Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib relates:

“I visited Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal more than once after the ordeal. Each time I spoke with him, hoping he would dictate a ḥadīth to me, until I finally said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, what about the report of Abū Salamah from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Imruʾ al-Qays is the leader of the poets to the Fire’ (1)?’

He replied, ‘It is said: from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah.’ I asked, ‘Who transmits it from al-Zuhrī?’ He answered, ‘Abū al-Jahm.’ I then said, ‘And who narrates it from Abū al-Jahm?’ He fell silent. When I pressed him again, he said, ‘O Allah, keep us safe.’

Al-Maymūnī reports that Aḥmad said to him, ‘Abū al-Ḥasan, never speak on an issue for which you have no precedent (imām).’

Al-Khallāl records: al-Marwadī narrated to us that Abū ʿAbd Allāh said to me, ‘I never wrote down a ḥadīth without putting it into practice. When I came across the report that the Prophet ﷺ was cupped and gave Abū Ṭaybah a dīnār (2), I too had myself cupped and gave the cupper a dīnār.’

A group of scholars granted us narration authorization from Ibn al-Jawzī. Ibn Nāṣir informed us; Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār informed us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Khayyāṭ informed us; Ibn Abī al-Fawāris narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Salm narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Khāliq informed us; al-Marwadī narrated:

‘I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “If someone dies upon Islam and the Sunnah, has he died upon good?” He replied, “Be quiet—indeed, he has died upon all good.”’

Mūsā ibn Hārūn al-Bazzār said: Aḥmad was asked, ‘Where are the Budalāʾ (the spiritual “substitutes”) to be found?’