the residence of Ahmad ibn Hanbal time and again; I questioned him on various issues. He was asked, “Who has transmitted more ḥadith, he or Isḥāq?” He replied, “Rather, Ahmad has narrated more—and he is the more scrupulous. Ahmad has outstripped all the scholars of his age.”

I say: Ahmad’s standing was immense—foremost in ḥadith, in jurisprudence, and in devotion. Even a host of his opponents praised him; what, then, should one expect from his brothers and contemporaries?!

He was awe-inspiring for the sake of Allah. Abū ʿUbayd said, “I have never felt overawed by anyone over a question as I was overawed by Ahmad ibn Hanbal.”

Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī said, “The scholar of his era: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab in his era, Sufyān al-Thawrī in his era, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his era.”

I read before Isḥāq al-Asadī: Ibn Khalīl informed you; al-Labbān informed us; from Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥaddād; from Abū Nuʿaym; from Abū Bakr ibn Mālik; Muḥammad ibn Yūnus narrated to us; Sulaimān al-Shādhakūnī told me, saying:

“Is ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī to be compared with Ahmad ibn Hanbal? Far from it! How can a sukk resemble a lukk (1)! I once witnessed a mark of Ahmad’s scrupulousness in Mecca: he had pawned a bucket with a water-carrier (2) and taken from him something for his sustenance. When he returned with the money to redeem it, the man produced two buckets and said, ‘See which one is yours.’ Ahmad replied, ‘I do not know. You are absolved of it and of what I gave you,’ and he did not take it back. The water-carrier said, ‘By Allah, this is his bucket; I only wished to test him.’”

And with this same chain to Abū Nuʿaym: Sulaimān ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; al-Abbār narrated to us; I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Naysābūrī—when the news of Ahmad’s death reached him—say, “It befits every household in Baghdad to hold mourning for him in their own homes.”

(1) An Arabic proverb denoting two things that only appear to be alike.
(2) A man who drew and sold water.