The Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—used to say, “We would not move past ten verses until we had learned their meanings and put them into practice. Thus we learned knowledge and action together.” Our righteous predecessors were of this very character, and among them was Imām Aḥmad, who combined abundant learning with righteous deeds and noble conduct.

Ibn al-Jawzī relates in Ṣifat al-Ṣafwah⦗1⦘: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said, “My father was the most patient of people in remaining by himself. No one ever saw him except in a mosque, at a funeral, or visiting a sick person, and he disliked walking through the markets.”

He also said, “My father used to perform three hundred units of prayer each day and night. After the lashes⦗2⦘ weakened him, he still prayed one hundred and fifty units daily, even though he was nearly eighty years old. Every day he would recite one-seventh of the Quran, completing a full reading every seven days, and he maintained another complete reading every seven nights in addition to his daytime prayers. When he had performed the final night prayer (ʿIshāʾ), he would sleep briefly, then rise to pray and supplicate until dawn. My father performed the pilgrimage five times—three times on foot and twice riding—and on one of his pilgrimages he spent only twenty dirhams.”

He further said, “I often heard my father say after finishing the prayer: ‘O Allah, just as You have spared my face from prostrating to anyone but You, spare it from asking of anyone but You.’”

Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said, “A letter arrived from ʿAlī ibn al-Jahm stating that the Commander of the Faithful—that is, al-Mutawakkil—has sent to you Yaʿqūb, known as Qawṣarah, bearing a gift, and that he orders you to set out. For Allah’s sake, do not seek to excuse yourself or return the money, lest those who hate you find room to speak. Then, when it was…"