ʿAbd Allāh, and I noticed a small brazier in his hands with which he was warming a piece of cloth; he would then press it against his side where the blows had landed. He said to me: “O Abū Jaʿfar, of all the men present none treated me more gently than al-Muʿtaṣim.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Būshanjī reported: “When al-Muʿtaṣim died, Aḥmad began teaching openly in Baghdad.” I returned from Kūfa and caught up with him in Rajab of the year 227 AH; he was delivering hadith. Three days before the end of Shaʿbān he broke off his teaching, though no one had forbidden him to do so.

Indeed, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, the judge of Baghdad, wrote to Ibn Abī Dāwūd: “Aḥmad has started teaching hadith expansively.” When word of this reached Aḥmad, he suspended his lessons and did not resume them until he passed away.

A section on the Imam’s situation during the reign of al-Mutawakkil

Hanbal said: When Jaʿfar al-Mutawakkil assumed the caliphate, Allah caused the Sunnah to prevail and relieved the people. During al-Mutawakkil’s days Abū ʿAbd Allāh would relate hadith to us and to his companions. I heard him say: “People have never been in greater need of hadith and knowledge than they are in our own time.”

Hanbal continued: Later al-Mutawakkil mentioned him and wrote to Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm directing that he be sent to the caliph. Ishāq’s envoy came to Abū ʿAbd Allāh summoning him to appear. Abū ʿAbd Allāh set out and then returned, so my father asked him why he had been called. He replied, “He read me Jaʿfar’s letter ordering me to proceed to the camp—that is, Sāmarrā.” He added, “Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm asked me, ‘What is your view concerning the Quran?’ I answered, ‘The Commander of the Believers has forbidden discussion of that matter.’”

He went on: Ishāq then departed for the camp, leaving his son Muḥammad to act in his stead at Baghdad.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm also told me, ‘Do not let anyone know that I asked you about the Quran!’ I said to him, ‘Was it a question from someone seeking guidance, or from one looking for an argument?’ He replied, ‘From someone seeking guidance.’ I said, ‘The Quran is the speech of Allah; it is not created.’”