With the same chain, Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: I heard my father say, “I saw Aḥmad in a dream. He appeared larger than he had been, and his face and features (1) were more handsome than ever. I began asking him about hadith and reviewing them with him.”

With this chain he said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Mūsā say, “I saw a man from the scholars of hadith who had died. I asked him, ‘What has Allah done with you?’ He answered, ‘He has forgiven me.’ I said, ‘By Allah?!’ He replied, ‘By Allah, He has indeed forgiven me.’ I asked, ‘For what did Allah forgive you?’ He said, ‘For my love of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.’”

With the same chain he said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim narrated to us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Tihrānī (2) related to me, from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsā, from the brother of Abū ʿAqīl, who said, “I saw a young man who had died in Qazwīn. I asked him, ‘What has your Lord done with you?’ He replied, ‘He has forgiven me.’ I noticed he was in a hurry, so I questioned him, and he said, ‘The inhabitants of the heavens are busy raising the banners to welcome Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and I want to go out to meet him.’ Aḥmad had passed away in those very days. Ibn Muslim said: Later I met Abū ʿAqīl’s brother, and he told me the same dream.”

With this chain he said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim narrated to us; al-Haytham ibn Khālawayh said, “I saw al-Sindī in my sleep and asked him, ‘How are you?’ He said, ‘I am well, but they have been too preoccupied with the coming of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to attend to me.’”

ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Dāʾim informed us; Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Musāfir informed us; ʿAbd al-Mughīth ibn Zuhayr, Abū Manṣūr ibn Ḥamdiyyah, and his brother Muḥammad informed us, saying: “He informed us…”