His Wives and Family:

Zuhayr ibn Ṣāliḥ said: “My grandfather married Umm Abī ʿAbbāsah, and she bore him no child except my father. After her death he married Rayḥānah—an Arab woman—who gave him only my uncle ʿAbd Allāh.”

Al-Khallāl reported: “I heard al-Marwadhī say—having heard it from Abū ʿAbd Allāh when he mentioned his wife and invoked mercy upon her—‘We lived together for twenty years and never differed over a single word.’ We know of no evidence that Aḥmad ever married a third wife.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Bukhtān said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh ordered us to buy him a slave-girl. I set off with Furān, and Abū ʿAbd Allāh followed after me, saying, ‘Abū Yūsuf, make sure she has some flesh on her.’”

Zuhayr further related: “When Umm ʿAbd Allāh died, my grandfather bought Ḥusn. She bore him Umm ʿAlī Zaynab, then al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, twins who died soon after birth. Afterwards she gave birth to al-Ḥasan and Muḥammad, who lived for nearly forty years, and later she bore Saʿīd.”

Al-Khallāl said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Baḥr told us: I heard Ḥusn, the mother of Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s children, say: ‘I said to my master, “Sell one of my anklets.” He asked, “And you are content with that?” I replied, “Yes.” It was sold for eight and a half dinars, and he distributed the proceeds while I was pregnant.

‘When I gave birth to Ḥasan he handed my servant-woman Karāmah a dirham and said, “Buy a head with this.” She brought it, we ate it, and he said, “Ḥusn, I own nothing but this dirham.”

‘Whenever he had nothing in the house, he would pass the day cheerful.

‘One day he said, “I want to undergo cupping, yet I have nothing.” So I sold a nasīf (1) of spun yarn…’

(1) A nasīf is a scarf-like head-covering.