resembled Ibn Masʿūd was ʿAlqamah; the one who most resembled ʿAlqamah was Ibrāhīm; the one who most resembled Ibrāhīm was Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir; the person who resembled him most was Sufyān al-Thawrī; the one who most resembled Sufyān was Wakīʿ; and—according to Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Jammāl—the one who most resembled Wakīʿ was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.
ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad al-Warrāq said: “I was seated in Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s gathering when he asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ We replied, ‘From the circle of Abū Kurayb.’ He said, ‘Write from him, for he is a righteous shaykh.’ We said, ‘But he speaks ill of you.’ He replied, ‘What can I do about it? A righteous shaykh has been afflicted with me!’
ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad reported: I heard my father asked, ‘Why did you not take many narrations from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, even though he lived right next to you in Dār ʿUmārah⦗1⦘?’ He answered, ‘We attended his session once and he narrated to us. At the next session he saw some youths stepping ahead of the elders, became upset and said, “By Allah, I will not narrate for a whole year.” He died before narrating again.’
Al-Khallāl said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to me, al-Marwadhī narrated to us, saying: Our neighbor—so-and-so—reported: ‘I entered upon Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm the amir, along with several dignitaries—he named some of the rulers—but I have never seen anyone more awe-inspiring than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. I approached him to speak about something and was overtaken by trembling because of the reverence he inspired.’
Al-Marwadhī added: ‘Al-Kalbī, the officer charged with confidential reports, once came to his house at night. Out of awe for him they did not knock on his door; instead they knocked on the door of his uncle.’
Al-Maymūnī said: ‘I never saw garments cleaner or of a purer white than Aḥmad’s.’
Ibn al-Munādī narrated from his grandfather, Abū Jaʿfar, who said: ‘Aḥmad was the most modest and the most generous of people, unsurpassed in companionship and etiquette, frequently lowering his gaze; no one ever heard from him…’