Hāni’ al-Athram say: “I asked Abū ‘Abd Allāh Ahmad ibn Hanbal about the hadith narrated by Hammād ibn Salamah, from Qatādah, from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abbās, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: ‘I saw my Lord,’ and the rest of the hadith. Ahmad ibn Hanbal replied: ‘This hadith was transmitted by eminent narrators from eminent narrators, from the Companions, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Whoever has any doubt, or doubts any part of it, is a Jahmī. His testimony is not to be accepted, he is not to be greeted, and he is not to be visited when ill.’”

I say: This report from Ahmad is open to question.

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ishāq also informed us: Muhammad ibn Ya‘qūb narrated to us: Ahmad ibn Muhammad narrated to us: ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us, saying: “I saw my father declare these hadiths authentic and accept them. He collected them and narrated them to us.” He also narrated, through his chain of transmission, from