that Ahmad narrated in the Musnad or elsewhere was authoritative evidence in his view. Rather, he transmitted what the scholars had transmitted. His criterion for the Musnad was that he would not narrate from anyone he regarded as known for lying, although it contains some weak reports. His criterion for the Musnad was like that of Abū Dāwūd for his Sunan.
As for the books on virtues, he would narrate (1) whatever he had heard from his teachers, whether sound or weak, for he did not intend to include only what he regarded as established. Ahmad’s son then added material, and Abū Bakr al-Qatīʿī also made additions. Al-Qatīʿī’s additions include many [lies] (2) that were fabricated. The ignorant person therefore imagined that these were among Ahmad’s narrations and that he had related them in the Musnad. This is an egregious error, for the teachers named are al-Qatīʿī’s teachers. All of them (3) lived after Ahmad and were among those who narrated from Ahmad, not among those from whom Ahmad narrated.
In Ahmad’s Musnad, his “Book of Asceticism,” “The Abrogating and the Abrogated,” “Quranic Exegesis,” and his other works, one finds:
“Wakīʿ narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us.”
Here, the speaker is Ahmad.
At other times, one finds:
“Abū Maʿmar al-Qatīʿī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; Abū Nasr al-Tammār narrated to us.”
Here, the speaker is ʿAbd Allāh. His own (4) “Book on the Virtues of the Companions” contains both forms, as well as additions by al-Qatīʿī. It reads:
“Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Sūfī and others like him narrated to us.”
He belonged to the same generation as ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad and could at most have narrated from Ahmad. Ahmad stopped narrating toward the end of his life when the caliph asked him to narrate hadith to him and to his son,