Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Naysābūrī said: Fath ibn al-Ḥajjāj narrated to me, saying:
“I was in the residence of the emir Ibn Ṭāhir when I heard that the emir had sent twenty men to estimate how many people had performed the funeral prayer over Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. They made their estimate and arrived at one million and eighty thousand, not counting those who were in the boats.

This report was also transmitted by Khushnām ibn Saʿd (1), who said the number reached one million three hundred thousand.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I heard Abū Zurʿah say, ‘Word reached me that al-Mutawakkil ordered a survey of the ground on which the people had stood when the prayer over Aḥmad was performed, and the area corresponded to two million five hundred thousand.’

Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī said: I was informed by Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī that Ibn Ṭāhir ordered an estimate of the crowd (2) at Aḥmad’s funeral, and they agreed on seven hundred thousand souls.

Abū Hammām al-Sakūnī said: I attended the funeral of Sharīk and the funeral of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh and saw the turnout at both, yet I have never seen a gathering like this one—meaning the funeral of Abū ʿAbd Allah.

Al-Sulamī said: I attended the funeral of Abū al-Fatḥ (3) al-Qawwās with al-Dāraqutnī. When he looked at the crowd he said, ‘I heard Abū Sahl ibn Ziyād say, “I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad say, ‘I heard my father say: Tell the people of innovation, Between you and us is the Day of Funerals.’”’ (4)