The Life of Ibn Ḥanbal. Ibn al-Jawzi
9.16
“Hasn’t it been reported,” asked Abū ʿUbaydah, “that ‘a man’s place is his own’?”
“That’s right,” said Aḥmad. “It means he can take the place if he wants, or offer it to someone else.”
This degree of understanding, here joined with quick thinking, is unsurpassable.
Faced with this degree of insight and sound judgment, any fair observer can only avert his eyes in modesty.62 The only people who do find fault with Aḥmad are purveyors of reprehensible innovations who burn with resentment when they see how often his judgments are adopted and theirs forgotten. So well known are his verdicts that most scholars say, “My ruling in particular cases follows that of So-and-So, but the basis for my reasoning is Aḥmad’s.” To see a man’s judgments adopted as foundational should be enough to convince anyone of his merits. 9.17
PRAISE OF HIM BY HIS TEACHERS
As you doubtless know, a person’s character is manifest even in youth; the way a life begins gives a good idea of how it is likely to end. In Aḥmad’s case, piety and love of learning were evident in him from the beginning. As a result, his teachers praised him and granted him precedence. 10.1
[Al-Nasāʾī:] When Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal would approach a Hadith transmitter, he would ask the men of learning who were present for their permission to gather Hadith, since they would be hearing the reports because of him. 10.2
Among the teachers who praised him are the following.
YAZĪD IBN HĀRŪN
[Ibn Zanjuwayh:] I remember seeing Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal come to visit Yazīd ibn Hārūn, who was performing the ritual prayer. After finishing his prayer, Yazīd turned to Aḥmad and asked, “What’s your position on things lent for use?” 10.3
“The borrower is liable for them.”
“We cite Ḥajjāj,” said Yazīd, “citing al-Ḥakam: ‘Not liable.’”
Aḥmad replied by reciting: “The Prophet, God bless and keep him, borrowed some suits of armor from Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah. Ṣafwan asked, ‘Are you liable for them?’ and the Prophet, God bless and keep him, said, ‘The borrower is liable for what he borrows.’”63
Having nothing to say in reply, Yazīd adopted Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s view.
[Ibn Sālim:] We were sitting in Yazīd ibn Hārūn’s Hadith-circle and Yazīd made a teasing remark to his amanuensis. From Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came a clearing of the throat, and Yazīd, striking himself on the forehead, cried, “Why didn’t you tell me Aḥmad was here so I wouldn’t joke?” 10.4
[Ibn Sinān:] I never saw Yazīd ibn Hārūn regard anyone with as much reverence or show anyone as much honor as he did Ibn Ḥanbal. He used to seat Aḥmad beside him when we gathered for Hadith. He maintained a dignified bearing in his presence and wouldn’t tease him. Once when Aḥmad fell ill Yazīd even rode to his house to visit him. 10.5
[Al-Marrūdhī:] I asked Aḥmad how it happened that Yazīd ibn Hārūn visited him when he was ill. He replied: 10.6
[Aḥmad:] It was in Wāsiṭ. I used to sit near him while he taught Hadith, and he knew who I was. One day he recited, “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd said, ‘I heard Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh say …’”
“It doesn’t say ‘I heard Sālim say,’” I told him. “It says, ‘I heard that Sālim said …’”
Yazīd went inside and brought out his notes, and sure enough the text read “that Sālim said.” He asked who had corrected him and the others told him it was me.
“Correct what you’ve written,” he told us. After that, whenever he would take his seat he would say, “Ibn Ḥanbal! Come over here.”
Once when I got sick Yazīd came to visit me. I had guinea worm.64 I wasn’t staying in this house we’re in now—at that time it was my uncles who lived here. I had moved out. The house we moved to was outside.65
ISMĀʿĪL IBN ʿULAYYAH
[Ibn Abī ʿAwn and Ibn Hishām:] Once when the ritual prayer was starting we heard Ibn ʿUlayyah saying, “Is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal here anywhere? Tell him to come forward!” 10.7
[Ibn al-Mubārak:] Once when I was at Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah’s someone made a remark that made some of us laugh. Ibn Ḥanbal was there too. Later we went to Ismāʿīl and found him looking angry. 10.8
“How could you laugh,” he asked, “with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal there?”
ʿABD AL-RAZZĀQ IBN HAMMĀM
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never saw anyone more astute or more scrupulous66 than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.9
[Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī:] Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abān said, “Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and I studied with ʿAbd al-Razzāq. If anyone else asked him a question, he would say, ‘I’m not reciting Hadith for you. I’m reciting only for the sake of these three.’” 10.10
By “these three” he meant Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and Ibn Abān.
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I have never taught anyone like Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.11
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never taught anyone the like of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.12
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] Four of the great scholars of Hadith came to us from Iraq. There was al-Shādhakūnī, who had the most tenacious memory for Hadith. There was Ibn al-Madīnī, who had mastered the differences between reports. There was Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who had the most thorough knowledge of the transmitters. And then there was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who was the best at putting all three kinds of learning together. 10.13
Abū Yaʿqūb added: “After the Emissary, no one had more people travel to learn from him than did ʿAbd al-Razzāq.”
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I’ve taught Hadith to three men so worthy that I don’t care if I never teach anyone else. There was Ibn al-Shādhakūnī, who had such a retentive memory; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, who knew the transmitters so well; and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, who renounced so much. 10.14
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] If that man—meaning Aḥmad—survives, it won’t matter that the rest of us are gone. 10.15
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq:] I never saw anyone like Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 10.16
[Ibn Zanjawayh:] I told ʿAbd al-Razzāq that I was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s neighbor. 10.17
“If that’s so,” he said, “I’ll come visit you.”
[Aḥmad:] ʿAbd al-Razzāq taught us some Hadith reports on the Mahdī67 and when he was done, looked over at me and said, “If not for this fellow here”—or “if not for him” (meaning me)—“I would never have taught you those reports.” 10.18
WAKĪʿ IBN AL-JARRĀḤ
[Wakīʿ:] Of all those who ever came to Kufa, that young man—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—was the best. 10.19
[Ibn Shammās:] I asked Wakīʿ to teach us the Hadith he had learned from Khārijah ibn Muṣʿab. 10.20
“I won’t,” he said. “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal told me not to.”
ḤAFṢ IBN GHIYĀTH