heights. (1)

Through my chain of transmission to Abū Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī: Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm informed us, Naṣr ibn Abī Naṣr al-Ṭūsī informed us, ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Khushaysh told me, I heard Abū al-Ḥadīd the Ṣūfī in Egypt, from his father, from al-Muzanī, who said:
“Ahmad ibn Hanbal during the miḥna (the inquisition), Abū Bakr during the Wars of Apostasy, ʿUmar on the day of al-Saqīfa, ʿUthmān on the day of the siege in his house, and ʿAlī on the day of Ṣiffīn.”

Ahmad ibn Muḥammad al-Rushdīnī said: I heard Ahmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Miṣrī say, “I have not seen in Iraq the like of these two: Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr—two comprehensive men; I have never seen their equal in Iraq.”

Ahmad ibn Salamah al-Naysābūrī narrated from Ibn Wārah, who said, “Ahmad ibn Hanbal in Baghdad, Ahmad ibn Ṣāliḥ in Egypt, Abū Jaʿfar al-Nufaylī in Ḥarrān, and Ibn Numayr in Kūfa—these are the pillars of the religion.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Junayd al-Rāzī said: I heard Abū Jaʿfar al-Nufaylī say, “Ahmad ibn Hanbal was one of the great landmarks of the religion.”

And from Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab the devotee, who said, “A single lash struck upon Ahmad ibn Hanbal for Allah’s sake is greater than all the days of Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith.”

I say: Bishr, too, is of immense stature like Ahmad, and we do not know the true weight of deeds; only Allah knows that.