Al-Marwazī said: Aḥmad told me, “I have never written down a single ḥadīth without acting upon it. When I came across the report that the Prophet ﷺ had himself undergone cupping and had given Abū Ṭaybah a dinar (1), I likewise gave the cupper a dinar when I was cupped.”

He also relates: Abū ʿAbd Allāh would not enter a public bathhouse; instead, he would apply the nūra (depilatory paste) at home. I prepared the nūra for him more than once, and I bought him a piece of leather for his hand so that he could slip his hand into it and apply the paste.

Hanbal said: I saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh; whenever he wished to stand up, he would say to those seated with him, “If you wish.”

Al-Marwazī said: I saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh drop two dirhams into the basin for a khaṭṭān (circumciser).

ʿAbd Allāh said: I never saw my father transmit from memory without a book unless the narration comprised fewer than one hundred ḥadīths. I heard my father say:

Al-Shāfiʿī said, “O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, when a ḥadīth is authentic in your judgment, inform us so that we may adopt it. You are more knowledgeable than we are concerning sound reports. Therefore, whenever a report is sound, let me know so that I may follow it—whether it is Kufan, Basran, or Syrian.”

I say: He had no need to add “Hijazi,” for he was already well acquainted with the ḥadīth of