all the same; even if I were sure that this money had been taken from its lawful share, with no injustice or oppression in it whatsoever, I still would not touch it.⦗1⦘
When Abū ʿAbd Allah’s weakness persisted, al-Mutawakkil kept sending the physician Ibn Māsawayh to examine him. The doctor returned and said, “Commander of the Faithful, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal has no physical illness; what ails him is simply little food, abundant fasting, and constant worship.” Al-Mutawakkil said nothing.
Later, the Caliph’s mother asked to see Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, so al-Mutawakkil wrote to him requesting that he meet with his son al-Muʿtazz, pray for him, and act as his guardian. Aḥmad at first refused, then consented, hoping this would hasten ⦗2⦘ his return to his family in Baghdad.
The Caliph sent him an elegant robe of honor and one of his own mounts ⦗3⦘, but Aḥmad declined to ride it because its saddlecloth ⦗4⦘ was made of leopard skin. Instead he borrowed a merchant’s mule, rode it, and came to al-Muʿtazz’s gathering. The Caliph and his mother were sitting in one corner of the room behind a thin curtain. When Aḥmad entered he said, “Peace be upon you,” sat down, and did not greet the Caliph with the formal title of rulership.
The Caliph’s mother said, “Fear Allah, my son, with regard to this man. Send him back to his family, for he is not one who covets what you possess.”
As soon as al-Mutawakkil saw Aḥmad he said to his mother, “Mother, the house has been illuminated.” A servant arrived with a sumptuous, lined robe of honor, together with a garment, a cap, and a cloak. The Caliph himself put them on Imām Aḥmad, while Aḥmad remained perfectly still.
Imām Aḥmad later related, “When I sat with al-Muʿtazz, his tutor said, ‘May Allah set the prince aright! This is the man whom the Caliph has appointed to be your teacher.’ Al-Muʿtazz replied, ‘If he teaches me anything, I shall learn it.’ I was amazed at the boy’s intelligence at such a young age.”
Aḥmad then departed, seeking Allah’s forgiveness ⦗5⦘. A few days later the Caliph granted him leave to return. He provided a royal barge (ḥarrāqa) ⦗6⦘ for the journey downstream, but Aḥmad declined, boarded a small skiff instead, and slipped quietly back into Baghdad. He ordered that the robe of honor be sold and its price distributed in charity to the poor and needy.
He would often lament his meeting with the court, saying, “I was kept safe from them all my life, only to be tried with them at its end,” and he almost perished from hunger.