and I also love Ḥamzah ibn al-Hayṣam al-Būshanjī, for neither of the two ever involved himself in the affairs of the authorities.

He said: After that my father stopped writing to Isḥāq.

Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib related: I heard Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Ribāṭī say:

“I came to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and he would not so much as raise his head toward me. I said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, people in Khurāsān are recording my narrations. If you treat me like this, they will discard what I report.’

“He replied, ‘Ahmad, will it not surely be announced on the Day of Resurrection, “Where is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir and his followers?” So consider well where you will stand in relation to him.’”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishr al-Ṭālqānī said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Ṭāriq al-Baghdādī say:

“I said to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ‘May I draw ink from your inkwell?’ He looked at me and said, ‘My waraʿ (scrupulous piety) has not yet reached such a level as yours,’ and he smiled.”

Al-Marwadhī said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “If a man is praised to his face with the words, ‘You love the sunnah,’ what do you think of that?”

He answered, “That will corrupt his heart.”

Al-Khallāl reports: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā told me:

“I saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh when a Khurāsānī man said to him, ‘Praise be to Allah who allowed me to see you.’ He replied, ‘Sit down—what is this? Who am I?’”

A man related: “I noticed grief on the face of Abū ʿAbd Allāh after someone praised him and said, ‘May Allah reward you on behalf of Islam with goodness.’ He responded, ‘Rather, may Allah reward Islam on my behalf with goodness—who am I, and what am I?!’”

Al-Khallāl also narrates: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Ṭayālisī told us:

“I once passed my hand over Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal while he was looking on; he became angry, shook his hand free, and said, ‘From whom did you learn this?’”

Khaṭṭāb ibn Bishr said: “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal about a matter of waraʿ, and it became clear…”