which fills three volumes. He then authored the work entitled The Sunnah, the Words of Aḥmad, and Their Proof from the Hadiths, likewise in three volumes. These writings bear witness to his pre-eminence and the vast scope of his learning. Before his time the Imam’s rulings had not yet crystallised into an independent school; it was only after the year 300 AH that he pursued Aḥmad’s textual statements, recorded them, and marshalled the evidence for them. May Allah Most High have mercy on him.

Abū Bakr ibn Shahrayār said, “We are all followers of Abū Bakr al-Khallāl; no one preceded him in gathering the knowledge of Imām Aḥmad.”

I remark: transmissions from al-Khallāl are rare.

Among those who related from him were the Imām Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Jaʿfar—al-Khallāl’s own pupil—Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn al-Muẓaffar, and a number of others.

Al-Khaṭīb said in his History ⦗1⦘: “Al-Khallāl collected Aḥmad’s sciences, sought them out, travelled in pursuit of them, wrote them down, and arranged them into books. Of all who claimed adherence to Aḥmad’s school, no one was more comprehensive in that regard than he.”

Abū Yaʿlā ibn al-Farrāʾ told me: “Abū Bakr al-Khallāl was buried next to Abū Bakr al-Marwadhī.”

I say: he died in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the year 311 AH, at the age of seventy-seven—though some say he was a little over eighty.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Yūnus and ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, saying:

Jʿafar ibn ʿAlī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad the ḥāfiẓ informed us; al-Mubārak ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār informed us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAlī informed us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Jaʿfar informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn informed us; al-Marwadhī related to us; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal related to us:

“I heard Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah say, ‘Your anxiety over tomorrow’s provision is recorded against you as a sin.’”