and the city was submerged, my books were ruined; only one bound volume—containing two leaves written in the Imam’s own hand—was spared.

I say, moreover, that it is well attested and firmly established that the flood which struck Baghdad in 721 AH swept over the cemetery where Ahmad is buried. The water rose into the entrance hall to the height of a cubit, then—by Allah’s power—came to a stand-still. The rush mats around the Imam’s grave remained in place, their dust undisturbed; this was a manifest sign.

Abu Ṭālib related: al-Marwadhī told us, “I heard Mujāhid ibn Mūsā say, ‘I saw Ahmad when he was still a young man, with scarcely any vigor in his face, yet people were already speaking of him.’ ”

Ḥaramī ibn Yūnus transmitted from his father: “I saw Ahmad in the days of Hushaym, and he already enjoyed considerable standing.”

Ahmad ibn Saʿīd al-Ribāṭī said: I heard Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal declare, “We acquired this knowledge in humility, and we will hand it on only in humility.”

Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ said: Aḥmad ibn Shihāb al-Isfarāyīnī narrated to us: I heard Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal asked, “From whom should we write while on our travels?” He replied, “Adhere to Hannād, to Sufyān ibn Wakiʿ, and—in Mecca—to Ibn Abī ʿUmar. Beware of writing—whether a little or a lot—from anyone among the people of desires. Keep to the people of reports and the sunnah.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad said: al-Faṭḥ ibn Shakhrāf wrote to me that he heard Mūsā ibn Ḥizām al-Tirmidhī say, “I used to go to Abū Sulaymān al-Jawzajānī for Muḥammad’s books. Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal met me and asked, ‘Where are you headed?’ I answered, ‘To Abū Sulaymān.’ He said, ‘How astonishing! You have turned away from a chain that reaches the Prophet—Yazīd, from Ḥumayd, from Anas—and gone instead to a chain of three back to Abū Ḥanīfah: Abū Sulaymān from Muḥammad, from Abū Yūsuf, from him!’ So I made my way to Yazīd ibn Hārūn.”

Ibn ʿAdī said: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad informed us; Ṣāliḥ ibn Ahmad narrated