Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥalabī said, “I heard Abū Hammām remark, ‘Aḥmad never met anyone the equal of himself.’

al-Khallāl said, “We have been afflicted with a group of ignorant people who imagine themselves to be scholars. Whenever we recount the virtues of Abū ʿAbd Allāh, envy drives them so far that one of them—so a trustworthy person told me—said, ‘Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is their prophet.’

al-Khallāl also said, “Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath related to us:

‘I saw in a dream in the year 228 AH as though I were in the congregational mosque. A man who looked like a eunuch approached from the direction of the royal enclosure and was saying,

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Follow the two who will come after me: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and So-and-so (1).’”

I, Abū Dāʾūd, cannot recall the other name, and I kept telling myself, “This is a singular report.” I related the dream to someone, and he said, “In dreams a eunuch represents an angel.”’

al-Khallāl said, “al-Marwadhī informed us, ‘I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say:

“Fear has kept me from food and drink; I have no appetite for them. I do not care whether anyone sees me, nor whether I see anyone. Yet I long to see ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. Tell ʿAbd al-Wahhāb: ‘Hide your reputation, for I have been tested with fame.’”’

al-Khallāl reported: “Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Warrāq told us, ‘I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say:

“I can compare youth only to something I once carried in my sleeve—and then it slipped away.”’”