“Leave me alone with the monk-physician—meaning Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari—so that I may tell him some of what I suffer; perhaps he holds my cure.” (1)

With the same chain of transmission: Sulayman al-Tabarani narrated to us, Abu Zur‘ah narrated to us, Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari narrated to us, who said:
“I used to hear Waki‘ begin, before he would relate hadith, by saying: ‘There is nothing there but His pardon, and we survive only beneath His veil. If the covering were lifted, a momentous matter would be exposed.’” (2)

Likewise: Ahmad ibn Ishaq narrated to us, Ibrahim ibn Naʾilah narrated to us, Ahmad narrated to us: “I heard Shuʿayb ibn Harb say to a man, ‘If you enter the grave with Islam still with you, then rejoice.’”

Again, Ishaq ibn Ahmad narrated to us, Ibrahim ibn Yusuf narrated to us, Ibn Abi al-Hawari narrated: “I said to Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash, ‘Narrate to us.’
He replied, ‘Leave the hadith aside; we have grown old and forgetful. Bring me reminders of the Return and of the graves. Were I to know where the people of hadith are, I would go to their houses and relate to them.’”

With this same chain, Abu Nuʿaym said: “Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari reported from the famous and illustrious authorities an amount beyond reckoning.”

Abu al-Dahdah of Damascus related: Husayn ibn Hamid told us that a letter from the caliph al-Maʾmun reached Ishaq ibn Yahya ibn Muʿadh, the governor of Damascus, commanding him, “Bring the hadith scholars of Damascus and examine them.”
He said: “So he summoned Hisham ibn ʿAmmar and Sulayman ibn ʿAbd—”